A mobile processor is a customised processor, most commonly found in mobiles. The design and size is for the fact that it is designed for smaller systems. For example, it is typically housed in a smaller chip package, but more importantly, in order to run cooler, it uses lower voltages than its desktop counterparts and has more ‘sleep mode’ capabilities. When not in use, a mobile processor can be throttled down to different power levels while different sections of the processor can be turned off entirely. Another unique feature is the stepping down of the clock frequency under low processor loads, which can assist in conserving power and prolonging battery life.
Qualcomm Incorporated announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., is sampling its first products in its latest generation of processors. With the introduction of its newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 , Qualcomm continues to lead the industry by raising the bar on performance per watt and delivering unparalleled user experiences.
Features
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors are expected to deliver a performance level, which is up to 75 per cent better than the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The much publicised move to 28nm HPm technology (High Performance for mobile) node is to ensure performance at exceptionally low power levels. The CPU in the Snapdragon 800 is a 2.3 GHz quad-core Krait 400; a marked improvement over the 1.7 GHz quad core Krait core in the previous generation Snapdragon S4 Pro. The memory has been upgraded from a dual-channel system operating at 533 MHz delivering a max speed of 8.5Gbps to a 32-bit dual-channel operating at 800 MHz with an LPDDR3 memory delivering a max speed of 12.8 Gbps.
The new Adreno 330 GPU delivers more than 2x performance for compute applications over the current Adreno 320 GPU. The presence of the new Hexagon DSP V5 delivers floating point support, dynamic multi-threading and expanded multimedia instructions for enhanced low power performance.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors have been optimised on the communication front too. They are equipped with the third generation 4G LTE modem with data rates up to 150 Mbps and advanced carrier aggregation to maximise the radio frequency bandwidth. It also comes with support enabled for Wi-Fi, USB 3.0 and FM.
On the performance front, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors also introduce the very latest mobile experiences. They can capture, playback and display in UltraHD format (four times the pixel density of 1080p). Support for computational camera is provided via dual image signal processors. A HD multichannel audio with DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus is provided for an enhanced audio experience.
Availability
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors are currently sampling and expected to be available in commercial devices by mid-year 2013.
