Hasta La Gadget!

Qualcomm’s isn’t really a brand that figures prominently into the average person’s understanding of the mobile space, and that’s exactly the issue that the San Diego-based semiconductor company is trying to tackle in its newest and most prominent CES keynote to date. Cringeworthy introduction aside (facepalm material as far as the eye could see), Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs took the stage to announce some big changes to its Snapdragon line of mobile chipsets.

The S-series moniker slapped onto the chipsets of yore is now officially dead — Qualcomm has just announced a slew of new mobile chipsets complete with some new naming conventions to go with them. Sitting atop the heap is the newly announced Snapdragon 800, which Qualcomm claims will run a full 75 percent faster than the existing Snapdragon S4 Pro (you know, the crazy-fast chipset used in devices like LG’s Optimus G and Nexus 4). It’ll be quite some time before we can test those claims for ourselves (the first Snapdragon 800s won’t see the light of day until around the middle of the year), but its components paint a pretty powerful picture.

The Snapdragon 800 will feature Krait 400 CPU cores that can run as fast as 2.3GHz, an Adreno 330 GPU, and some significant upgrades in terms of connectivity. Think support for LTE-Advanced (which allows for data speeds up to 150Mbps), as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Of course, Jacobs did more than just talk about the 800 series — Guillermo del Toro made a guest appearance to plug Pacific Rim, prompting Jacobs to kick off an impressive clip of the film running off of an 800 series chipset.

Also on deck today was the Snapdragon 600, a considerable leap from its predecessor, the Snapdragon S4 Pro. It sports a few significant differences in architecture when compared to the S4 Pro — it can hit clock speeds of 1.9GHz, and features a slightly snappier version of the Adreno 320 GPU. When all is said and done, the 600 is said to be roughly 40 percent more powerful than the S4 Pro.

Naturally, not every mobile device is going to get a super-fast processor. Qualcomm is prepping chipsets for those entry-level and budget-conscious smartphones, as well, though there wasn’t much detail given today. Take the Snapdragon 200 series, for instance — it’s a more basic chipset that’s geared to provide solid (if not necessarily remarkable) battery life and performance for entry-level smartphones. A 400 series Snapdragon chipset is in the works, too, but Jacobs didn’t spend too much time digging into these little guys; they’ll be fleshed out in greater detail later this year.

As it happens, some of you may have stumbled upon the news a little early — a few prominent sites seem to have pushed news of the Snapdragon overhaul out a little prematurely before hastily taking them offline. Thankfully for Qualcomm though, the accidental release of these articles doesn’t seem to have stolen much thunder (which is really the last thing Qualcomm needs at this point). For what it’s worth, anyone who doubted that Qualcomm was capable of putting on a good show was soundly proven wrong tonight — surprise appearances from Big Bird, NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, and a video address from Archbishop Desmond Tutu were just a few of the treats the company had in store for the audience. If its forthcoming Snapdragon chips (and its push for greater consumer recognition) goes pans out as well as its keynote has, we could be in store for some very impressive days to come from Qualcomm.

This week we got the opportunity to have a chat with Qualcomm’s EVP Murthy Renduchintala who made it clear that the company’s future isn’t just in making high-efficiency next-level processing power SoCs, but to make the smartphone (or smart device) the center of your world definitively. Speaking about how as Qualcomm aims to keep the entire mobile processor experience both high efficiency and high power, Renduchintala made the case for the company’s foresight for a world where it’s no longer a case-by-case basis in which you share and interact with the media you associate with, it’s more of a management situation. You won’t even think about it all, you’ll just do it.

While our chat began with talk of the newly announced set of processors in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 600 lines, it quickly became all about the user experience and what a Qualcomm processor would do for a smartphone in the very near future. As a Personal Media Hub, your smartphone will be your ticket to collect, store, project, and otherwise associate with the media around you – and we’ll have machines that do this better and, again, more efficiently each upgrade cycle the folks at Qualcomm improve their architecture.

