Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 revealed: power up quick!

With the introduction of their full 2013 (and beyond) lineup of processors for the mobile universe, Qualcomm had made it clear that they’re here not only to stay, but to bring on feature boosts like Quick Charge 2.0. With this second iteration of the feature many only discovered existed just about a week ago, you’ll be charging up to 75% faster than the competition. This means that if you’ve got your phone (with Quick Charge 2.0 technology inside), and your friend has their phone, and you’re both charging your devices at the same time, you’ll be going up to 75% faster than he or she – off to the races!

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There’s already a collection of Quick Charge 1.0 device out in the wild today, each of them working with Snapdragon processor. This is a Qualcomm technology, so you can expect many device to be working with it in the future as well. Many HTC devices in the past have been working with Quick Charge 1.0, and the HTC One is a device that’ll be busting out with Quick Charge 2.0 in the very near future. Quick Charge 2.0 comes embedded in all smartphones and tablets working with the next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor under the hood.

This technology resides in both the device and the AC/DC wall charger you’re using day to day. Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 is offered as a standalone IC solution (outside the Snapdragon 800) or as part of the Snapdragon 800 processor’s power management integrated circuit (PMIC). According to Qualcomm, devices they’d tested before Quick Charge 2.0 technology was embedded took 7 hours to charge compared to 3 hours after the switch.

The great thing about Quick Charge 2.0 is the fact that Qualcomm is working – right this minute – with AC/DC chipset suppliers to “fully enable the power supply ecosystem.” In other words, you’ll be using Quick Charge 2.0 and might not even know it. In addition, while Quick Charge 1.0 was made primarily for mobile devices, Quick Charge 2.0 will be ramping up to 60 watts of power when needed, both improving charge times for mobile devices and getting powerful enough to charge up notebooks, too.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional Qualcomm insights from the past week and get pumped up about Mobile World Congress 2013 and more Qualcomm action than you can handle. Hit up our Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal for more information right this minute!


Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 revealed: power up quick! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Qualcomm formally details lower-end Snapdragon 400 and 200 processors

Qualcomm formally details lowerend Snapdragon 200 and 400 processors

We knew way back at CES that Qualcomm had a few lower-end chips up its sleeve, but now it’s official: the Snapdragon 400 and 200 have been formally detailed in a company blog post thrown up today. Following in the footsteps of the high-end Snapdragon 800 and 600, these units are being aimed at “the mid-tier and entry level smartphone segments.” The 400 options include dual Krait CPUs running at up to 1.7GHz per core, quad ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs humming along at up to 1.4GHz per core, and an Adreno 305 GPU. You’ll also find support for TDSCDMA, DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps), 1x Advanced, W+G CDMA, and multi-SIM capabilities of Dual SIM, Dual Standby (DSDS) and Dual SIM, Dual Active (DSDA), as well as support for up 13.5 megapixel camera sensors, 1080p video capture / playback and Miracast wireless display tech. For the number nerds, Snapdragon 400 processors now include the following part numbers: 8226, 8626, 8230, 8630, 8930, 8030AB, 8230AB, 8630AB and 8930AB.

As for the 200, you’ll get quad ARM Cortex-A5 CPUs at up to 1.4GHz per core, an Adreno 203 GPU, HD video playback, GPS, LPDDR2 RAM, multi-SIM support and the ability to handle up to 8 megapixel camera sensors. Snapdragon 200 processors now include the following part numbers: 8225Q, 8625Q. Unfortunately, pricing is being kept under wraps, and it seems that Qually is going to leave it to its wondrous partners to actually announce new hardware that’ll be powered by its latest duo. With Mobile World Congress kicking off in a matter of days, something tells us you won’t have to wait much longer for the nitty-gritty.

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Source: Qualcomm

Qualcomm Snapdragon Voice Activation revealed with “always-on” action

This week Qualcomm has upped the ante with a selection of features for their next-generation chipsets for mobile devices. The most recent announcement is for Snapdragon Voice Activation, this technology built in to the Qualcomm Fluence PRO suite of the chipmakers’ integrated audio solutions. In simplest terms, this means you’ll soon be able to wake up your phone by saying “Hey Snapdragon” – this phrase set by whatever manufacturer decides to use the technology, of course.

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With Snapdragon Voice Activation, your smartphone will have the ability to have an “always on” feature so it’ll always be listening for your voice. That way whenever you want the phone to wake up and do things for you, you wont have to touch it at all. THis will be coming in the Snapdragon 800 series of processors and will be able to work even if your smartphone had been in airplane mode, standby, or a variety of sleep modes.

Connecting with the smartphone (or tablet)’s/HLOS voice natural user interface, you’ll be working with your phone without a tap in the very near future. This solution has been pushed by Qualcomm as a secure and low-power feature that’ll be able to work only with the voice of the owner of the device. Of course if you’ve got a twin that’s got the same voice modulation as you, you might be in for a surprise – but what are the odds?

