octa-core
Latest
ARM's latest CPUs are ready for an AI-powered future
ARM processor technology already powers many of the devices you use every day, and now the company is showing off its plans for the future with DynamIQ. Aimed squarely at pushing the artificial intelligence and machine learning systems we're expecting to see in cars, phones, gaming consoles and everything else, it's what the company claims is an evolution on the existing "big.Little" technology. Originally unveiled in 2011, that design allowed for multicore CPU designs with powerful, power-hungry chips to do the heavy lifting tethered to smaller, low-power chips that could handle background processing when a device is idle. It's why your phone can edit HD or even 4K video at one moment before sleeping throughout the night without losing all of the battery's charge. DynamIQ lays out a strategy for processors that combine cores specifically designed for whatever task is needed.
HTC's new pixel-density champ is the One ME
Oh, HTC, we're starting to lose track of all your tempting Asia-only models. The Taiwanese company has just revealed the One ME, which is basically an M9+ with less metal and no Duo camera (as rumored). We understand if you're having trouble keeping up, so here are the boilerplate specs. The ME has a polycarbonate body with a metal frame like the 5.5-inch E9+, but with a smaller 5.2-inch Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) screen for a stunning 565 ppi -- making it HTC's sharpest phone to date. The CPU is a MediaTek Helio X10 eight-core job running at 2.2GHz with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage expandable to 2TB via microSDXC.
MediaTek's Helio P10 offers octa-core and faster LTE on the cheap
It's only been half a month since MediaTek announced a 10-core mobile processor, the Helio X20, as its flagship product for next year, but the company is already prepping a slightly lesser model to stay true to its roots. Meet the Helio P10, the first member of the "premium performance" family (while the X family is for "extreme performance"). For the CPU alone, this 28nm SoC sits somewhere in between the X10 -- the one that's inside the HTC One M9+ -- and the X20 as it has eight 64-bit Cortex-A53 cores that go up to 2GHz. It's obviously not a proper powerhouse given the lack of Cortex-A57 cores, but that should be good news for your device's battery.
Huawei's dual-lens phone lets you get artsy, shoot in the dark
Judging by Huawei's latest smartphone unveiled in Beijing today, it looks like someone has taken a leaf out of HTC's playbook. The Honor 6 Plus -- a follow-up to the reasonably priced Honor 6 -- is all about its dual rear 8-megapixel cameras, which claim to boost the effective pixel size to 1.98 microns for improved sensitivity and thus cleaner images. By comparison, this almost matches HTC's 2-micron UltraPixels. And similar to HTC's Duo Camera feature, Huawei's dual-lens setup lets you refocus the captured photos, adjust their simulated aperture (you can go from f/0.95 all the way to f/16) and apply fun filters like tilt shift, sketch and comics. Even the front-facing camera has an 8-megapixel resolution to give you the "888" blessing (it implies "triple the fortune" in Chinese), along with the usual beautification feature for photos and videos -- both recording and live chat.
Qualcomm's 2015 chips may make you regret getting a new phone this year
Thanks to Moore's Law, anybody can predict that even the most powerful smartphones and tablets coming out right now (the HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, for instance) will be made obsolete by whatever flagships get announced in 2015. These predictions fortunately don't have to be based off of speculation anymore, since Qualcomm just revealed the Snapdragon 810 and 808, a pair of 64-bit high-performance chipsets slated to show up in flagship Android devices early next year.
Lego Cubestormer robot solves Rubik's Cube in less time than it takes to read this headline
Until yesterday, the world record for fastest time in solving a Rubik's Cube was 5.27 seconds, which was set in the fall of 2011 by a Lego robot named Cubestormer 2. Thanks to the machine's successor (aptly named Cubestormer 3), the time to beat is now 3.253 seconds. The robot, which is the third in a series of automatons designed solely for the purpose of solving the Rubik's Cube ASAP, is powered by an octa-core Samsung Galaxy S4; it's got four high-performance ARM Cortex-A15 cores and four lower-intensity Cortex-A7 cores running the show, each one managing its own Lego Mindstorms actuator.
