GLBenchmark has shown a screenshot of what appears to be another new device coming to Sprint, the HTC Shooter. Some say this device is possibly going to have a dual-core Qualcomm processor. What would give that away? Keep reading to learn more.

If you didn’t notice, the image suggests that this device is carrying the new Adreno 220 GPU. Normally, that means it’s going to be paired with twin twin processing units. The image also suggests this device will be running on Android Gingerbread 2.3.2.  Sounds good doesn’t it, or does it? Let us know what you think!

Source: Engadget via glbenchmark

Today Qualcomm announced that it is working with industry leading Gameloft to optimize games for current and upcoming devices running snapdragon processors. What this means for you and me is that now Gameloft games will run smoother, faster and better overall.

Take a look at their Press Release:

– Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced it has signed an agreement with Gameloft, an industry leader in developing and publishing digital and online video games, to deliver an enhanced mobile gaming experience for top Gameloft game titles, such as “SpiderMan Total Mayhem HD,” “Real Football 2011 HD,” “GT Racing: Motor Academy HD” and “Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus.” As an industry leader in mobile processors for tablets and smartphones, Qualcomm has collaborated with Gameloft to optimize Gameloft’s premier HD mobile games for Qualcomm’s current and future generation Snapdragon® processors, such as the MSM®8×55 and dual-core MSM8x60.

Gameloft has successfully worked with Qualcomm to leverage the Adreno® GPU for games such as “Assassin’s Creed Altair’s Chronicles.” With this new agreement, Qualcomm and Gameloft will look to expand this relationship across the growing Snapdragon family of processors to optimize Gameloft’s premier games for Android-based devices, starting with the above mentioned four titles and potentially expanding to others over the course of the year. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon dual-core CPU processors include two asynchronous CPU cores that will run at up to 1.5 GHz per core, embedded Adreno 220 GPU and advanced multimedia capabilities, including a high performance DSP for Dolby5.1, SRS and other surround sound technologies, Adobe® Flash 10 hardware acceleration, video accelerators for full HD 1080p encode and decode and support to display the games on large screen TVs using standards interfaces such as HDMI.

“We are pleased to be working closely with Gameloft to pre-optimize their impressive portfolio of mobile games for Snapdragon processors,” said Raj Talluri, vice president of product management for Qualcomm. “The combination of Snapdragon’s dynamic Adreno GPU technology along with the game development expertise of Gameloft will bring some of the most exciting game franchises to tablets and smartphones this year.”

“We are happy to work with Qualcomm to bring a great gaming experience to tablets and smartphones powered by Snapdragon processors,” said Baudouin Corman, vice president of Gameloft Publishing Americas. “These powerful devices also will help enable the development of immersive games such as ‘Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD,’ ‘N.O.V.A. – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance’ and others. Gameloft is committed to delivering the best HD games to the Android platform and we are pleased to work with Qualcomm to take it to the next level.”

For more information about the Snapdragon family of processors and Adreno GPU, please visit www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon.

About Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies. For 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of wireless communications, connecting people more closely to information, entertainment and each other. Today, Qualcomm technologies are powering the convergence of mobile communications and consumer electronics, making wireless devices and services more personal, affordable and accessible to people everywhere. For more information, visit Qualcomm around the Web:
www.qualcomm.com
Corporate Blog: www.qualcomm.com/blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/qualcomm
Facebook: www.facebook.com/qualcomm

About Gameloft
Gameloft is the worldwide leader in developing and publishing downloadable video games. The company designs games for smartphones and other mobile devices, for which the number of units should exceed four billion in 2012. Gameloft has locations on all continents, distributes its games in 100 countries and has its own production studios with over 3,500 developers. Gameloft is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the Company’s ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of its current and future generation Snapdragon processors, such as the MSM8x55 and dual-core MSM8x60dual-core on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which the Snapdragon platform is adopted, change in economic conditions of the various markets the Company serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 26, 2010, and most recent Form 10-Q.

Source: Qualcomm

As you may remember, back in November, there were talks about Netflix finally coming to Android. The main reason for the delay was security and DRM. Netflix has been available on the iPhone for a while and has been available on Windows Phone 7 since its launch, but it hasn’t been seen on Android yet. According to VentureBeat, Netflix is certifying new Qualcomm chips, meaning that existing ones might not be able to use Netflix.

We can’t find a source confirming this information about current phones, but if the Netflix app is going to require a “Netflix Certified” Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, then we can only guess that this rumor is true. These new Qualcomm chips might be available as early as the 2nd quarter 2011, which means even the newest phones don’t have it yet.

“Although we don’t have a common platform security mechanism and DRM, we are able to work with individual handset manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Unfortunately, this is a much slower approach and leads to a fragmented experience on Android, in which some handsets will have access to Netflix and others won’t. This clearly is not the preferred solution, and we regret the confusion it might create for consumers. However, we believe that providing the service for some Android device owners is better than denying it to everyone.”

