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To: leochardonne who wrote (109668)2/18/2012 9:59:19 AM
From: Jim Mullens   of 117538
 
Leo, re: Huawei's $6B in OEM Deals w/ QCOM............................................................

snip>>>>>>>>>>


Huawei said the three year, OEM contracts will directly or indirectly create "tens of thousands of job opportunities" in the U.S.
_______________________________________________________________

Rather doubt that creates "tens of thousand" new US jobs, unless they're referring to the general growth in mobile internet related businesses.

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From: Bill Wolf2/18/2012 10:22:06 AM
   of 117538
 
Apple Could Destroy Tablet Rivals with iPad Price Cuts
Apple is doing just fine selling iPads at the current prices, but with $100 billion in cash to spend and a rumored "iPad Mini" it could easily slash iPad prices and crush the competition.
By Tony Bradley Feb 18, 2012 6:55 AM

Rumor has it the iPad 3 will soon be here. The device will most likely be a tremendous success simply by virtue of being an iPad, but if Apple wants to put some of its $100 billion hoard to use and get “creative” with the pricing of its tablets it could virtually assure its dominance and force many competitors to abandon the market completely.

The iPad has started out at the 16GB Wi-Fi only model for $499 since it originally launched. When the iPad 2 came along, Apple continued selling it at the same original iPad pricing, and slashed the price of the original iPad models to clear out inventory.

Apple adopted a similar, but more aggressive strategy with the iPhone. It is selling the iPhone 4S at the same prices as it previously sold the iPhone 4, but rather than wiping out the iPhone 4 inventory, it is continuing to sell the previous model at a discount as a more economical alternative. In fact, with the iPhone Apple is even still producing the older iPhone 3GS, which is being offered by AT&T for free with a two-year contract.

What if Apple chooses to do something similar with the iPad? What if the iPad 3 is made available at current iPad 2 pricing, but Apple also continues to sell the iPad 2 for $300 instead of $500? How many people would buy a Galaxy Tab, BlackBery PlayBook, or Motorola Xoom for $300 or $400 if they could buy an iPad 2 for $300?

There are also rumors floating about that Apple is developing a smaller 7 or 8-inch “iPad Mini” which could be available by the end of 2012. Some analysts suggest that such a tablet might sell for $300, and it would crush the competition. I will make a more aggressive prediction that Apple would sell it at $250--or even $200--and go straight for the jugular of the Kindle Fire.

Apple is sitting on a mountain of cash. It has money to burn and could easily cut into the iPad profit margin, or even sell the devices at a loss just to squash the competition and dominate the market. If the iPad has dominant market share, Apple can make up the difference in the long run through revenue from apps and other services.

Apple would also benefit from the sort of self-feeding vicious circle created by iOS and OS X. The ecosystem Apple has created with iOS devices and iCloud and extending that with even more integration with the upcoming OS X 10.8 “Mountain Lion” form a cohesive unit that works quite well together, and makes it compelling to get other Apple devices once you have the first one. A spike in iPad sales could very likely spark a dramatic rise in Mac sales as well.

Rival tablets are already struggling. Sales of competing tablets are anemic compared to the iPad, and competing tablets have been forced to cut prices to try and give users some incentive to even consider their tablet over an iPad.

If Apple undercuts the price of competing tablets, it could be game over.


pcworld.com 

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To: slacker711 who wrote (109674)2/18/2012 10:47:19 AM
From: Jim Mullens1 Recommendation   of 117538
 
Slacker, re: Simply awesome / QCOM Ousts NVDA / dual channel memory bandwidth

Simply awesome. Switching the processors might be why the TF700t isnt due until June.

There were some references to the single channel memory bandwidth in initial Tegra3 reviews but I had no idea about the real world implications.


_________________________________________________________

Apparently no one else in the blogesphere was aware of the implications either / nor the “expert” journalists / analysts….

It appears, in your’s / Trevor’s assessment, this is a **Game Changer** … “for high density displays standard on high-end tablets, right?

Do you know how the other ( OMAP / Samsung / Apple, etc) AP competitor’s stack up?







