COMPUTEX 2012 has kicked off from yesterday in Taipei, Taiwan. This event is one of the largest computer expo held in the world.
Microsoft’s brand new Os i.e Windows 8 has three versions classified based on the processor types Windows RT for ARM, and Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro for Intel x86 chips. Last week the company has officially released its Windows 8 Release preview in the market. At computex most of the computer/tablet manufacturers are displaying their latest devices running on this version of the Windows Os. Until now most of the tablets powered by ARM based chipsets are running on Android platform. Next half of this year will see some more beautiful tablets, laptops running on the latest windows metro style os.
Qualcomm presented one of the world’s first windows 8 tablet running on ARM platform. Qualcomm’s Krait architecture based Snapdragon S4 soc (system on chip) is built on ARM Cortex A15 processor. The video below shows how smoothly the Windows RT is running on the new ARM platform.
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Features of Snapdragon S4 Processors
Snapdragon CPU’s are high performance CPU’s of Qualcomm. Snapdragon soc model numbers like MSM8260A or MSM8230 are little hard to grasp. So qualcomm has framed a simple protocol for consumers w.r.t its Soc’s (System On Chip) for the sake of easy understanding. It has divided its Snapdragon Soc’s into four categories. S1, S2, S3 and S4. S1 being the cheap and low power device whereas S4 is the most powerful device.
SnapDragon S4 soc (MSM8960) is the successor to the Scorpion CPU. S4 soc is based on the new microprocessor architecture called as Krait and it is the second generation CPU from Qualcomm. S4 is well suited processor for high end smartphones and tablets. Let us see what are the new features in this new architecture Krait.
Features of Snapdragon S4 (Krait) Soc:
– first mobile processor to be manufactured using the latest 28nm architecture
– new pipeline architecture increases the performance of krait over 60% compared to the existing qualcomm’s scorpion CPU micro-architecture.
– different configurations available like Single/Dual/Quad core with frequency range from 1.5GHz upto 2.5GHz per core and supports asynchronous symmetric multiprocessing for better performance and power efficiency.
– incase of a dualcore/quadcore the cpu’s are capable to work independently.
– includes dual-channel memory for processor to handle large bandwidth requirements in multicore systems.
– high performance Adreno GPU (Adreno225/ Adreno305) for high quality video and console quality gaming
– advantages like frequency scaling, low power consumption, better thermal performance and smaller size are achieved because of 28nm architecture.
– first fully integrated 2G/3G/4G Modem for fast internet browsing and app downloads. Supports standards like LTE multi mode, HSPA+, CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-D0 Rel A/B, GSM, GPRS, and EDGE.
– uses ARMv7 Instruction set architecture for advanced process technology.
– Qualcomm’s hexagon DSPs low power engine used for high power efficiency.
– Connectivity options like GPS, Bluetooth4.0 WiFi and FM supported.
– Integrated HDMI v1.4 interface
– Video: HD 1080p, 30fps video playback and streaming
S4 is available in the following Qualcomm products:
APQ8064, APQ8060A, MSM8960, MSM8660A, MSM8260A, APQ8030, MSM8930, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, MSM8625, MSM8225
Video showing Snapdragon S4 QuadCore processor: