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selinz
Agreed. Media consumption. But it can be useful for data input and operator ...
SylvieBarak
TI touts role in Android 4.0 rollout
Sylvie Barak
10/19/2011 11:23 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—While the mobile masses enthused over Google Inc.'s announcement of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in Hong Kong on Wednesday (Oct. 19), chip maker Texas Instruments (TI) was also excited about the role it was playing in the new OS rollout.
Several months back, Google started working exclusively with the silicon vendor to optimize the next iteration of its mobile operating system, giving TI something of a two month lead on its competitors.
Google chooses a single chip maker and system vendor for each new version of Android, in an attempt to "spread the wealth" of its momentum. Nvidia Corp. and Motorola Mobility Inc., for instance, were selected in the previous release of Google's Android Honeycomb (3.0), allowing the firms to release working devices running the software onto the market that much sooner than their competitors.
This time around, TI has been teamed up with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and the first device running Android 4.0 will be the much hyped Samsung Galaxy Nexus running on TI's OMAP4460.
This is also the first combined Android release for both smartphones and tablets, though analyst Nathan Brookwood of Insight 64 said the head start "might not be especially significant." The lead garnered by Motorola in the Honeycomb launch, he said, hadn't helped the firm out as much as competitors had originally thought, though Nvidia had gained a certain momentum from its chips being the first to be optimized.
TI's Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of the OMAP Platform, said in a blog posting Wednesday that a lot of effort had gone into optimizing use case scenarios for end-users, "always with low power in mind."
Taking a slight stab at Nvidia, El-Ouazzane said OMAP's smart multicore architecture made a "huge" difference. "At the end of the day, brute force (number of cores as instance) does not rival sophistication," he added.
TI also took credit for some of the more unique features of the Android 4.0 user experience, such as hardware-integrated security based on the firm's own M-Shield technology and enhanced memory based on a memory manager baked directly into the chip, which purportedly "significantly minimizes" static memory size. "We also reduced the memory bandwidth needed for user interface and video features," El-Ouazzane said.
OMAP also boasts an integrated, dedicated image signal processor, which makes for more accurate face metering and continuous auto-focus on upcoming devices, allowing interesting use cases like unlocking one's phone through facial recognition (Face Unlock).
TI also touted the power of its OMAP video engine (the IVA HD multimedia accelerator), which it says is uniquely programmable.
El-Ouazzane said those features were just "the tip of the iceberg," in terms of what the OMAP platform would add to the user experience of Android 4.0.
Several months back, Google started working exclusively with the silicon vendor to optimize the next iteration of its mobile operating system, giving TI something of a two month lead on its competitors.
Google chooses a single chip maker and system vendor for each new version of Android, in an attempt to "spread the wealth" of its momentum. Nvidia Corp. and Motorola Mobility Inc., for instance, were selected in the previous release of Google's Android Honeycomb (3.0), allowing the firms to release working devices running the software onto the market that much sooner than their competitors.
This time around, TI has been teamed up with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and the first device running Android 4.0 will be the much hyped Samsung Galaxy Nexus running on TI's OMAP4460.
This is also the first combined Android release for both smartphones and tablets, though analyst Nathan Brookwood of Insight 64 said the head start "might not be especially significant." The lead garnered by Motorola in the Honeycomb launch, he said, hadn't helped the firm out as much as competitors had originally thought, though Nvidia had gained a certain momentum from its chips being the first to be optimized.
TI's Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of the OMAP Platform, said in a blog posting Wednesday that a lot of effort had gone into optimizing use case scenarios for end-users, "always with low power in mind."
Taking a slight stab at Nvidia, El-Ouazzane said OMAP's smart multicore architecture made a "huge" difference. "At the end of the day, brute force (number of cores as instance) does not rival sophistication," he added.
TI also took credit for some of the more unique features of the Android 4.0 user experience, such as hardware-integrated security based on the firm's own M-Shield technology and enhanced memory based on a memory manager baked directly into the chip, which purportedly "significantly minimizes" static memory size. "We also reduced the memory bandwidth needed for user interface and video features," El-Ouazzane said.
OMAP also boasts an integrated, dedicated image signal processor, which makes for more accurate face metering and continuous auto-focus on upcoming devices, allowing interesting use cases like unlocking one's phone through facial recognition (Face Unlock).
TI also touted the power of its OMAP video engine (the IVA HD multimedia accelerator), which it says is uniquely programmable.
El-Ouazzane said those features were just "the tip of the iceberg," in terms of what the OMAP platform would add to the user experience of Android 4.0.
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goafrit
10/21/2011 10:01 AM EDT
Nice strategy - it is not to spread the wealth. It is to hedge the risk on any one single supplier
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Haldor
10/21/2011 2:32 PM EDT
I think it is to keep as many vendors involved with Android as possible. If you know that one vendor has a lock then you are much less likely to try to break into the market.
Apple and Motorola.
Microsoft and Intel.
Apple gave up turned to Intel because Motorola (ON) simply couldn't meet their needs.
Microsoft is desperate to break the Intel lock because they are totally missing the big growth area (low power). Arm could change this for Microsoft if Windows 8 doesn't suck. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft still knows how to write lean code that doesn't depend on massive processor power to hide its excesses.
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SylvieBarak
10/21/2011 7:54 PM EDT
Yes, that too, of course.
I have some semi reliable info that says Qualcomm will be Google's next partner, for Android Jello...but that's still unconfirmed.
I think it's a good and safe policy for Google to work with different suppliers every time around. The firm certainly doesn't want to isolate any of its chip/device making partners, and it gives Google quite unique insight into each firm.
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mogulman52
10/21/2011 6:10 PM EDT
It is good to see the progress in unifying the Android OS for both cellphones and tablets. It will help bring focus to the ARM offerings. Tablets can be useful but I personally never see them threatening laptops. I have never mastered using a soft keyboard for more than a short email. I just don't see using a tablet for programs like Coreldraw, Photoshop, Autocad, Sketchup, Visual Studio etc. I just don't see them being ported over to Windows 8 Metro interface. I don't see the full version of Office being ported to Metro either. I would be better served by an Ultrabook with an Intel processor. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
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SylvieBarak
10/21/2011 7:49 PM EDT
I think tablets will probably end up being a lot more specialized than they are now. I actually see big potential for "productive" tablets in areas like healthcare (it makes much more sense for physicians to carry around tablets on the ward...) and also for people who work out in the field and aren't often at a desk. In those cases, cell phones just don't cut the mustard, but a tablet well might. In those cases there would be specific programs and applications on them to make them relevant. But I think you're also correct that for the average consumer, a tablet is not going to replace a laptop any time soon, it's just a nice media consumption device - if you can afford one.
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selinz
10/23/2011 12:10 PM EDT
Agreed. Media consumption. But it can be useful for data input and operator interfaces to other stuff. That's the first I've heard of "jello." I guess it hasn't quite set yet...
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