Qualcomm is also making it clear this week that “over 55 Snapdragon 800-powered devices” are already in development. That means one whole heck of a lot of mega-powerful smartphones and tablets over the next few months. Can’t wait!

Have a peek at the timeline below for more Qualcomm action as we ramp up to Mobile World Congress 2013 starting in less than a week!


Qualcomm Snapdragon Voice Activation revealed with “always-on” action is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Qualcomm unveils its Snapdragon 400 and 200 processors

Qualcomm has just unveiled the full details of its Snapdragon 400 and Snapdragon 200 processors. The Snapdragon 400 processors are aimed towards the entry-level to mid-tier market while the Snapdragon 200 processors are aimed soley at the entry-level smartphone market. Qualcomm is hoping to take the smartphone market by storm by getting its products into as many mobile devices as possible, and while these processors are aimed at the lower-end of the market, they’ll still offer great mobile processing performance.

Qualcomm unveils its Snapdragon 400 and 200 processors

The Snapdragon 400 comes in two options. The first option is a 1.7GHz dual-core Krait CPU that offers aSMP (Aysnchronous Symmetric Multiprocessing) for great performance with efficient battery usage. The second option is a 1.4GHz quad-core A7 CPU that’s aimed solely at entry-level devices. Both of the Snapdragon 400 options will feature an Adreno 305 GPU to enable fast and smooth performance for 3D gaming and power-hungry apps, as well as fast web browsing. The Snapdragon 400 processors will support cameras of up to 13.5MP, premium audio, 1080p video capture and playback, and Miracast, which will allow you to stream content from your mobile device to any HDTV. It will utilize LPDDR2 or LPDDR3 RAM (Low Power Double Data Rate) that will optimize the Snapdragon 400 for great performance and battery usage. It supports 42Mbps HSPA+, W+G CDMA, dual-sim capabilities, and TDSCDMA.

The Snapdragon 200 processors are aimed solely at the entry-level smartphone market. There is only one option for the Snapdragon 200 processors. It will feature a 1.4GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A5 processor, Hexagon QDSP5, Adreno 203 GPU, support for LPDDR2 RAM, HD video playback, dual-sim capabilities, and support for cameras up to 8MP.

Both processors will be starting a new generation of entry-level and mid-tier smartphones. Now consumers will have the option to purchase smartphones that are both cost-friendly, yet not terrible in performance. These Snapdragon processors are expected to be released sometime around mid-2013.

[via Qualcomm]


Qualcomm unveils its Snapdragon 400 and 200 processors is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Qualcomm details Quick Charge 2.0 and Snapdragon Voice Activation: 75 percent faster charging, wake by speaking

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Qualcomm didn’t show all its cards for this year when it unveiled the Snapdragon 600 and 800 at CES. The company is introducing a second-generation power charging technology, Quick Charge 2.0, that promises to cut mobile device charging times by as much as 75 percent versus regular power systems. Qualcomm has seen a tablet’s 7-hour top-up time reduced to under 3 hours. While 2.0 requires an optimized charger and is baked into the Snapdragon 800, it’s not exclusive to Qualcomm-based hardware — or small devices, for that matter. The updated Quick Charge is available as a stand-alone circuit, and could drive even laptops demanding up to 60W of energy. We don’t yet know the customer list, although Snapdragon 800 partners are included as a matter of course.

The telecom giant is saving one trick for itself, however. Snapdragon Voice Activation lets Snapdragon 800-based devices wake up through a specific voice command, whether or not those devices are online: think of it as a more advanced, less search-dependent parallel to Samsung’s wake-up trigger in S Voice. Both devices and software support must fall into place to make Voice Activation work, but truly hands-free mobile control could have a solid footing in the market before the year is over.

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Qualcomm(R) Quick Charge 2.0: Less Time Charging, More Time Doing

You can’t go mobile if you’re stuck plugged into an outlet waiting for your smartphone or tablet to charge. Last year, over 70 devices launched with Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0, an in-device solution that enables smartphones and tablets to charge up to 40% faster. Today we’re introducing the next generation, Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, a solution that resides in both the device (offered as a standalone IC solution or as part of the PMIC power management integrated circuit of Snapdragon[TM] 800 processors) and in the AC/DC wall charger. It’s even faster and more flexible than Quick Charge 1.0, and will be inside smartphones and tablets powered by Snapdragon 800 processors.

Products with Quick Charge 2.0 can charge up to 75% faster than products without Quick Charge technology. In our labs we found tablets that normally take over 7 hours to charge were able to reach full charge in less than 3 hours with the Quick Charge 2.0 solution.

