Earlier today NVIDIA announced that it would begin licensing its Kepler GPU architecture to 3rd parties. This is a sensible next step for NVIDIA, but an unprecedented one among the two remaining discrete PC GPU suppliers. Note that what NVIDIA is announcing today is contrary to AMD’s semi-custom approach to SoC production. AMD is offering to build (semi) custom tailored silicon to customer needs, while NVIDIA is taking a more ARM-like approach and offering its GPU IP to 3rd parties for integration on their own. In other words, NVIDIA is looking to compete with ARM and Imagination Technologies rather than AMD or Qualcomm. In addition to its GPU architecture, NVIDIA is now also open to licensing its visual computing patents to 3rd parties. The visual computing...
Intel Demos Graphics Performance Analyzer 2012 for Android
One of Intel's advantages as it gets into the smartphone market is its extensive software experience, particularly when it comes to performance optimization and analysis. On Monday at GDC...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/26/2012
Hands on With LG's Optimus 4X HD
We just spent some time with LG's Optimus 4X HD, one of the first NVIDIA Tegra 3 based smartphones. The device features a 4.7-inch IPS 1280 x 720 display...
5 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/26/2012
Google Updates Chrome for Android to 16.0.912.77
Google appears to be taking to an aggressive update schedule with Chrome for Android, today releasing a small Beta 1.1 update to the browser. Among the changes are Android...
11 by Brian Klug on 2/24/2012
Nvidia Announces LTE Partnership with Renesas Mobile and GCT Semiconductor
Nvidia's announcement today is a bit interesting, as it seems to head-off one of the most commonly perpetuated rumors that I read online in the SoC space. Namely, that...
2 by Brian Klug on 2/23/2012
Qualcomm Expands its Gobi Brand to include entire MDM portfolio
For a considerable time now, almost everyone has referred to Qualcomm's Gobi solution incorrectly. Put simply, the Gobi brand was something of a victim of both the confusing reality...
5 by Brian Klug on 2/23/2012
T-Mobile Makes 2013 LTE on AWS plans official in Earnings Report
In T-Mobile USA's fourth quarter 2011 earnings report, the magenta-branded carrier made official its plans to deliver LTE in 2013 on its AWS spectrum holdings, which were recently bolstered...
6 by Brian Klug on 2/23/2012
TI Posts OMAP 5 Dual Core A15 vs Quad Core A9 Video
It seems as though everyone is trying to preempt build excitement before MWC 2012 with their next-generation SoC related news. We've previewed Qualcomm's Krait performance on an MDP MSM8960...
26 by Brian Klug on 2/23/2012
The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (Krait) Preview Part II
Yesterday we presented the first results of Qualcomm's Krait based MSM8960 SoC. While we still await the first Krait based phones (widely expected to begin shipping sometime in Q2)...
49 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/22/2012
LG's Optimus 4X HD: 1.5GHz Tegra 3 Smartphone w/ 4.7-inch HD Display to Launch at MWC 2012
Although we're still waiting on the global announcement, LG Korea has already announced the Optimus 4X HD one of the first Tegra 3 based smartphones. The 4.7-inch display is...
19 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/22/2012
NVIDIA's Rebrands Tegra 3's vSMP as 4-PLUS-1
ARM Cortex A9 cores are relatively tiny and it's not too difficult to put a handful of them down on an SoC. NVIDIA did just that with its Tegra...
5 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/22/2012
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and mini 2 Announced: Mystery SoC Within
In August of last year, Samsung laid out it's naming strategy for their Galaxy line of phones, with a grand total 5 device categories. Well, turns out they left...
7 by Jason Inofuentes on 2/22/2012
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (Krait) Performance Preview - 1.5 GHz MSM8960 MDP and Adreno 225 Benchmarks
If you've been following our SoC and smartphone related coverage over the past couple of years, you'll probably remember how Qualcomm let us take home an MDP8660 from MWC...
86 by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/21/2012
ZTE Mimosa X: First Smartphone Powered by NVIDIA's Icera 450 Modem
In May of last year NVIDIA was on a roll. Hot off the release of the first Tegra 2 based phones, NVIDIA announced the intent to acquire baseband manufacturer...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/20/2012
LG's Optimus Vu Takes On Samsung's Galaxy Note: Are You Ready For A 5.x" Phone?
When Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note at IFA, we were excited, but a bit perplexed. The Galaxy Note's 1280x800 HD Super AMOLED display could be a big winner, but...
32 by Jason Inofuentes on 2/20/2012
Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX Review - 1.8x The Battery
For a while now, our chief complaint when talking about 4G LTE handsets has been battery life. The combination of 45nm cellular basebands, ever increasing screen size, and 4x...
45 by Brian Klug on 2/14/2012
TI Announces WiLink 8 Family - WiFi, GNSS, NFC, BT, and FM Combo Chip
It goes without saying that connectivity is a hugely important part of smartphones. After all, without some sort of network connection, you've basically just got an expensive PDA or...
14 by Brian Klug on 2/13/2012
HTC Announces Initial Ice Cream Sandwich Rollout Plans
A while back, HTC announced the first suite of devices that it would be rolling out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates to. The devce lineup included the entire...
39 by Brian Klug on 2/9/2012
Google Releases Chrome For Android - Updated
It has finally happened; Google has officially released Chrome for Android. In typical Google fashion, the browser is currently in beta and requires Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to...
30 by Saumitra Bhagwat , Andrew Cunningham & Brian Klug on 2/8/2012
Nokia Announces White Lumia 800
Nokia announced today that their first Windows phone, the Lumia 800 (our review), will be available in white later this month. The initial lineup included three color options: black...
6 by Kristian Vättö on 2/7/2012
CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus 4.0.4 Update Changes Signal Reporting
Back when the Verizon CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus released, there was much talk of a signal related issue, which we investigated. The findings back then were that there was nothing...
6 by Brian Klug on 2/6/2012