Qualcomm launches a screaming-fast 2.5 Ghz mobile processor

Qualcomm just announced it has launched a new version of its Snapdragon mobile processor that can process data at a speed of 2.5 gigahertz. That’s as powerful as many laptop and desktop computer processors, but Qualcomm’s chip is aimed at smartphones and tablets.
For users, that means that mobile devices sold this year are likely to have just as much, if not more, computing performance as a lot of computers out there. It will thus enable a whole new generation of smartphones and tablets that can do everything from cool 3D games to displaying video from a phone on a big screen in full high-definition resolution.
Code-named Krait, the next-generation Snapdragon promises to deliver speeds of 2.5 gigahertz per core, with options for one, two or four cores. (A core is the equivalent of one brain). The Snapdragon family will also include four wireless capabilities — WiFi, global positioning system (GPS), Bluetooth and FM radio — in one device. It will also support near-field communications, a hot new technology that lets you wave a phone over a reader to make a purchase. And it will support stereoscopic 3D video, photo capture and playback.
Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon has 150 percent higher overall performance and 65 percent lower power consumption than currently available ARM-based CPU (central processing unit) cores. Qualcomm is able to make the big leap to this new generation because it has made a big manufacturing leap to 28 nanometer technology.
The 28 nanometer technology is like a finer pencil, which can be used to etch smaller circuits on a chip. By cramming more circuits on a chip, Qualcomm is executing on the phenomenon known as Moore’s Law, named after former Intel chairman Gordon Moore, who predicted that the number of components on a chip would double every couple of years.
Qualcomm also announced its new Adreno family of graphics processing units (GPUs). The new quad-core Adreno 320 can deliver 15 times the performance of the original Adreno chip it replaces. Qualcomm says the Adreno 320 performance is similar to the quality of graphics on today’s game consoles, but at a much lower power consumption level.

 Source  :  VB