Xiaomi confirms 5.5-inch, octa-core Redmi Note phone with teaser
The leaked Redmi phone we saw a couple of days ago is coming sooner than we expected, and it now bears an interesting name: Redmi Note. Does it mean we'll be getting a stylus with this Chinese phone? No idea, as Xiaomi's midnight teaser -- pictured above -- doesn't reveal much, other than confirming the 5.5-inch screen (the leak indicates a 720p resolution) and the octa-core processor (1.4GHz or 1.7GHz). What's missing is the unsubsidized price, but it should sit somewhere between the current Redmi's CN¥699 (about $110) and the MI2a's CN¥1,499 ($240) -- so maybe CN¥999 ($160) at most. Folks in China will be able to pre-order at local time 8pm on March 19th using Tencent's Qzone app, which got the exclusive for the Redmi Note's debut sale. For those outside China, your usual gray market channels are standing by. Update: CEO Lei Jun has finally shared a product shot on Sina Weibo, as spotted by our friends over at The Next Web. We've got it after the break.
Xiaomi's next-gen budget phone shows up with octa-core chip, larger screen
Xiaomi's sub-$130 budget line, the Redmi (previously known as Hongmi aka "Red Rice"), has been credited for accelerating the company's expansion into Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, with nearby countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand soon to be added to the list. While this is a recent development, the company's already prepping a follow-up model, according to four new listings on China's TENAA certification database. As you can see, this upcoming device is marked with red Android buttons on the front, which gives away its Redmi identity. It'll feature a 5.5-inch, 720p IPS display (a bump from the current 4.7-inch version), as well as Android 4.2.2, 1GB of RAM and an octa-core processor (our guess is MediaTek, again) coming in two versions: 1.4GHz and 1.7GHz.
Qualcomm betting on octa-core tech and better LTE radio in China
Despite Qualcomm's odd stance on octa-core and 64-bit in the past, the company has clearly changed its mind since last week's launch of its Snapdragon 615, which includes both features. Qualcomm's marketing VP Tim McDonough, who briefly spoke to us after his meeting with Oppo at MWC, admitted that this new chip is partly aimed at the ever-demanding Chinese market. "It's very interesting. Consumers in China want octa-core. It's very high on their list; while in the US and Western Europe, it's totally other things that consumers want," the exec said. "So we've really recognized that if that's what Chinese consumers want, that is what our Chinese customers, our OEMs want, and Qualcomm has to care for that need; so that's what we're doing."
Hands-on with Gionee's super slim, octa-core Elife S5.5 smartphone (video)
It's only been a week since Gionee debuted its super thin Elife S5.5 Android phone in China, but luckily for us, the company also brought it along to MWC. After playing with the 5.55mm-thick device for some time, we were left very impressed with its build quality. The aluminum frame was nicely machined and felt solid, whereas the Corning glass back panel added an extra premium feel, despite leaving fingerprints behind. We still struggled to believe that there's a 1.7GHz octa-core SoC inside such a slim device, let alone a 2,300mAh battery and two nice cameras -- 5 megapixels on the front and 13 megapixels on the back. It should be noted that the rear imager and its LED flash do stick out a little, but it's not that noticeable in the corner. The S5.5 will come in several colors, with our favorite being the white and gold combo. We managed to have a quick chat with Gionee's president William Lu, who was amused by how folks from Sony, Samsung and Nokia kept going back to his booth to inspect his company's masterpiece. Well, if they don't mind splashing out about $375, they can grab one for themselves in China come March 15th; but the phone will eventually arrive in other countries (though the US is definitely not on the list). Meanwhile, feel free to check out our hands-on video after the break.
