Samsung’s Orion is the 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 we’ve all been waiting for

We still consider Samsung’s Hummingbird application processor to be among the very best for mobile computers, but this morning Sammy itself is stepping up the charge to make it look real old real fast. The freshly announced dual-core Orion promises to whip us all into a frenzy of geek lust with “5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung,” 1080p video encoding and decoding at 30fps, embedded GPS, a native triple display controller, and on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface. Those last two bits mean you can drive two displays on your mobile device while feeding a third, such as a HDTV, all thanks to the one all-powerful chip inside. Availability for “select customers” is coming late this year, with mass production set for the first half of 2011. To say we’re looking forward to it would be a massive understatement.

Continue reading Samsung’s Orion is the 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 we’ve all been waiting for

Samsung’s Orion is the 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 we’ve all been waiting for originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hannspree pairs Android 2.2 with Tegra 2 for a 10.1-inch multitouch tablet

Yearning for a bit of dual-core action on the move? Who isn’t. Hannspree will soon try to quell that 1080p-sized hunger in all of us with its freshly announced €399 ($507) Froyo tablet. There’s no lack of spec sheet ambition here: a 1GHz Tegra 2 SOC is surrounded by 16GB of internal storage (expandable via MicroSD), an accelerometer, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, a 1,024 x 600-pixel capacitive touchscreen, and mini versions of HDMI and USB ports. Flash 10.1 is also proudly supported, while the 3,500mAh battery is said to last up to 8 hours when playing 1080p movies. We’d be getting real excited right about now, but we’ve learnt to be cautious with such lofty promises — remember the Gemini?

Continue reading Hannspree pairs Android 2.2 with Tegra 2 for a 10.1-inch multitouch tablet

Hannspree pairs Android 2.2 with Tegra 2 for a 10.1-inch multitouch tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP bringing dual-core Atom N550 to Mini 5103, other netbooks expected to follow

HP only just rolled out its Mini 5103 business netbook earlier this month, but it looks like it might already be set to get an upgrade — a newly-discovered support document on HP’s own site clearly lists the new dual-core Atom N550 processor alongside the current Atom N455 and N475 options. No indication of any other changes beyond that, but this should only just be the beginning of broader rollout for the dual-core CPU — CNET says it expects a full refresh to hit HP’s consumer netbooks next month.

HP bringing dual-core Atom N550 to Mini 5103, other netbooks expected to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceNetbook News  | Email this | Comments

Dual-core Atom-powered Gigabyte and Lenovo netbooks up for sale in Australia

As promised, we’ve been keeping an ear to the ground on Intel’s new mobile, dual-core Atom processor, and as luck would have it a number of netbooks are popping up with the new CPU baked in…well, at least in the land down under. Australian e-tailer Pena.au has 10.1-inch netbooks from both Gigabyte and Lenovo listed on its site with the fresh 1.5GHz Atom N550 processor. The Gigabyte T1005M convertible — or netvertible, as we like to call it — is much like the T1000, and still has a 1,366×768 pixel capacitive touch display, USB 3.0 ports, and an eSATA jack. It sounds like a pretty impressive little system, but it’s listed for 905 Australia dollars, which translates to about $800 US. That’s a bit steep, but Aussies looking for something more affordable have the N550-powered Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 to choose from as well — although that too is listed for a pricey $699 Australian (about $617 US). We’re assuming the dual-core CPU adds about $50 to $75 to the average single-core netbook selling price, but here’s hoping that the prices are a bit lower once they hit this side of the hemisphere.

Dual-core Atom-powered Gigabyte and Lenovo netbooks up for sale in Australia originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GadgetMix, NetbookNews  |  sourcePena.au (Gigabyte), (Lenovo)  | Email this | Comments

Qualcomm to ship 1.5GHz QSD8672 Snapdragon processor in Q4

And you thought a dual-core 1.2GHz chip was quick. If all goes to plan (that’s a big “if,” by the way), Qualcomm will one-up its Computex standout before the end of this year, with vice president of product management Mark Frankel affirming that his company is on track to ship a 1.5GHz dual-core QSD8672 chip prior to the dawn of 2011. He’s quoted as saying that the blazing new Snapdragon could find a home in smartphones, low-cost laptops and tablet PCs, and while we’re led to believe that the vast majority of said products won’t actually greet consumers until early next year, a few aggressive partners may get wares out “by Christmas.” For those unfamiliar, the fancy new 8672 is based on an ARM design and will be crafted using a 45nm process technology, and the individual voltage scaling will enable each core to be clocked independently of the other in order to maximize battery life and performance. Naturally, 1080p video playback will be supported, as will DDR2, DDR3 and HDMI interfaces. Oh, and don’t sweat it — you’ve still got plenty of time to get on Santa’s ‘good’ list.