FWIF- I did a word search on “dual channel” on a recent post detailing QCOM’s chipset roadmap. Quite a few **DUAL CHANNEL** (bolded) hits.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Message 27953028

to: leochardonne who wrote ( 109578)2/16/2012 11:39:07 AM

From: Jim Mullens1 Recommendation of 109681

Leo, re: QCOM Delays Quad Core SOCs by a Quarter (w/ Roadmap Detail)

Snip from your article---

The products in question that are affected by the delay are Qualcomm's high-end parts, such as the quad core MSM8974 and APQ8094, which we reported about in some detail back in September.

______________________________________________________________________

Reposting (w/ my edits) of your article’s referenced articles detailing QCOM chipset roadmap revealed last September.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Qualcomm reveals future plans, we give you the details

Reported by LG Nilsson on Saturday, September 17 2011 3:45 am

Earlier this week Qualcomm hosted its Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul where the company unveiled details of some of its upcoming products, including a 2.5GHz next generation Snapdragon SoC. However, a lot of details were left out, but VR-Zone is here to help fill in the blanks as to what to expect from Qualcomm over the next couple of years.

From the event we know that Qualcomm is getting ready to launch a 28nm SoC with clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz in single, DUAL and quad core versions, all with next gen Adreno DUAL or quad core graphics. However, the company didn't say much more and some publications made the assumption that Qualcomm would have a quad core solution for phones out by early next year. Well, sadly this isn't the case for those of you that are longing to get your hands on a quad core phone, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, instead, let's start from the top.

The current series of Snapdragon SoC's from Qualcomm are known as the S3 class, also known as Scorpion and here we're talking about chips like the current MSM8660 and MSM8260 as well as the APQ8060 which lacks baseband support. These SoC's can be found in a wide range of devices from HP's now defunct TouchPad to HTC's Sensation and EVO 3D. They're all 45nm DUAL core parts with Adreno 220 graphics and a core clock speed of between 1.2 and 1.5GHz.

The next generation of Snapdragon chips will be the S4 class, as Qualcomm are keeping things simple when it comes to its naming schemes, although these chips are more commonly known as Krait. The first new Krait SoC's to arrive is the

+ MSM8260A,

+ MSM8660A and the

+ MSM8960,

all of which are 28nm DUAL core parts with a clock speed of 1.5 or 1.7GHz and 1MB of L2 cache. All three models sports support for DUAL CHANNEL 500MHz LPDDR2, faster Adreno 225 graphics said to be good for 125 million triangles per second. The MSM8960 should also come in a version with a faster Adreno 330 GPU capable of some 200 million triangles.

The main difference between the MSM8260A and MSM8660A is that the 8260A supports dual-cell HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA, whereas the 8660A supports HSPA+ and various EV-DO standards mostly used in the US.

The MSM8690 sports LET in addition to the connectivity options on the other two models and will be available with either CDMA or UMTS in addition to LTE. All three models should enter mass production next quarter, although devices based on these DUAL core SoC's aren't expected until the second quarter of next year.

As far as phones are concerned, this is as much as we get for all of 2012,

but in early 2013 Qualcomm is expecting to launch its first quad core phone SoC, the ** MSM8974**. This isn't the 2.5GHz chip the company has been talking about, but instead a slightly slower 2GHz part with 2MB L2 cache. It will support DUAL CHANNEL 800MHz LPDDR3 memory and comes with a faster Adreno 330 GPU core which is capable of 200 million triangles per second. It will support the latest LTE and CD-HSPA+ MIMO standards and it'll be Qualcomm's first phone SoC to sport USB 3.0 connectivity. Some of the more crazy features Qualcomm is planning to add is 4K x 2K video at 24fps, 1080p video at 120fps or 1080p 3D video at 60fps.

If you're still waiting for the 2.5GHz part, then please bear with us a little bit longer, as we'll get there in just a second. Qualcomm's first quad core SoC will be the **APQ8064** and as you may or may not know, the APQ models don't feature any built in baseband technology. As such, the APQ chips tend to be used in many devices that don't require internet connectivity, or more commonly as of lately, in tablets where there's room for additional chips that will handle the connectivity. The APQ8064 is similar to the MSM8960, as it's a 1.5 to 1.7GHz SoC, although with a pair of additional cores and 2MB L2 cache. It features Adreno 320 graphics, but it also offers SATA and PCI Express connectivity, something the MSM chips lack.