Source: VentureBeat

Way back in January, we reported on some dual-core Snapdragon processors that were supposed to go into testing and be released into devices by the end of the year. These were the 8X50A clocked at 1.3GHz and the 8X72 clocked at 1.5GHz. These chipsets aren’t those, but they’re clocked at 1.2GHz and are already being shipped to manufacturers, although Qualcomm won’t tell anyone who. These are the MSM8260 and MSM8660 chipsets, capable of 1.2GHz, GPS, Open GL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1, 1080p video encoding and decoding, a dedicated low-power audio engine, and support for 24-bit WXGA 1280×800 pixel displays. The MSM8260 supports HSPA+, and the MSM8660 supports multi-mode HSPA+ and 1xEV-DO Rev. B.

Source: Qualcomm

PRESS RELEASE:

Third-generation Snapdragon Solutions Feature Two Application Processor Cores Running up to 1.2 GHz to Enable Advanced Smartphones

Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Mobile Station Modem , MSM, MSM8260, MSM8660, MSM8x55, QSD8x50, QSD8x50A, and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA USA). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. In the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the use of the term “Smartbook” in connection with portable computers is reserved exclusively to Smartbook AG, Germany.

With this network of toxic chemical detectors, first responders could quickly address the situation based on the data being sent by the smartphones. Besides chemical fumes, I wonder what type of applications could be built to use this sensor? An app to sense what type of food it is by scent perhaps?

Source : Network World

In the following months, the mobilephere will be overtaken with several new devices and most of them will be running the same underlying chipset design. As any mobile power user will tell you, support for HD video and hardware-accelerated graphics are must-haves for future devices. What will most of these devices have in common? Several things actually. Nearly all will be based on the ARM Cortex A8 chipset, which means they are running the same basic chip with manufacturer-decided variations and branding schemes.

What is most exciting about this chipset is that HD video and hardware-accelerated graphics are now a reality for everybody. As a bonus, this chipset design also meets the ‘required specs‘ that Windows Mobile 7 purportedly has. These specs include-

Following is a list of each ‘branded ARM A8 processor’ and their specifications. I have also listed an example device known to run that chip (is possible).

Make sure to check out this excellent explanation on the differences between the previous generation ARM 11 chipset and the new ARM Cortex A8 chipset if you want to get dirty with the details of why this is such an advancement in technology.

TEGRA

The Tegra chipset, manufactured by Nvidia, is to support

Known Device- Zune HD

SNAPDRAGON

The Snapdragon chipset, designed by Qualcomm, has the following features-

Known devices-

Windows Mobile- Acer neoTouch S200 F1, HTC HD2, Toshiba TG01, LG Monaco,
Android- Acer Liquid A1, HTC Dragon, Sony Xperia X3

ARMADA

The Armada chipset, made by Marvell, includes the following features-

TI (the company, not the rapper) will be releasing their OMAP chipset, which will include-

As you can tell, there are quite a few names to describe the same basic feature set. All and all, it looks to be quite an exciting time for phone launches. With Windows Mobile 7 set to be released sometime later this year, expect a bevy of devices with the ARM A8 chipset to be announced and launched. Already we have seen leaks of a possible HTC HD3 and the HTC Oboe, and more are sure to come!

Sources of information-

Nvidia Tegra Info- Nvidia.com

Qualcomm Snapdragon Info- Qualcomm.com

Marvell Armada Info- Marvell.com

TI OMAP Info- LinuxFordDevices.com

There’s been a lot of hype over the new 1GHz Snapdragon processor that is just now starting to show up in high-end phones like the HD2 and Nexus One. Now that it is becoming the hottest processor available, Qualcomm has announced its successor, with speeds of 1.3GHz and 1.5GHz.

The first one is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8X50A, a 45nm version of the current chip and clocked at 1.3GHz. They will begin sending that one to manufacturers for testing later this January, with devices being released by the end of the year.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8X72 is a dual-core Snapdragon with twin 1.5GHz Scorpion cores, and is also expected to be out before the end of the year. There’s no clarification is this processor will be in manufacturer’s hands for testing by the end of the year, or if that’s when we’ll start seeing devices released.

Source: Slashgear

It looks like Qualcomm doesn’t want to wait around for that though. They’ve posted a job opening on their LinkedIn page asking for some talented developers to solve the decoding issue on Windows Mobile.

Source: PocketNow

It seems that Apple has found a way to circumvent this. Although the Apple iPhone sell’s for on average $590, it looks like they only pay the 5% on the unit price Apple pays Foxconn (the company that actually manufactures the iPhone), which is a mere $244. This loophole has been estimated to save Apple $290 million in fiscal 2009 alone. Qualcomm is only seeing $9.70 for each iPhone sold, instead of making $23.60 per iPhone. That is a savings of $13.90 per device sold, quite a pretty penny when you are selling millions of units per quarter.

How you may ask is Apple able to do this without Qualcomm taking them to court? The entire manufacturing process of the iPhone is done externally, through Foxconn. Qualcomm seems fine with the arrangement as they still make $9.70 per device. Looking at the available data, Qualcomm has raked in close to $27,000,000 in licensing fees.

Source- MaximumPC.com

Source: Engadget ]]> https://www.ppcgeeks.com/2009/11/09/samsung-pays-qualcomm-1-3-billion/feed/ 1