China's Allwinner also has an octa-core chip, touts powerful graphics
Samsung, MediaTek, Huawei and even Qualcomm are now in the octa-core SoC game, but there's always space for more. The latest member is China's Allwinner Technology, who's best known for making the chipsets inside many low-end devices. Like most of its competitors, Allwinner's UltraOcta A80 silicon (pictured above on a development board) uses ARM's big.LITTLE heterogeneous multi-processing design, meaning it can simultaneously run on all eight cores -- four low-power Cortex-A7 and four high-end Cortex-A15. The chip also features Imagination Technologies' 64-core PowerVR G6230 GPU, which promises to deliver "a twofold increase in graphics" performance when compared to Allwinner's previous flagship SoC, the A31 series. We'll spare you from all the nitty-gritty, but you can learn more in the source links below. Expect to see the UltraOcta A80 in affordable devices "in the next few months."
Qualcomm updates its top-end chip, reveals future 64-bit and octa-core Snapdragons
No, this isn't quite the flagship chip we've been waiting on, but it's a worthy stopgap. Qualcomm has upgraded its successful Snapdragon 800 processor and notched up its title to the 801. For now, it probably represents the peak of the 32-bit era of Android, with clock speed increases across the board, including a nearly 10 percent increase on the CPU side of things (2.5Ghz instead of the 800's 2.3GHz), a 30 percent increase for the Adreno GPU as well as faster memory. Speed increases like that are par for the course as silicon fabs get into the swing of each product generation, but it means it'll be worth looking out for top-end phones that makes use of the extra power -- not least Sony's Xperia Z2, which is due out next month. As for 64-bit chips, we've already seen the low-end Snapdragon 410, but now Qualcomm has also revealed plans for its mid-tier Snapdragon 600-series. The Snapdragon 610 and 615 will arrive in Android smartphones in Q4 of this year, regardless of whether Android is able to benefit from 64-bit processing by that time. Like the 410 and other devices that will be based on ARM's Cortex-A53, there's full backwards compatibility with existing 32-bit apps, so it's more about future-proofing than anything else. In the case of the Snadpragon 615, it's Qualcomm's first-ever octa-core silicon. According to Anandtech, it looks like the eight cores are divided into two "clusters" that are similar to ARM's big.LITTLE design -- in other words, each quad-core cluster may be designed to handle different sorts of tasks. But Qualcomm added that all eight cores can be operational at the same time, making it a more powerful alternative -- and a more direct threat -- to MediaTek's own octa-core offer.
Archos intros 8-inch Helium 4G tablet, octa-core Oxygen smartphone ahead of MWC
Even though Mobile World Congress 2014 doesn't officially kick off until February 24th, Archos has gone ahead and revealed some products it will be bringing to the event. For starters, there's the 80 Helium 4G, an 8-inch, £230 tablet that packs a Cortex-A7 quad-core processor, 4G/LTE and Android 4.3. Additionally, Archos is also introducing a 5-inch, dual-SIM smartphone called 50c Oxygen, which features a 720p IPS display, MediaTek octa-core CPU, Jelly Bean (sorry, no KitKat here) and a 6.77-mm thick body. Archos' 80 Helium 4G and 50c Oxygen won't launch until later this year, but the company is indeed planning to show them off in Barcelona -- and you know we'll be there.
