XxJacobxX | # 1 | 2011-03-17, 11:21 | Report

We have nVidia's Tegra, TI OMAP 4xxx, Qualcomm, Orion, Exynos, Apple A5, ST Ericsson U8500. These all look and sound great, but which is the finest of them? 2011 is the year of revolution indeed. BTW I have something that is unclear to me, how come, for example, a device that uses an ARM Cortex-A9 dual core processor has a Tegra 2 processor? Does it have two processors (Arm Cortex-A9 + Tegra 2)?

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Last edited by XxJacobxX; 2011-03-17 at 17:20.

retsaw | # 2 | 2011-03-17, 11:37 | Report

Tegra 2 isn't a processor is is a chipset, it uses the Cortex A9 for the CPUs and it pairs them with a low-power nVidia GPU.

I don't know which is best, you'll have to wait until someone has done benchmarks which you can compare. I've seen iPad2 vs Motorala Xoom (which uses Tegra2) benchmarks, the iPad2 comes quite a way ahead of the Xoom in GPU performance.

Rob1n | # 3 | 2011-03-17, 11:39 | Report

The ARM Cortex-A9 is a reference processor - ARM don't actually manufacture anything, they just do the core design work. Different manufacturers (nVidia, TI, Apple, etc) then license these designs, add on some of their own stuff, and make the chips. The Tegra2, Apple A5 and TI OMAP4 are all A9 based. Qualcomm, I think, use their own design (though still using the ARM instruction set for compatibility reasons). Not sure about the others - Wikipedia will probably tell you more though.

XxJacobxX | # 4 | 2011-03-17, 11:44 | Report

Thanks a lot for the valuable information. Aaaaaah it sure feels good when clearing up dust in my brain.

Capt'n Corrupt | # 5 | 2011-03-17, 11:54 | Report

Tegra 2 isn't a chipset, it's a SoC (System on a Chip).

AFAIK, the GeForce ULP is part of the IC.

anders_gud | # 6 | 2011-03-17, 12:10 | Report

You forgot:
* French fries, called "chips" in the UK and Commonwealth countries
* Potato chips (in North America), a snack food made from potatoes, known as crisps in many Commonwealth countries
* Tortilla chips, a snack food made from corn tortillas
* Corn chips a snack food made from corn
* Chocolate chip, small chunks of chocolate, used for making chocolate-chip cookies, among other things
* Banana chips, deep fried or dried slices of banana
;-)

Capt'n Corrupt | # 7 | 2011-03-17, 12:32 | Report

Something interesting worth consideration:

As chip fabrication technology improves and production ramps up, I wonder how many facilities will be included on the IC. For example, it may be possible in future to have an SoC specifically for a particular handset, containing all of the facilities for touch-sensing, driving the display, environment sensing, etc!

This would not only shrink the package incredibly, it would lower power consumption, lower costs, simplify development, and lower time to market. The chip specification would be a diagram, with portions of the IC purchased from various companies (as it is now).

But I believe it would have another larger benefit: it would open the door for smaller companies to get in on the action, both on the design and product side. In short, the big players may find themselves in a sea of smaller ones, which could mean far more diversity for the consumer, and interesting new technologies!

Very exciting times ahead.

atilla | # 8 | 2011-03-17, 15:23 | Report

orion and exynos are the same chipsets based on a cortex a9 cpu.
samsung changed the name from orion to exynos

lma | # 9 | 2011-03-17, 16:56 | Report

How long is a piece of string? Which is the "finest" desktop/laptop/server CPU? No one can answer that question if you don't specify your criteria.

vi_ | # 10 | 2011-03-17, 16:59 | Report

check out cypress PSOCs...