Quick Charge 2.0 devices are designed to play nice with Quick Charge 1.0 chargers and vice versa; they’re all backwards and forwards compatible. You can use a Quick Charge 2.0 charger with a Quick Charge 1.0 device, since by default the 2.0 charger safely provides only the voltage/power allowed by the 1.0 device. And although 2.0 devices will ship with 2.0 chargers, these devices can be charged safely by 1.0 chargers as well but at ‘1.0 speed’. However to get the fastest, most optimal charge, simply use a 2.0 charger with a 2.0 device. Then and only then, will the 2.0 charger provide the higher voltage at the request of the 2.0 device.

Quick Charge 2.0 will soon be built into standard micro-USB AC/DC wall chargers, so these chargers won’t look or operate differently and will be widely available. In fact, Qualcomm is already working with leading AC/DC chipset suppliers and their AC/DC power supply partners to fully enable the power supply ecosystem.

You’ll soon be able to charge even more types of devices faster. While Quick Charge 1.0 technology, with about 10 watts of power, was designed primarily for smartphones and tablets, Quick Charge 2.0 delivers up to 60 watts, not only improving charge times for smartphones and tablets, but adding support for larger mobile computing devices like slim notebooks.

We anticipate that devices and wall chargers with Quick Charge 2.0 will be available for purchase by early 2014; all smartphones and tablets with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor will have Quick Charge 2.0. Snapdragon 800 processors are an entire system-on-a-chip and feature a CPU, GPU, DSP, LTE Modem and much more, enabling UltraHD video, high-end 3D gaming, 7.1 surround sound, and up to 55 Megapixel image captures, so being able to quick charge means less time charging and more time doing!

The Snapdragon processor is designed to consume very little power, so once your device is quick charged, you won’t have to worry about charging for a while. Our website provides all the latest information on our upcoming Snapdragon 800 processors and about Qualcomm Quick Charge. Qualcomm Quick Charge is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Snapdragon[TM] wakes up the mobile world with Snapdragon Voice Activation

Having raised the bar for mobile processor features and efficiency, Snapdragon 800 processors are our proudest achievement to date. And at CES, Paul revealed some of the unique new features Snapdragon 800 processors will come loaded with, including IZat location technology, UltraHD video and quad Krait 400 cores at up to 2.3 GHz each.

That said, we’re always keen to save a few surprises for later. If you’re wondering what more we could add to the Snapdragon 800 package, we’ve got two words for you: “Voice Activation”

Today, we’re pleased to introduce Snapdragon Voice Activation, the world’s first integrated always-on, low-power listening feature. Snapdragon Voice Activation, a new addition to the Qualcomm Fluence[TM] PRO suite of integrated audio solutions, enables devices powered by Snapdragon 800 processors to be “woken up” by a custom voice command (beginning with a custom phrase set by the device OEM like “Hey Snapdragon”, for example) and respond without even a single key press. After recognizing a custom word or phrase, Voice Activation wakes the Snapdragon-based device, even if it had been in standby or airplane mode, and connects to the OEM’s/HLOS voice natural user interface.

Snapdragon Voice Activation is designed to be a low-power and secure solution. It enables devices to use the least amount of power possible to listen only for the custom word set by the OEM and spoken by only the voice of the device owner, enabling both a secure and power efficient solution for users.

All of this is made possible through the advanced, tightly integrated hardware and software in Snapdragon 800 processors. And with over 55 Snapdragon 800-powered devices already in development, smartphones and tablets everywhere will be waking up to their owners’ command when they are available in the second half of 2013. We’ve long promoted the idea of mobile devices evolving into a digital sixth sense, and today, more than ever, we are seeing these big ideas become reality.

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Source: Qualcomm

The Daily Roundup for 02.19.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

HTC One unveiled

HTC One: 4.7-inch 1080p display, 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, UltraPixel camera, Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5.

HTC One hands-on: design and hardware

The HTC One made quite an entrance in London and New York today with a slick-looking design and re-imagined Android user experience.

Ubuntu for tablets revealed with split screen multi-tasking

Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We’ve seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room.

Rumors claim Google will launch its own retail stores

On Friday, a report surfaced on 9to5Google that Google was making serious plans to open permanent retail locations, and it’s been followed up today by the Wall Street Journal indicating the same thing.

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Qualcomm asks: sled dogs or the bus today, ma’am?

The folks at Qualcomm have released a video showing a rather odd bus stop. This bus stop was embedded with a set of posters that asked users waiting for a ride to head to a webpage, from there asking them if they’re bored, in a hurry, or otherwise in need of some general entertainment. What happened was no less than magical – if not completely off topic and wonderful – off topic if you count the HTC One release today as Qualcomm’s biggest release, that is.

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The point Qualcomm is trying to make here is that with mobile data – provided by their chipsets and modems, of course – the world is a much more fabulous place. Each time a smartphone is used to access the site shown to the user via the billboard, an odd event happened thusly. With each of these events, joy was brought – and brought hard!