Qualcomm to ship 1.5GHz QSD8672 Snapdragon processor in Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mobile Burn  |  sourceComputer World  | Email this | Comments

VIA reveals 1.6GHz Nano DC processor at Computex, shows it handling 720p (video)

Guess who showed up at Computex with an all-new dual-core processor? Nah, we’re not referring to AMD or Intel (though they certainly did) — we’re talking about VIA. The company quietly (re)introduced a dual-core desktop chip here in Taipei, with the codename Nano DC being used to describe it for the time being. The device utilized a VN1000 Digital Media Chipset and fully supported dual-channel DDR3 memory. A Chrome 520 GPU was helping to push out a 720p movie trailer on the demo system, and the innate compatibility with HDMI and DisplayPort should keep home cinema owners happy. The 65nm chip was clocked at 1.6GHz, and we were told that it wouldn’t be venturing into mobile machines in its current form. ‘Course, this device has been a bit of unicorn for the past couple of years, but company representatives seemed certain that it would finally be ready to ship (using a different process technology, mind you) in around six months. We shall see. Live action video is just past the break.

Continue reading VIA reveals 1.6GHz Nano DC processor at Computex, shows it handling 720p (video)

VIA reveals 1.6GHz Nano DC processor at Computex, shows it handling 720p (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel is down with tablets and razor thin netbooks, yo

With Microsoft’s Courier canned, and HP’s Slate suffering a debilitating identity crisis, what’s a WinTel fan to do? Easy, wait for Computex set to kickoff on June 1st in Taipei. According to Intel’s Mooly Eden, Vice President of PC Client Group and all around hip dude, that’s when Intel will respond to ARM and its Apple iPad lovechild. Speaking at the Intel Investor Meeting on Tuesday, Mooly rapped:

“People ask me, are you serious about trying to participate in the tablet market? The answer is yes, we are going to have tablets… stay tuned for Computex. We are going to design silicon for this category and we are going to actively participate in this category.”

Gauntlet, thrown. Mooly also took the opportunity to show off a razor thin netbook reference design that he expects to see on the market “sooner or later” sporting a hard working dual-core Pineview-class Atom CPU to support heavy-duty multi-tasking OSes — the same chips that are apparently at the heart of Intel’s tablet ambitions. See the incredibly thin netbook prototype after the break along with a few choice grabs of Mooly raising the roof.

Continue reading Intel is down with tablets and razor thin netbooks, yo

Intel is down with tablets and razor thin netbooks, yo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 07:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s ARM roadmap lays coordinates through 2013: Aquila, Venus, and Draco (oh my)

Ah, leaked company presentation slides, they have a clarity only Mr. Blurrycam would despise. EETimes got a batch of them from Samsung dated November 2009 making the rounds, but more important than revealing its equal love for both Roman and Greek mythology, we get a glimpse at its then-planned ARM chip roadmap (yeah, another one) through 2013. In a nutshell, for the Cortex A9 crowd we’ve got the 800MHz dual core “Orion” due for mass production in Q1 2011, a 1GHz single core “Pegasus” for Q4 2011, a 1GHz dual core “Hercules” for Q1 2012, and for sometime in 2012 / 2013, a 1.2GHz dual core “Draco” and quad core “Aquila.” Fear not, Cortex A5 fanatics, you’ve got gifts as well, in the form of 600MHz single core “Mercury” and dual core “Venus” chips, slated for 2010 / 2011 and 2012 / 2013, respectively. We don’t expect the nomenclature to extend beyond internal usage, but frankly, who cares — it’s the devices that count, and unfortunately all we can do is doodle our future gadget hopes and dreams onto scraps of paper while we wait.

Samsung’s ARM roadmap lays coordinates through 2013: Aquila, Venus, and Draco (oh my) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceEETimes  | Email this | Comments

Intel wraps up ‘best first quarter ever’ by teasing new dual-core Atoms for Q2

Android support for Moorestown isn’t the only morsel of Intel news to come out today. In an earnings call today that kicked off with word of a 288 percent year-over-year net income increase — its “best first [fiscal] quarter ever” reportedly — Intel CEO Paul Otellini said, “the next innovation coming out on Atom is dual core, which comes out in the second quarter.” Given dual core Atoms already exist for nettops, we’re gonna guess he’s referring specifically to netbooks. That jibes pretty well with what we heard about the supposed D510 remake as N500. Guess we’ve got something to look forward to in the netbook category over the next few months.

Intel wraps up ‘best first quarter ever’ by teasing new dual-core Atoms for Q2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCNET, Macworld  | Email this | Comments

ST-Ericsson’s U8500 brings dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 to the Android world

Can’t get enough of hearing about implementations of ARM’s Cortex-A9 MPCore processors? Good. ST-Ericsson’s powerhouse U8500 system-on-chip has come a major step closer to appearing in mainstream devices with today’s newly announced support for the Android operating system. Having optimized the OS to take advantage of Symmetric Multi Processing — a method for extending battery life by sharing the load between the two processing cores and underclocking when necessary — the partner company is now ready to start dropping these 1.2GHz dual-core beasts inside the next generation of smartphones. The claim is that you’ll get all that additional power while sacrificing nothing, as devices based on the U8500 would maintain “the cost and power consumption characteristics of a traditional feature phone.” We’re promised built-in HDMI-out support, 1080p video recording, and 120 hours of audio playback or 12 hours of Full HD video off a 1,000mAh battery — pledges we’d very much like to see fulfilled.

ST-Ericsson’s U8500 brings dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 to the Android world originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBusiness Wire  | Email this | Comments