Things brings us to the 2.5GHz monster, well, it might in fact be even faster as it's not expected to arrive until the second half of 2013. The model in question is the APQ8094 and it'll support either 800MHz DUAL CHANNEL LPDDR3 memory, or DUAL CHANNEL 1333MHz PCDDR4 memory, or in other words, standard desktop DDR4 memory. Apparently by then, desktop memory will be so low power that it will be just as good to use in a tablet as low power mobile memory. Here we're looking at an Adreno 420 GPU which is said to be capable of 400 million triangles per second. Beyond that we don't' have too many details about this upcoming chip, but it'll offer SATA connectivity just like its predecessor and apparently it'll do 3D video at 60fps in 1080p.

We'll be following up this article with a closer look at Qualcomm's more affordable options next week, although as always when we're diving into roadmaps, things are likely going to change before most of these products arrive and we've already seen that some of the models covered here have had their specs changed from earlier roadmaps. That said, it looks like Qualcomm has some interesting products coming over the next couple of years, but the real question is, is it going to be good enough, as the company is getting more and more competitors and none of them are resting on their laurels.

Image courtesy of Pocket-Lint


Read more: vr-zone.com 



Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

vr-zone.com 



Qualcomm unveils new Snapdragon processors

Reported by LG Nilsson on Thursday, November 17 2011 8:50 am

We've already written about some of Qualcomm's upcoming products and now the company has officially announced at least some of those products. The company is readying a range of Snapdragon S4 and S1 processors for next year with the S4 models being based on its new Krait CPU core. VR-Zone has collected some specifications of the newly announced models alongside details of some not yet announced models to give you a better idea of what Qualcomm is working on.

We've already written about some of Qualcomm's upcoming products and now the company has officially announced at least some of those products. The company is readying a range of Snapdragon S4 and S1 processors for next year with the S4 models being based on its new Krait CPU core. VR-Zone has collected some specifications of the newly announced models alongside details of some not yet announced models to give you a better idea of what Qualcomm is working on.

The new S4 models the Qualcomm unveiled are the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030

with the new entry and budget S1 models being the MSM7225A, MSM7625A, MSM7227A and MSM7627A. We've already covered the MSM8660A and the MSM8260A in quite some detail already which you can read here, as well as some other high-end solutions from Qualcomm. As for the other models, well, Qualcomm didn't exactly provide a lot of detail, so we'll try and fill in the blanks.

(S4 Models)

+ Let's start with the MSM8630 and MSM8230,

….a pair of very similar chips to the already announced MSM8930. These are all 28nm parts with the MSM8630 being a CDMA chip with support for 21Mbps HSPA+ as well as EV-DO whereas the MSM8230 supports DC-HSPA+ and TD-SCDMA of which the latter is for the Chinese market. All three models are clocked at 1.2GHz, sports a pair of cores, 1MB L2 cache and supports single CHANNEL LPDDR2 memory at speeds of up to 533MHz. Other features include support for 1080p video recording at 30fps and 3D stills at up to 12Megapixels. The GPU core will be the Adreno 305 and we can expect to see these SoC's towards the second half of 2012. We should also point out that Qualcomm classifies these models as mid-range by the time they launch.

(S2?)

+ Moving down a tier we or two we find the MSM7225A

….. at the bottom which is a 800MHz part at the most based on a 45nm Cortex A5 core paired up with 256KB of L2 cache and an Adreno 200 GPU. It supports 200MHz LPDDR memory, HSUPA connectivity and is limited to HVGA displays. This is a direct replacement for the MSM7225 which is based on the older ARM11 architecture. It sibling for the EV-DO market is the MSM7625A which offers identical spec bar the EV-DO connectivity.

(S3?)