“We really see the potential to explore human experiences. It’s a scenario where everything you want to experience in your life is always at hand for transport to the relevant form of media you have in front of you. … We’re not really restricting the definition of a smartphone to a handheld experience. We’re really redefining it toward being your social and multimedia hub that can allow you to interact with your media in a variety of different ways.”
– Renduchintala

Renduchintala also spoke on how Qualcomm’s intent with the technologies they’re using now is to make this interactivity as freely as possible, “in a manner where you don’t have to worry about how many Kilobytes of data you have left in your data plan.” This activity is being set up by Qualcomm to be done with as little “burden on your data network” as possible. With this comes a personal device that can share within the physical space you occupy – not just made to share to the web, but to the 3rd party screens and devices right there in the room.

“[The smartphone] isn’t just a static, self-contained entity that we’re going to hold in our hands. Its pretty much become the center of our digital lives. We basically see it potentially as almost like a personal media hub, where the phone is not just an item that you’re going to hold in your hand, it’s actually going to be a conduit to other things in life. It’s essentially streaming or adapting with the multimedia and interactive devices to really provide you with the epitome of connectivity.” – Renduchintala

Have a peek at the Qualcomm tag portal we’ve got set up and see the major technologies they’ve announced over the past year and see for yourself – they’re in a place as a processor designer and manufacturer where they’re creating a profile and environment in which their hardware is set to be used. Let us know what you think of this approach and stick around throughout CES 2013 and into the future to see what Qualcomm brings to the smart device market throughout the year!

Qualcomm EVP Murthy Renduchintala waxes futuristic in the Personal Media Hub is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Having pushed the Snapdragon S4 into an outrageous number of devices last year, it seemed inevitable that Qualcomm would come to CES 2013 with an even more fiery Snapdragon S5. As it turns out, that prediction was slightly off the mark. We do have new chips to talk about, thank goodness, but a change in the branding means they’re actually called the Snapdragon 600 and 800. Both SoCs are due to arrive in high-end phones, tablets and smart TVs in the next three to six months, and both come with aggressive specs. If you haven’t got the energy to read our slightly more detailed introduction after the break, then here are two key facts to take away:

• Qualcomm hasn’t quit the rat race for a life in academia and Kauaian beach huts
• The heavyweight Snapdragon 800 promises a 75 percent performance lift over the S4 Pro, which ought to make it seriously, seriously fast.

Read on for more.

Continue reading Qualcomm outs Snapdragon 800 and 600: up to 2.3GHz quad-core, 4K video, due by mid 2013

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets

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Qualcomm has unveiled two new quad-core processors, the MSM8226 and the MSM8626. These 28nm silicon chipsets offer support for 13-megapixel cameras and feature an Adreno 305 GPU, which can handle video playback and recording up to full HD 1080p. Both of these processors and their Qualcomm Reference Design versions will make their appearance in Q2 of 2013.

Both the MSM8626 and MSM8226 offer multi-SIM support, including Dual SIM/Dual Standby and Dual SIM/Dual Active. Also featured is a WTR2605 multi-mode radio transceiver, which is tuned to China’s TD-SCDMA, CDMA, and HSPA+ networks. The chipsets have a built-in GPS that supports Beidou and GLONASS.

The WTR2605 transceiver is 60-percent smaller than comparable past offerings, and uses 40-percent less energy. Also slated for release are the Qualcomm Reference Design QRD8226 and QRD8626 processors. With QRD, manufacturers will receive “comprehensive handset development resources,” as well as access to hardware/software that has been tested specifically for QRD devices.

Qualcomm’s Executive Vice President and Co-President of Mobile and Computing Products Cristiano Amon offered this statement. “The expansion of our Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 family extends our leadership in performance and low power for the high-volume smartphones. This expanded roadmap provides our customers with a differentiated feature set upon which to build compelling smartphones for budget-conscious consumers.”

Qualcomm unveils quad-core MSM8626 and MSM8226 processors is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, has announced it has acquired “certain assets” from Israeli company, EPOS Development, which develops low-cost, digital ultrasound positioning technologies for use in input systems such as pen, stylus and gesture recognition.

