Just like tablets with dual core processors begin to hit shelves, the makers of chip samples are now shipping quad-core chip that could make it even faster devices.
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nvidia has announced a new chip Tegra quad core, code-named Kal El, which the company claims that it twice to surf the Web faster dual core 2 current Tegra, which is used in tablets from Motorola, LG, Asus, Toshiba and Viewsonic. Qualcomm has announced a new chip Snapdragon quad core, offering speeds of up to 2.5 GHz per core and consume less power than current ARM based CPU core, 65% according to a statement of the company.
Beyond programs running faster, the new chip will turn the mobile media powers. Kal-El NVIDIA is able to play videos 1440p--exceeds the normal resolution 1080p video--which the company claims that it is better than some graphics processors in chip PCs. Qualcomm will include core graphics that could bring stereoscopic 3D video for mobile devices.
The first mobile devices with Kal-El chip could come soon, and deliver up to 12 hours of battery life, said Ken Brown, a spokesman for Nvidia. Qualcomm has not responded to requests for comment on when his chip would reach devices, but in education said unit testing of its new Snapdragon chip could begin shipping in the second half of this year. The company did not provide the clock speed for processors.
Quad-core chips announced in Barcelona are based on ARM architecture, as it is one from Texas Instruments announced last week.
The use of these chips is a sign that the tablets and Smartphones are trying to grow and be more like PCs, said Jack Gold, principal analyst j. Gold Associates.
However, quad-core chip may be overkill as the use of all cores could drain battery quickly, just as in laptops, said gold. Applications of high-definition graphics are notoriously power hungry and Kal El of Nvidia chip distributes many graphics cores, which could contribute to battery power, said gold.
"When you deploy four cores and Core [graphic] 12, you're sucking battery. Users will be willing to put up with that? " Gold, he said.
Average users mostly browse the Web and make phone calls will be satisfied with mobile devices with dual core processors. Users who want blazing performance may opt for quad-core chip, but might be necessary to prepare to keep devices connected throughout the day, said gold.
The success of quad-core chips in mobile devices will depend on the number of applications that leverage all processor cores, said gold. Mobile applications are still written for dual-and single-core processors and developers will need to change the way they write applications so processing is evenly distributed across multiple cores, said gold.
There is clearly a demand for mobile quad core chip, chip manufacturers would not offer such products, otherwise said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research.
The amount of power absorbed by the quad-core chip is a concern, but there's a lot of experimentation going on around mobile devices, said McCarron. Dual core chips may suffice for devices such as Smartphones and tablets, but quad-core processors could be relevant for handheld gaming devices or tablets.
For example, Sony next console gaming laptop NGP will run on a quad-core chip based on ARM Cortex processor design-9.
A lot of processing power on mobile devices is from user interface tasks as the orientation of the screen, which is sufficient for dual core processors, McCarron, said. But Intel chip schematics and arm have the ability to stop the nuclei that are not in use, then there is a significant penalty for having extra cores. However, activity using all cores could drain the battery, he said.
But the mobile device market is still evolving, McCarron, said. There may be some devices that require high performance and companies are building offerings to include the chips that deliver maximum performance.
"It emphasizes how rapidly is developing the segment [mobile]," said McCarron.
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