Qualcomm, the company who makes the Snapdragon processor seen in many Android devices, has overhauled their naming scheme. Qualcomm’s naming scheme used to be MSM8260, MSM855T, MSM8930, and so on. Today, Qualcomm is moving their naming scheme into a four tier system: S1, S2, S3, S4.
S1 processors will be 1GHz and below and will be for mass market. S2 is for high performance devices, like the Droid Incredible, with speeds up to 1.4 GHz. Devices like the EVO 3 will fall under S3, with up to 1.5 GHz. And finally, S4 will be for everything between 1.6 GHz and 2.5 GHz — which doesn’t actually include anything, yet.
When better processors come around S1 won’t become S2, rather, a S5 tier will be created. Check out the S3 below: (via TechCrunch)
An iFixit teardown of HTC’s Evo 4G reveals a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. HTC denied jumping ship to adopt Samsung-manufactured chips.
Recently, there has been talk of Taiwanese handset maker HTC adopting mobile processors from Samsung in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs and royalty fees, the move that would be called a major blow to HTC’s current chip supplier, Qualcomm. Responding to the rumors, HTC denied the reporting, Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes reports.
Having procured memory products and display panels from Samsung, HTC is unlikely to add procurement of mobile processors to heavily rely on Samsung, the sources analyzed. In addition, adoption of Samsung’s mobile processors would not help decrease royalty payments because HTC still has to pay royalty to owners of patents concerned, such as Qualcomm, Nokia and Microsoft, the sources pointed out.
The source also noted that HTC “has adopted ST-Ericsson’s U8500 platform for entry- to mid-level smartphone models to be launched in the first half of 2012”. HTC is paying an estimated $5 per each Android handset sold as part of their patent protection agreement with Microsoft. Obviously, the company knows better than to become trapped with a sole supplier like Samsung…
Look at what happened to Apple, Samsung’s biggest buyer of various components, including custom-designed A4/A5 processors for iPhones, iPods and iPads and NAND flash chips for computers and mobile gadgets. Following increased competition from Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet and Galaxy S smartphone families, Apple and Samsung become frenemies. The California gadget maker is now suing “copyist” Samsung and reportedly taking its billions of dollars in orders elsewhere, including next-generation A6 processor manufacturing to TSMC.
We got a chance to take a look at the new MyTouch Slide last week and came away both impressed and yet slightly let down.
On one hand this is a rocket fast phone with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor that is in both the Sensation and the EVO 3D but in a much smaller package. The screen size and resolution have also been pared down to more traditional standards (3.7-inch and 480×800 pixels) but it is still a great display with great angles. Being a ‘Slide’, it has a slide-out keyboard which is very nice to the touch – but only 4 rows. The phone is awfully thin for a slider and perhaps the thinnest slide keyboard device out there.
The show stopper however is the shooter. The Slide has the “most advanced” 8-Megapixel camera on the market with its hard (0 lag) shutter, f/2.2 lens, backside-illuminated CMOS sensor which can record 1080P video. It also has three new technologies:
• SweepShot™: for capturing panoramic shots by sweeping across an entire scene in a single
motion
• ClearShot™ HDR: for capturing objects in bright settings so your photos are not affected by
high-contrast lighting
• BurstShot™: for capturing multiple photos in a quick burst so you don’t miss the perfect
photo
This phone is on par with a mid-range point and shoot camera, yet it has all of the GPS/social/internet features fo a smartphone. Both video and still were as good as any phone I’ve seen. While pictures and movies look amazing on the little 3.7-inch screen, it will be interesting to see how those pictures translate to the bigger screen (TVs) and paper.
If your smartphone wishlist starts with best camera out there, this is your phone.