+ Stepping up one tier we find the MSM7227A the replacement for the very popular MSM7227 and once again we're finding a 45nm ARM Cortex A5 core here although this time with clock speeds of up to 1GHz. There's also support for slightly higher resolutions here with FWVGA (854x480) support. Again there's an EV-DO sibling called the MSM7625A which once again sports near identical spec. All the Cortex A5 models should be available to Qualcomm's partners forthwith.

(S1)

This brings us to the MSM8227 which appears to the first Snapdragon based entry budget model from Qualcomm. This is an interesting part in as much as it's signalling a move away from single core processors even in fairly affordable devices as it sports a 28nm DUAL core 1GHz Krait based processor with 512MB L2 cache. It supports 400MHz LPDDR2 memory, 21Mbps HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, 720p video recording and it sports an Adreno 305 GPU. Its EV-DO sibling is the MSM8267 which once again carries near identical specs. These two models aren't set to appear until the second half of next year.

( APQ models)

The APQ models, otherwise known as the modem-less models are fairly similar in terms of spec with the higher-end APQ8060A being a direct replacement for the APQ8060. Here we're looking at yet another DUAL core 28nm Krait based chip with clock speeds of between 1.5 and 1.7GHz paired up with 1MB L2 cache. This model supports 500MHz LPDDR2 memory, 1080p video recording but sadly sports the current Adreno 225 GPU. That said, this model should be available as of right now to Qualcomm's partners, so the older GPU is excused.

The more affordable option here is the APQ8030 which is also a 28nm DUAL core Krait part although this time around with a 1GHz core speed and we don't know the actual cache on this model but we'd guess it's 512KB. Otherwise we're looking at support for 533MHz LPDDR2 memory, 1080p video recording and an Adreno 305 GPU. This models as with so many of the other chips announced isn't expected until the second half of next year.

(S1?)

We can also give you an insight on a few models that Qualcomm didn't announce that falls in the lower-end of the market. By 2013 Qualcomm is planning on releasing the MSM8226 which will replace the MSM7225A and this will be Qualcomm's first DUAL core 28nm Cortex A5 implementation. We're looking at clock speeds of 1GHz, 512KB L2 cache, support for 533MHz LPDDR2, 21Mbps HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, 720p video recording and an Adreno 305 GPU. It's EV-DO sibling is the MSM8626.

(S2?)

Moving up one tier we find the MSM8928 which is fairly similar to the MSM8227 as both are 28nm DUAL core Krait based processors clocked at 1GHz, but theMSM8928 gets support for 800MHz LPDDR3, LTE category 3, DC-HSPA+, TD-SCDMA and 1080p video recording. The GPU is also the slightly faster Adreno 310.

Finally we have another APQ model, namely the APQ8074 which is a mainstream quad core Krait based chip with clock speeds of between 2-2.5GHz. It supports DUAL CHANNEL LPDDR3, 2MB L2 cache, DUAL 1080p video streams at 60fps for 3D video and finally an Adreno 330 GPU. All three models should arrive sometime in 2013.

We should also note that it appears the Qualcomm thinks the feature phone market is dead, as the company is only planning a single new part for next year as far as we can tell. We're not surprised though, as the only really valid change here would really be to do a die shrink if anything, as it's not as if the feature phone marking is moving forward in leaps and bounds.

Source: Qualcomm


Read more: vr-zone.com 


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To: Jim Mullens who wrote (109677)2/18/2012 11:08:15 AM
From: waitwatchwander   of 117538
 
Dual channel memory and pci express bus extension likely also help with the video matter I noted with my Mirasol display. Apple and Qualcomm are tackling at the heart of computerphone issues.

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To: Jim Mullens who wrote (109677)2/18/2012 11:16:16 AM
From: pheilman_2 Recommendations   of 117538
 
dual channel memory bandwidth

Turns out CPUs and GPUs have very different demands for memory, and memory can only be configured one way.

A CPU needs low latency because it needs a new piece of data now to keep running. The new piece of data is located pretty much randomly through out memory. So the memory needs to be setup for low latency and bandwidth is not so critical. CPUs don't really care about bandwidth, but latency slows them to a crawl.

A GPU needs massive bandwidth. Each pixel in the new frame is going to be touched several times before the 60 Hz update. The next piece of data is adjacent to the most recent piece of data requested. The memory holds the last accessed bank "open" and when the GPU requests again the data is available very quickly. The trade-off is that a random access is quite a bit slower.

