Qualcomm's coming Snapdragon S4 tablet, which is designed to function as a mobile development platform, already has the latest version of Google's Android operating system up and running. The "soon-to-be-released" development platform will provide tablet content developers and manufacturers with the ability to build apps for the next generation of Snapdragon-powered mobile devices.
Earlier this month at its headquarters in San Diego, Qualcomm showed off a prototype running Google's Android 2.3 operating system to about 50 attendees at the company's industry analyst summit.
Since then, however, Qualcomm's engineers have been working to ensure that Android 4, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, will be able to take maximum advantage of all the capabilities offered by the company's current and next-generation mobile technologies.
"Not only are we working to get the source code fully optimized for Snapdragon S4 tablets, but we're rigorously working on the code so it also supports the rest of our Snapdragon processors," noted Qualcomm blogger P.J. Jacobowitz.
Smartphone Advancements
Last week, Qualcomm previewed two new Snapdragon S4 chipsets for smartphone applications that will feature dual-core CPUs running at 1 GHz. The new offerings, which are slated for delivery in the first half of 2012, will enable smartphone makers currently using the Snapdragon S1 to upgrade their designs to Qualcomm's latest technologies.
The chip maker also rolled out a third-generation of its Qualcomm reference design (QRD) ecosystem program. The goal is to enable third-party device manufacturers to develop differentiated high-volume smartphones with lower development costs and faster time to market, the company said.
"Smartphones present a large business opportunity for many of our customers, which is why we have created the QRD ecosystem program to assist them with developing compelling product designs with competitive differentiation," said Qualcomm Senior Vice President Cristiano Amon.
At the same time, however, Qualcomm is looking beyond the smartphone market and is prepping even more powerful Snapdragon S4 chips for media tablets and laptops. During the company's recent summit with industry analysts, Qualcomm executives said they expect a combined 600 million laptops and media tablets to be sold in 2015, based on the average forecasts of five analyst firms.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 lineup will eventually include both dual-core and quad-core chips offering speeds of up to 1.7 GHz, according to the company's latest meeting with industry analysts. Furthermore, the quad-core Snapdragon S4 will offer up to eight times performance improvement in comparison with the Snapdragon S1, Qualcomm executives said.
Market Expansion Plans
To further the company's market expansion plans, the Snapdragon S4 developer tablet will have a wide range of advanced hardware and software capabilities, including a 4G LTE modem and dual 1080-pixel cameras. Also on tap are light, pressure, proximity, and temperature sensors, together with a fingerprint reader, compass and three-axis gyro.
Though Ice Cream Sandwich may be the first mobile OS to run on Qualcomm's mobile development platform for media tablets, Windows 8 as well as the latest release of Microsoft's windows Phone mobile platform are also expected to debut later in 2012. The other good news is that Qualcomm's top-of-the-line S4 chips are designed to run in tandem with Qualcomm's second-generation multi-mode cellular chipsets coming down the chute in 2012.
Qualcomm's fourth-generation Snapdragon S4 product line is also being optimized for running Microsoft's coming tablet-compatible Windows 8 operating system. Last September, Qualcomm demonstrated a media tablet equipped with the latest dual-core Snapdragon processor running Microsoft's Windows 8 Developer Preview as well as playing Adobe Flash Player multimedia content.
"This is the result of over a year of close collaboration between Microsoft and Qualcomm, said Qualcomm Product Manager Rick Lau.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111213/bs_nf/81363
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