New Qualcomm Chipset Brings Everything But The Kitchen Sink

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070905/tc_pcworld/136833' target='_blank'>http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/200..._pcworld/136833</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The microprocessor currently being sampled is a 1GHz chip that uses between 250 milliwatts and 500 milliwatts of power, he said. Intel's best processor for ultramobile PCs is A110, which runs at 800MHz and uses 3 watts of power. The SnapDragon chipset also contains a 600MHz digital signal processor, and offers connectivity to mobile broadband technologies including CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000), 1xEVDO (Evolution-Data Only), HSDPA/HSUPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/High Speed Uplink Packet Access) as well as mobile TV, Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), and WLAN (wireless-LAN)."</i><br /><br />The Scorpion processor used on the Snapdragon chipset is ARM-based, just like the Intel/Marvell chips currently used to power all Windows Mobile devices, so this is a significant challenge to Marvell and a big boost in capabilities. I'm not sure the comparison to Intel's McCaslin platform is warranted however, because the clock speeds aren't directly comparable and the instruction set is completely different. Nevertheless, this chipset could be used as the basis for a new generation of mobile devices and Intel's new MID class of devices - given manufacturing and development lead times, look for new devices powered by this chipset by the middle of next year. In related news, <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/09/05/HTC-to-use-Qualcomm-chips_1.html">HTC will be using Qualcomm chips onboard</a> at least 10 devices to be released by the end of the year , with some of them being targeted for the US. There appears to be no problems with these new devices in relation to the import ban on certain Qualcomm chips, which would seem to imply that none of these are EVDO capable.

[virain]

We yet to see latest Marvell processors in new devices. How long would it take to come these to the market before they become chip enough for OEMS?

[SpencerAR]

Nurhisham:

If the initial quote clip states: "...CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000), 1xEVDO (Evolution-Data Only), ...", how then can one imply that the chips are EV-DO capable?

Regardless, the spectrum range on the chips sounds truly amazing. I can only hope that PDA phones armed with these chips appear on all of the carriers.

[PdaAddict]

I have recently switched from HTC Hermes to Mogul, which uses the latest and gratest Qualcomm chipset and I can't say that I am realy happy with the performance. In my experience Marvell or Samsung CPUs are much snappier. I will talk PxA 270 even running at 416 MHZ any day over MSM 7200. Qualcomm specs only look good on paper.

[Malkatraz]

Nurhisham:



Regardless, the spectrum range on the chips sounds truly amazing. I can only hope that PDA phones armed with these chips appear on all of the carriers.

I doubt it. They are talking about UMPC's. Not Pocketpc's. We probably won't see many ppc's powered by CPU's running greater than 600mhz for a while yet. The performance gains for the battery sacrifice is just not worth it.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

If the initial quote clip states: "...CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000), 1xEVDO (Evolution-Data Only), ...", how then can one imply that the chips are EV-DO capable?

I was actually referring to the 10 devices HTC are supposedly bringing out, not so much the chips installed in them. Although the capability might be built into the chipset, it's up to the manufacturer to enable them. So you could have a CDMA/EVDO capable chipset in a device, but with the capability disabled. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Regardless, the spectrum range on the chips sounds truly amazing. I can only hope that PDA phones armed with these chips appear on all of the carriers.

I'm with you there.

I doubt it. They are talking about UMPC's. Not Pocketpc's. We probably won't see many ppc's powered by CPU's running greater than 600mhz for a while yet. The performance gains for the battery sacrifice is just not worth it.

Actually, because Scorpion is based on the ARM architecture, they are very unlikely to turn up in UMPCs at all. For one, an ARM-based processor is far lower powered than an x86 processor - I would say a 1GHz Scorpion is the functional equivalent of a 90MHz-166MHz Pentium (that's right, the first Pentium generation).

Second, they won't run an x86 OS like XP or Vista, although something like the stripped OSX on the iPhone would be a possiblity as it runs on an ARM processor as well - ARM based Linux builds are possible too, hence the reason why I mentioned Intel's MIDs. That's also why I stated that a direct comparison with Intel's A1xx McCaslin processors wasn't really legit.

[Menneisyys]

I have recently switched from HTC Hermes to Mogul, which uses the latest and gratest Qualcomm chipset and I can't say that I am realy happy with the performance. In my experience Marvell or Samsung CPUs are much snappier. I will talk PxA 270 even running at 416 MHZ any day over MSM 7200. Qualcomm specs only look good on paper.

That's really bad news - some Kaiser users have been praising their devices' snappiness. And it also has 3D support, which, hopefully, will be more widely supported than 2700G (let alone the even less compatible GoForce 5500).

What about the battery life, BTW? Is it considerably better than that of Samsung / Intel? Is it comparable to TI OMAP?

[PdaAddict]

Mogul battery life is dismal. Just open any forum and you will see people complaining about it everywhere. In all fairness it may have more to do with EVDO being on then the chipset but I am no expert. What I do know is that when I manually shut the data connection, my baterry lasts much longer.