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Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) MDP benchmarks blow away the competition (update: video)
As mentioned earlier, we've just gotten our hands on Qualcomm's latest development platform to see how its first quad core chipset fares. And boy, that APQ8064 really doesn't disappoint, but it should be no surprise -- we've already seen how the top dual core S4 chipsets already beat their quad core competitors in certain aspects, so it's only natural for the quad core S4 Pro to annihilate them. As you can see in our chart after the break, the APQ8064-based MDP easily beat the Tegra 3-based One X and Nexus 7, as well as the Exynos 4412-based Galaxy S III. And partly thanks to the Adreno 320 graphics core, the MDP even scored an astonishing 132fps in our GLBenchmark test, while the quad core Galaxy S III with Mali-400 graphics came second with 99fps, with the remaining devices lingering around 60fps only. Obviously, the question remains how big of a trade-off there is on battery life in exchange for those two extra cores and the more powerful graphics chip. That said, we have a feeling that Snapdragon's Krait architecture and asynchronously clocked cores will again prove that Tegra 3's 4-PLUS-1 design isn't the best solution for battery efficiency -- as many of you might already know. We shall see when APQ8064-based products become available later this year. For now, take a gander at our numbers and photos. Update: Hit the break for our hands-on video with the MDP. Also, we had a chance play with the 13-megapixel autofocus camera in the worst possible lighting conditions, and it acquitted itself rather well considering the circumstances. Check out the sample gallery below. Myriam Joire contributed to this mind-blowing hands-on. %Gallery-161028% %Gallery-161033% %Gallery-161041%
Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core dev tablet now available for $1,299 (update: spec sheet)
For those keen beans out there who want to get an early taste of Qualcomm's first quad-core chipset, news just came in that starting today BSQUARE, the usual distributor of Qualcomm dev kits, is offering the Snapdragon S4 Pro mobile development platform for a hefty $1,299 (and just for reference, the MSM8960 "Fluid" smartphone MDP is currently sold for $999). Similar to the dual-core "Liquid" slate we tinkered with last year, this new APQ8064-based MDP sports the same 10.1 WXGA display as well as 2GB LPDDR2 RAM, 32GB of storage space and Android Ice Cream Sandwich. But obviously, developers will be able to take advantage of the two extra asynchronous CPU cores plus the new Adreno 320 graphics engine, which is said to pack three to four times the processing capacity of the Adreno 225 in the current top S4 lineup. If you're in no hurry then stay tuned for our hands-on later today. Update: We've got a spec sheet after the break, and wow, there's a 13-megapixel camera and seven mics on this slate!
Qualcomm shows off MSM8660's slick video performance on development kit (video)
If you've been closely tracking the development of Qualcomm's 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8660, you would've already seen AnandTech's impressive set of benchmark results back in early April. But of course, it'd be more convincing to actually see this chipset in action, so Qualcomm's latest videos of its Mobile Development Platform should satisfy your curiosity. As demoed after the break, this Snapdragon's Adreno 220 is seen effortlessly handling in-page HTML5 video streaming, Flash video streaming, and 1080p playback. And as a sideshow, Qualcomm even put its current-gen single-core QSD8255 head-to-head with a rival dual-core chipset -- no doubt a Tegra 2 in an LG Optimus 2x -- and easily won the Flash video contest. All of this might lure you into getting the MDP as your next everyday phone, but here's the bad news: this professional kit will cost you a dear $1,350. So unless you're feeling very generous, you'd probably want to wait for the consumer devices to arrive in the summer -- think EVO 3D, Sensation (with GSM-flavored MSM8260, naturally), and TouchPad.
Is Dell cooking up an Android-powered netbook?
Um, okay? Straight out of the left-most corner of left field, software provider Bsquare has just outed Dell's newest netbook -- or so it seems. The same company that recently announced that it was bringing Adobe Flash to Android has just revealed that it'll be doing likewise for "Dell netbooks running Google's Android platform." Specifically, it'll be Flash Lite 3.17 making the leap onto these heretofore elusive machines (casually referred to as the Mini Inspiron 910, or Mini 9, in the release), but details outside of that are mum. Consider our interest piqued. Full release is after the break.Update: Dell just pinged us with an adorably terse response: "The Bsquared news release erroneously mentioned Dell and is being recalled. Dell does not offer an Android based netbook." Well then.
Flash coming to Android courtesy of BSQUARE
The fine folks at BSQUARE have announced that they'll be porting Adobe Flash to Google's Android on behalf of a "global Tier 1 carrier." Whether or not that implies this "global Tier 1 carrier" will have exclusive access to Flash out of the gate remains to be seen. Details are otherwise very scarce, and it's unclear how this relates to the demo of Flash Andy Rubin showed off at Adobe MAX last year. However, BSQUARE bought NEC's Adobe® Flash® Technology Consulting and Distribution business 12 months ago, and has done Android work for other customers, so the expertise should certainly be there -- and naturally we wouldn't expect them to go shouting about this if they didn't have Adobe and Google's blessing in one form or another.[Thanks, Peter R.]