The memory chips are configured at start up to either keep the banks open for bandwidth or close the banks for lowest latency. Merging CPUs and GPUs doesn't actually pay off due to the memory behavior, didn't work for AMD/ATI and won't work for NVIDIA, unless there are two memory controllers that can be set for the requester.

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To: Jim Mullens who wrote (109677)2/18/2012 11:50:27 AM
From: slacker711   of 117538
 
Do you know how the other ( OMAP / Samsung / Apple, etc) AP competitor’s stack up?


They all support higher memory bandwidth (dual-channel). nVidia is clearly the exception. I'm not sure if Tegra3+ will change this or if it is simply Tegra3 on 28nm.


The good news though is that Q's competition for high-end tablet design wins is mostly Tegra3. Apple is in-house and Exynos hasnt gained traction yet outside of Samsung. OMAP4 has done well, but Krait should outperform any dual-core A9 chip and TI has stated that OMAP5 (dual-core A15) will "maybe" be out by Q4 of this year.


So that leaves quite a bit of room for Q to grab some design wins. Of course, nobody outside of Apple has gained much traction yet with high-end tablets but at least Qualcomm will be in the game.


Slacker

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To: pheilman_ who wrote (109679)2/18/2012 12:10:09 PM
From: Jim Mullens   of 117538
 
Pheilman / W3 / Slacker, thanks for the insight / AMD's graphic chip honcho to QCOM....

AMD Graphics Head Goes to Qualcomm, Says Inquirer February 17, 2012, 2:14 P.M. ET

By Tiernan Ray

The Inquirer‘s Lawrence Latif today reports that the head of graphics chip technology at Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD), Eric Demers, has gone over to Qualcomm ( QCOM), according to an anonymous “industry source.”

AMD had announced Demers’s departure to seek other opportunities earlier this week, it had not said where he was going. Latif writes that AMD aims to compete with Qualcomm in tablet chips. And he writes that he’s been told AMD is not too troubled about how it will find a successor to Demers.

Shares of AMD are down 12 cents, or 1.6% at $7.47. Shares of Qualcomm are up 3 cents at $62.30.

Fin.

blogs.barrons.com 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


more here but can't copy>>>>>>>>>>>>

theinquirer.net 





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To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (109334)2/18/2012 12:43:28 PM
From: waitwatchwander2 Recommendations   of 117538
 
Kindle Fire vs Mirasol Kyobo

youtube.com 

This is a good side-by-side comparison of an LCD device verses a Mirasol device. As many have noted Mirasol is different and does have advantages. The major issues with the Kyobo relate to software which can be addressed by rooting the device and/or sideloding apps.

On a side note here I noticed during the demo of the kindle app on the Kyobo, touch copy and paste appeared to be much more responsive than that which I have experienced. That is good because it shows that my difficulties there are not strictly hardware related.

Edit: Playing around with copy and paste after seeing this video shows me it is the way I am interacting with the touch controls iswhat's generating most of my difficilties. Another issue fixed. Cursor placement for editing is still an issue though.

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To: slacker711 who wrote (109680)2/18/2012 1:03:44 PM
From: Jim Mullens   of 117538
 
Slacker, re: NVDA - dual channel memory

They all support higher memory bandwidth (dual-channel). nVidia is clearly the exception. I'm not sure if Tegra3+ will change this or if it is simply Tegra3 on 28nm.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hasn't NVDA' s "claim to fame" been with GPUs, first in PCs then expanding to the mobile world?

The lack of dual channel memory capability is puzzling, yielding that advantage to QCOM?

Could it be a matter of not having large enough scale to support this R&D, or what do you attribute this failure to?

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To: Jim Mullens who wrote (109683)2/18/2012 1:15:18 PM
From: waitwatchwander1 Recommendation   of 117538
 
Dual channel memory controller designs are likely purchased by Qualcomm and the others. With their PC background, it is likely nVidia didn't want to put out money for that part and got beat by another design team.

If one buys everything there can be little margin left to cover ones integration efforts.

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