A lot has changed in the smartphone scene over the past few months. With the introduction of products like the Nexus 4, 7 and 10, high end devices at mid range prices have taken over the market (that is when the Nexus devices aren't out of stock). Apart from that, the smartphone scene has seen it's first 5" display phone carrying a Full HD display. That's right, 1080p (1920*1080) on your smartphone display. Prepare for a mind boggling 441 ppi pixels density if you ever get your hands (more importantly, eyes) on one. If that is not enough, new chipsets based on ARM Cortex A15 are being teased for Q1 to early Q2 2013, promising nearly double the performance of current generation quad cores (which are based on the older ARM Corte A9 architecture). Of course there's the Snapdragon S4 Pro (Krait CPU), but the ARM Cortex A15 is faster here.
nVidia's Tegra 4 a.k.a Little Wayne
As part of nVidia's road map, Tegra 4 code named Little Wayne is scheduled for Q1 2013. That puts a late Q1 2013 or early Q2 2013 time frame for the market to see the first devices based on the same (earlier the same process took more than 2 to 3 quarters or a year).
Let's have a look at what's in store with the Tegra 4:
The Tegra 4 chipset borrows it's design elements, going in for the same 4+1 core design in the Tegra 3 chipset. Although the 5th "companion" core is said to help with power consumption, Tegra 3 devices are known for their notoriously ridiculous battery life. We believe, on an improved 28nm manufacturing process, nVidia will fix this issue for good.
Tegra 4 is aimed to be a tablet chip first, and later a chipset for smartphones. This will be done by clocking the chip down (lower clock speeds) for improved power consumption and better battery life that smartphones need (and smartphone owners keep begging and crying for). And since battery capacitity is not really where HTC phones shine, it has to be from somewhere else.
HTC's upcoming M7 flagship
Only yesterday did news about HTC's next flagship smartphone, code named the M7 (sounds like straight out of a James Bond movie, punning Sony much?). The M7 is going to be HTC's next flagship smartphone. HTC is pushing real hard as they are losing spots in becoming the top manufacturer race to companies like Sony and ZTE globally (more recently to Sony in the UK, thanks to excellent sales on part of the new Bond phone, aka the Sony Xperia T).
The HTC M7 would pack specifications along these lines (if it is to compete with the upcoming very best):
What HTC is really aiming for is to out their flagship before Samsung's Galaxy S IV. We know, you know and the industry knows that they are holding their breath to find out what Samsung does with it's next flagship. Monster specifications are guaranteed that much we can confirm.
While we can simply wait and sit tight, no doubt next year is going to be very exciting. Let me rephrase that. Next year will be the year of quad core smartphones and 1080p displays become a common place, along with 2 GB of RAM. Next year will also see Google's next MAJOR new operating system, Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Exciting is the word!
nVidia's Tegra 4 a.k.a Little Wayne
As part of nVidia's road map, Tegra 4 code named Little Wayne is scheduled for Q1 2013. That puts a late Q1 2013 or early Q2 2013 time frame for the market to see the first devices based on the same (earlier the same process took more than 2 to 3 quarters or a year).
Let's have a look at what's in store with the Tegra 4:
- 4+1 processor design, similar to the Tegra 3
- ARM Cortex A15 based cores
- Quad Core design
- Clock speeds upto 1.8 GHz
- Built on the 28 nm manufacturing process
The Tegra 4 chipset borrows it's design elements, going in for the same 4+1 core design in the Tegra 3 chipset. Although the 5th "companion" core is said to help with power consumption, Tegra 3 devices are known for their notoriously ridiculous battery life. We believe, on an improved 28nm manufacturing process, nVidia will fix this issue for good.
Tegra 4 is aimed to be a tablet chip first, and later a chipset for smartphones. This will be done by clocking the chip down (lower clock speeds) for improved power consumption and better battery life that smartphones need (and smartphone owners keep begging and crying for). And since battery capacitity is not really where HTC phones shine, it has to be from somewhere else.
HTC's upcoming M7 flagship
Only yesterday did news about HTC's next flagship smartphone, code named the M7 (sounds like straight out of a James Bond movie, punning Sony much?). The M7 is going to be HTC's next flagship smartphone. HTC is pushing real hard as they are losing spots in becoming the top manufacturer race to companies like Sony and ZTE globally (more recently to Sony in the UK, thanks to excellent sales on part of the new Bond phone, aka the Sony Xperia T).
The HTC M7 would pack specifications along these lines (if it is to compete with the upcoming very best):
- Quad Core Processor based on ARM Corte A15, or at least the Snapdragon APQ8064
- 5" Full HD 1080p display
- 2 GB of RAM
- 8 MP + (ideally 12/13 MP camera)
- 2500 mAh + battery
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
What HTC is really aiming for is to out their flagship before Samsung's Galaxy S IV. We know, you know and the industry knows that they are holding their breath to find out what Samsung does with it's next flagship. Monster specifications are guaranteed that much we can confirm. While we can simply wait and sit tight, no doubt next year is going to be very exciting. Let me rephrase that. Next year will be the year of quad core smartphones and 1080p displays become a common place, along with 2 GB of RAM. Next year will also see Google's next MAJOR new operating system, Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Exciting is the word!