Here’s how EPOS describes its technology on its website

EPOS technology is based on the transmission of ultrasonic acoustic waves between two or more devices via a Transmitter and a software-based Receiver. The Transmitter, embedded within an input device, sends constant acoustic signals to the software-based Receiver that in turn, uses them to measure the distance and position of the pointing device.

Enabling advanced, embedded technologies for both 2 and 3 Dimensional input solutions, EPOS technology uses only standard MEMs microphones, making it low in cost and easy to integrate with only minimal hardware and design changes required.

Qualcomm said the acquired assets will be incorporated into its Snapdragon processor — a chipset used to power a large variety of Android and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets — in order to “strengthen and differentiate” the chipset, and support “powerful next generation user experiences” for smartphones, tablets and e-readers.

Qualcomm also noted EPOS’ technology works both on and off screen and in three dimensions — flagging up the potential for no-touch user interfaces to be deployed in future mobile devices, moving beyond the current preoccupation with touchscreens. Although Qualcomm also said it intends to provide “digital pen/stylus reference designs” to help accelerate adoption of EPOS’ ultrasound technology across “consumer, enterprise and education” markets — so it’s clearly not exclusively interested in gesture-based input mechanisms.

“As computing evolves beyond the PC, consumers are looking for intuitive new ways to interact with their mobile devices,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, QTI, in a statement. “EPOS’ technology goes beyond the PC-era mouse and keyboard and enables touch-free gesture and pen interactions as user input mechanisms. Enabling this technology on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will allow devices that accommodate a more mobile and multimedia-centric lifestyle.”

Some EPOS staff are joining Qualcomm and will be integrated into the chipmaker’s Israel’s R&D team where they will be working on “delivering new mobile device and service capabilities”.

Release follows below

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced that it has acquired certain assets of EPOS Development, Ltd. (EPOS), a leading developer of ultrasound technologies for input solutions, including pen, stylus and gesture recognition. The company, based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, has developed digital positioning technology that enables device manufacturers to integrate advanced user input capabilities into a wide range of consumer devices.

“As computing evolves beyond the PC, consumers are looking for intuitive new ways to interact with their mobile devices,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, QTI. “EPOS’ technology goes beyond the PC-era mouse and keyboard and enables touch-free gesture and pen interactions as user input mechanisms. Enabling this technology on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will allow devices that accommodate a more mobile and multimedia-centric lifestyle.”

The acquired assets will further strengthen and differentiate Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, allowing unique and powerful next-generation user experiences for smartphones, tablets and e-readers. EPOS team members who are joining Qualcomm will be integrated into Qualcomm Israel’s R&D team and will be focused on delivering new mobile device and service capabilities.

The EPOS technology is based on the digital transmission of ultrasonic waves, enabling precise tracking by a receiver to enable multiple applications.

“Ultrasound technology provides device manufacturers a low-cost approach for integrating pen and stylus-based user interfaces into their products while gaining the benefit of a slew of new capabilities,” said Oded Turbahn, chief executive officer, EPOS. “Relative to other pen and stylus input solutions, the additional bill of material cost for the device is minimal as the technology does not require changes to the device’s screen and is independent of screen size. The EPOS team is excited about joining Qualcomm in working to further the potential of digital ultrasound.”

EPOS’ ultrasound technology provides a differentiated, high-resolution user experience that works on screen and off screen, as well as in three dimensions. Qualcomm intends to provide digital pen/stylus reference designs to help accelerate adoption of this technology in the consumer, enterprise and education markets.

About EPOS Development, Ltd.

EPOS Development, Ltd. is a leading provider of advanced digital positioning technologies. Headquartered in Israel and backed by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Walden Israel Venture Capital and Tel-Ad, EPOS develops next-generation input solutions for consumer electronics and mobile devices.

About Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), is redefining the way people incorporate wireless devices and services into everyday life. QTI and its subsidiaries operate substantially all of Qualcomm’s research and development activities, and product and services businesses, including Qualcomm’s semiconductor business, QCT. QTI’s developments enable opportunities across the wireless and wired value chains by making devices and networks faster, content richer and communications more personal and affordable to people everywhere. For more information, go to www.qualcomm.com.