Above you’ll see a full highlight reel. Below you’ll find a horse-drawn carriage coming to pick up a couple that’s in love. Isn’t it so kind of Qualcomm to provide them with a service like this for free?

Next you’ll find a lovely yellow pick-up vehicle followed by a bright shiny silver ride – Lamborghini to the rescue! Without a smartphone and a web connection at the bus stop, these rather random people would never have been given a free ride – Qualcomm’s point is made rather clear.

Next you’ll see a “SEEN IT ALL?” campaign bringing up a wheel-connected sled-dog ride coming up on the bus stop with free rides for those that call it. After that there’s a bit of a puppy surprise as well – Qualcomm brings the cute!

We’ll be seeing Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress this year – starting in a little less than a week! You’ll want to jump in on all the action through our Mobile World Congress 2013 portal and see the Qualcomm action from start to finish!


Qualcomm asks: sled dogs or the bus today, ma’am? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

HTC One benchmarks: off the charts

This week we’ve had the opportunity to have a look at the new HTC One with not only a collection of hands-on experiences, but with processor benchmarking as well. Using the standard Quadrant Benchmark test here we’re finding that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor is blowing up the charts, destroying the previous high-mark in the basic readout by more than double – those tiny towers on the left are what’s left of the original HTC One X, the ASUS Transformer Prim TF201 (with a Tegra 3 processor), and some lesser beings. Even compared with the Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core SoC running on the Google Nexus 4 only reaches nearly 5000 as a final score in Quadrant – the HTC One reaches 12,417!

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Comparing the individual markers inside the total you’ll find a CPU score of 37,304, Memory at 10,922, and I/O at a staggering 10,566. Those are massive scores, on all accounts. The Nexus 4 comes in at CPU: 10,687, Mem: 7,612, and I/O: 4,340 if you’d like to know. With the HTC One’s combination of four Krait 300 CPU cores at 1.7GHz, an Adreno 320 GPU, and a performance boost well over the Snapdragon S4 Pro, this will very likely be the most impressive smartphone processor-wise you’ll have ever experienced.

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We’ve also had a look at Sunspider working with the standard web browser on the device. Here we get a lovely 1195.2ms as a final result, this compared with the HTC One X+ (1215.4ms) and the Samsung Galaxy S III (1082.2ms) shows that web browsing is pretty much the same as it’s been over the past year. Then again – as above – this is not final software and anything could happen before the HTC One is released inside March, 2013. It should also be noted that the speed of the rendering on the HTC One (as well as the others here) were done at different times and under different conditions – so take it all with a bit of straw.

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Also have a peek at our timeline below filled with hands-on experiences with the HTC One, complete with details from each of this device’s new features. With the HTC One, the company may well be entering a new age. One in which a single device really, truly is the hero – could it possibly be?


HTC One benchmarks: off the charts is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Daily Roundup for 02.18.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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LG Optimus G Pro starts US and global spread in Q2

LG hasn’t been shy with the Optimus G Pro, its 5.5-inch 1080p quadcore behemoth, but now we know the oversized Android handset is headed to North America sometime in Q2 2013. Fronted by a 1920 x 1080 Full HD display that’s capable of 50-percent more brightness than rival phones, LG says, the Optimus G Pro also introduces some new software features, including a “Dual Recording” system whereby both the front and rear cameras shoot simultaneously, meaning that whoever is taking the photo also gets included in a 360-degree panorama.

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There’s also tracking focus in the camera, something common on standalone shooters but more rare on smartphones, together with a dual-window multitasking system similar to what we’ve seen Samsung do on the Galaxy Note II. Buyers in South Korea will get full QShopping support, for online price comparisons and ordering while you’re browsing physical stores.

As for the rest of the hardware, it’s a 150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4mm phone tipping the scales at 172g, and LG will be offering it in both “indigo black” and “luna white.” There’s LTE, HSPA+ and EVDO inside, along with WiFi (and WiFi Direct support), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, HDMI SlimPort output, USB 2.0 Host, and a microSD card slot for up to 64GB cards to augment the 32GB of onboard storage.

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The 1.7GHz dualcore processor – Qualcomm’s 600 Series Snapdragon – is paired with 2GB of RAM, meanwhile, and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with LG’s usual tweaks. The main camera runs to 13-megapixels, while the front is 2.1-megapixels, and the whole thing is powered by a sizable 3,140 mAh battery.

Those in Korea will be able to snap up the LG Optimus G Pro from Wednesday, February 20, across three carriers simultaneously. Those in North America, Japan, and elsewhere in the world will have to wait for a sequential launch sometime in the second quarter, though our guess would be that LG will have more to share at Mobile World Congress next week.

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LG Optimus G Pro starts US and global spread in Q2 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.