MediaTek's new octa-core processor to compete with Qualcomm over the premium LTE smartphone market
MediaTek, a chipset manufacturer based out of Taiwan, has been making some huge moves lately. Just over two months ago, it came out with the "world's first true octa-core" processor, which consisted of eight Cortex-A7 cores capable of operating simultaneously. Now that ARM has announced Cortex-A17 technology, however, MediaTek is ready to start sampling a new octa-core chip that consists of four 2.2-2.5GHz A17 cores and four 1.7GHz A7s, and comes with a Rogue PowerVR Series6 GPU to take care of any graphical needs you might have. As an aside, the A17 cores come with a 60 percent improvement in performance over the current-gen A9s, and are primarily designed to make midrange smartphones and tablets even faster. That said, MediaTek tells us that its new chips, known as the MT6595, are actually meant to be featured in premium devices and will square off directly against Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 and 805. And it's certainly got a few noteworthy features: first, the chip will use ARM's big.LITTLE architecture and Heterogeneous Multi-Processing, which means you can use all eight cores for the most intense tasks, or you can use just one or two at a time for incredibly basic activities. The company claims that this chip will be faster and more power efficient than the octa-core Exynos options, which feature four A15 cores and four A7s at lower frequencies. Additionally, the MT6595 claims to be the first octa-core LTE system-on-chip with an H.265 Ultra HD Codec built-in to the platform, which offers 4K2K video recording and playback capabilities. In much the same way that most manufacturers don't enable all of a chip's features, however, it'll be up to each individual company to add it in. The chips will begin sampling to phone makers and carriers in the first half of this year, and it's expected to arrive in products during the second half. And while it should find its way into smartphones and tablets around the world, MediaTek wants the MT6595 to enjoy a huge presence in the US.
Huawei joins the octa-core club with a high-spec mobile chip of its own
It's been a year since Huawei's Richard Yu's teased his company's octa-core HiSilicon system-on-chip, and according to the exec's recent Sina Weibo post (screenshot after the break), said product is finally ready. In fact, Yu revealed that his company's launched two new 28nm HPM chips. The octa-core model (likely the K3V3) features the usual quad Cortex-A15 plus quad Cortex-A7 big.LITTLE combo (as implemented by Samsung Exynos 5 Octa); and there's also a new quad-core Cortex-A9 model (likely the K3V2 Pro), which succeeds the 40nm K3V2 that features the same architecture. What's unclear is whether the octa-core chip will allow all eight cores to run simultaneously, but what we do know is that both chips come with a multi-mode LTE modem that will also handle both WCDMA and China Mobile's TD-SCDMA radios. Yu also made a separate post to say we're entering the era of 64-bit octa-core processor (Cortex-A53 plus Cortex-A57) this year, but the message was deleted soon afterwards. What a tease. Anyhow, we have a feeling that Huawei will be showing off its first device powered by its own octa-core chip at MWC next month. That's not to say Huawei's saying goodbye to Qualcomm and MediaTek, though -- Yu confirmed that he'll have more "high-end" devices that will feature chips supplied by these two companies.
Alcatel to bring world's fastest octa-core phone to Europe in February
TCL's already jumped the gun by launching its Idol X+ in China last month, but the same flagship device will be heading to Europe this February under the Alcatel brand. For those who missed the news the first time round, this dual-micro-SIM, 7.9mm-thick Android phone packs MediaTek's 2GHz MT6592, which is currently the world's fastest true octa-core chipset. You'll find the usual top-spec components around the Idol X+ as well, including a 5-inch 1080p IPS display, a 13-megapixel main camera (which supports 40-megapixel panorama and digital stabilization for video capture), a 2-megapixel front-facing imager, a 2,500mAh battery and dedicated audio amplifier chips by ESS. Internal storage starts from 16GB (with 12.3GB available to the user), along with microSD expansion of up to 32GB. The phone also comes with a pair of JBL earbuds, but there's no word on whether the China versions' Bluetooth activity tracker will be included as well -- at least it won't be called Boom Band, as it will apparently be a more refined version when it goes global. We were left rather impressed by the Idol X+'s design and build quality. The solid plastic bezel features a brushed-metallic effect, accompanied by a spin finish (achieved by in-mould labelling) on the back of the phone. Like the screen, the backside will also have a nano-coating treatment to minimize fingerprint smudges. Shoppers will be given a color option of either black or white when this 3G phone lands in Europe sometime in February, and it'll likely be sold for around the attractive $300 price point unsubsidized. Brad Molen contributed to this report.
