Has the time for the Snapdragon to evolve finally arrived?
While there are several high-end smart phones that do use the Snapdragon processor –ranging from the Acer Liquid and its’ under clocked CPU to the upcoming HTC Bravo, having a very high-speed processor is still not that much of an established norm with mobile phones. After all, not that many devices need such a fast CPU and obviously, anything equipped with a 1GHz processor is pretty expensive.
Despite this fact, the Snapdragon has been getting a wee bit of an overhaul that will significantly improve its performance. By significant, we mean a full 50% speed addition. There have been reports that a dual-core Snapdragon processor is in the works and the device is clocked to a speed of 1.5 GHz –almost as fast as the slower Atom processors for net books.
It’s a timely upgrade, not for the prevalence of the Snapdragon (which is low), but for the simple fact that pretty soon, the ‘Dragon will not be the only high-speed CPU around. Just recently, LG has unveiled its GW990 mobile phone that comes with a new Atom process that is clocked at a speed of 1.6 GHz. While it has yet to be revealed how much energy that phone will need, it is said that the new Atom CPU is very energy efficient and will only need 10% of the original energy needs of the older processors. The GW990’s battery has been confirmed to have a capacity of 1850 mAh.
At least energy use is one department that the Snapdragon can handle well. While it is a given that the dual core version of the Snapdragon (called 8X72) will certainly need a lot more juice than its predecessor, we are certainly expecting it to last longer on a 1850 mAh battery than the new Atom.
Tags: Qualcomm-Snapdragon