|
Qualcomm gave reporters a chance to try out Windows RT on itsSnapdragon S4 processor at the Computex trade show Wednesday,though there's still no word when Windows tablets on Qualcommhardware will hit the market. Windows RT is the first PC OS from Microsoft that will run onARM-based processors like the Snapdragon. Expected later this yearwhen Windows 8 ships, it should allow manufacturers to buildWindows tablets and laptops with longer battery life than their x86counterparts offer today. I played with Windows RT for a short time on a Qualcomm referencetablet that's being used internally but hasn't shipped yet tooutside developers. The tablet was running the Release Preview ofthe OS that came out a few days ago, on a dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8960Snapdragon S4 CPU with 2GB of RAM. That's the chip that will shipin the first Windows RT devices when they hit the market, said RobChandhok, president of Qualcomm's Internet Services division. Soon after, Qualcomm will also offer a quad-core version of itsSnapdragon S4 for Windows RT devices, but to add the extra CPUcores it will have to remove the integrated 3G and 4G LTE modemsthat are part of the MSM8960, Chandhok said. Windows RT's Metro interface performed well for the most part, withone or two exceptions. The Metro tiles slid smoothly across thescreen with the push of a finger. I fired up Internet Explorer 10and navigated around the New York Times website which has lots ofgraphics and some Flash elements and it looked fine, especiallygiven that I was on a 3G connection, all that was available at thetime. Qualcomm said the Wi-Fi network in the demo room had becomeoverloaded. Photos looked crisp and Bing Maps showed our location at the TaipeiGrand Hyatt, so the GPS was working. Playback of a 1080p video demowas less successful -- it stuttered to a halt after 20 seconds eventhough it was playing from local storage. I also had to repeat sometouch gestures to get a response, but that could be because I'm newto the Metro interface. A Qualcomm representative noted it was areference unit and said there was still some optimization work todo between the hardware and software. Microsoft is working with three manufacturers of ARM chips to bringWindows RT to market; the others are Nvidia and Texas Instruments.Only an Nvidia-based tablet has been announced so far, however,Asustek Computer's Tablet 600 unveiled Monday . Qualcomm couldn't say when the S4 would appear in a shippingWindows RT product. Chandhok said it was because Qualcomm'spartners chose not to announce their products at Computex. He saidthere was no technical reason Qualcomm-based Windows RT productsshouldn't be available at the same time as those from its rivals. Chandhok expects Windows tablets and laptops with the S4 to go onsale roughly simultaneously, though there was no laptop referencedesign were on show here. The ARM-based chips should allowmanufacturers to make slim, fanless laptops with long battery life. Other devices will use Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor.Qualcomm's current S4 has fewer cores but the advantage ofintegrated 3G and 4G connectivity. It will lose that edge when it'sfirst four-core part comes out, but somewhere down the road it willcombine four cores and the 3G/4G modems on one chip, Chandhok said. With its background in cell phones, Qualcomm hopes to distinguishitself on the power-efficiency of its processors. It released a video Monday that purports to show how hot its competitors chips runcompared to its own. "In the world of processors, heat is wasted energy -- you'rebasically using the battery as a space heater," Chandhok said. The MSM8960 will be manufactured on a 28-nanometer processtechnology. Qualcomm has said its 28-nanometer parts will be inshort supply this year, because of capacity constraints at itsfoundry partner TSMC, but Chandhok declined to comment on thoseproblems Tuesday. James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news forIDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai . James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Optical Fiber Patch Cord Manufacturer , Fiber Optic Odf Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Optical Fiber Connectors.
Related Articles -
Optical Fiber Patch Cord Manufacturer, Fiber Optic Odf Manufacturer,
|