TCL's $330 Idol X+ boasts 2GHz octa-core chip, Bluetooth activity tracker
While some of us are still recovering from holiday, the TCL folks in China -- whose products are better known under the Alcatel brand in many other countries -- have gone ahead and launched a new phone. As the name suggests, the Idol X+ is pretty much an updated version of the already impressive Idol X, with the highlight being it's the first device to carry the 2GHz bin of the octa-core MT6592 SoC (with 2GB RAM). TCL's reps told us that this is courtesy of an exclusive deal it's arranged with MediaTek. Additionally, you'll find a familiar 5-inch 1080p IPS display within a slimmer 1.9mm bezel, plus a 13-megapixel f/2.0 camera on the back. Due to the larger 2,500mAh battery, the body is now slightly thicker at 7.9mm, but it's actually not that much different from when we saw a prototype earlier. For a flagship Android phone that costs just CN¥1,999 or about US$330 unsubsidized, it's pretty bold of TCL to also include a Bluetooth activity plus sleep tracker. This Boom Band is essentially a little nugget that sits inside a plastic wristband (available in several colors), and it can double as a proximity alarm in case you accidentally leave your phone behind. It naturally has a companion app that lets you track your performance, and should you wish to, you can also show off your stats to friends. There's no word on whether non-China markets will get the same package branded by Alcatel, but if you already reside in China, you can head to JD.com and order one on January 15th.
Huawei's Honor brand challenges Xiaomi with 3X and 3C low-cost phones
Huawei's known for its Ascend smartphones around the world, but back in late 2011, the company also started toying with a small Honor series for select budget markets. Fast forward to today, the latter sub-brand has become Huawei's platform to compete with the sudden surge of affordable online brands in China -- most notably Xiaomi, the pioneer of that industry. With a little help from MediaTek (and ironically not Huawei's own HiSilicon), the phone maker is upping its firepower over this territory with two new dual-SIM devices: Honor 3X and Honor 3C. The Honor 3X joins the first wave of octa-core 1.7GHz MT6592-powered devices, and it boasts 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera, a 5-megapixel 1.4-micron front imager plus a generous 3,000mAh battery. The 720p resolution on the glove-friendly, 5.5-inch IPS touchscreen may seem like a let-down, but in this case, Huawei reasoned that going 1080p would push power consumption up by as much as 20 percent, plus many folks may not notice the visual difference -- a point that Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu has often echoed publicly.
Qualcomm's Anand Chandrasekher says eight-core processors are 'dumb'
In response to a question about whether Qualcomm will create an eight-core processor like MediaTek's upcoming model, Senior VP Anand Chandrasekher told a Taiwanese publication "we don't do dumb things." He added that "you can't take eight lawnmower engines, put them together and now claim you have an eight-cylinder Ferrari." Instead, he said Qualcomm is focused on good modems, long battery life and affordability, rather than "simply throwing cores together." Though MediaTek had no comment on that, it claimed earlier that all eight cores in its upcoming CPU can operate at the same time to improve stability and battery life -- unlike the Exynos 5's big.LITTLE configuration, for instance. Whether you agree with Chandrasekher or not, eight seems better than four, meaning most CPU outfits -- including Qualcomm -- will likely jump on the octa-core bandwagon.
MediaTek confirms true octa-core processor in the works
Earlier this month there was a whisp of octa-core colored smoke coming from MediaTek. Today it's more of a roaring camp fire, with the chip-maker going official -- fully announcing its new octa-core processor ambitions. The firm stops short of giving us the actual nitty-gritty specifications that many of you will be waiting for, instead taking the chance to remind us that Arm-based chips will be true eight-cores-at-once processing, and none of this big.LITTLE dallying. The word is these will float around the 2GHz mark on arrival, which last we heard was pegged for November. We're not suggesting the timing of this announcement was planned, but it looks, for now, like 8 is the current lucky number.
