03
Apr
800-960-1

[Rumor] Second Generation Nexus 7 To Come With Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, Could Be Available 'Around July'

Posted by in ASUS, News, Nexus 7, Rumors

It seems that no company can keep a secret for very long. With I/O fast approaching, Google and ASUS are in the spotlight again as details creep out about a pending refresh to the Nexus 7. According to Reuters, two undisclosed sources have leaked plans for a likely release date around July with pricing as low as $149. The tipsters also let slip that the revised tablet will be packing an unspecified Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and that Google hopes to ship 6-8 million units before the start of 2014.

Screen Shot 2013-04-03 at 2.29.57 AM

A shipping window of "around July" is pretty vague, but that might have something to do with the lessons learned during the Nexus 4 launch.

25
Mar
tlk

Qualcomm Releases 'Reign Of Amira: The Lost Kingdom' To Show Off The Power Of Snapdragon 600 Processors

Posted by in Games, News

When Snapdragon processors with Adreno 320 GPUs were the hottest thing coming out of Qualcomm's factories, the company released Reign of Amira to show off the power of its then-flagship hardware. Now, the company is using a similar method with the game's sequel, Reign of Amira: The Lost Kingdom, which is available now exclusively for devices packing the Snapdragon 600 CPU (or supposed to be, rather – I was given the option to install it on my Nexus 4).

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The game, which probably doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of good gameplay, looks to be more of a "benchmark" than anything – something to show off what the 600 can do.

21
Feb
qualcomm

Qualcomm Announces The RF360, A 40-Band LTE Radio That Plays Nice With All The Networks

Posted by in News

Sometimes Long-Term Evolution wireless is presented as the future of mobile, and the answer to network incompatibility. That's half true. While LTE and GSM tend to play nice (or at least nicer than the entirely disparate GSM and CDMA standards) the bands and frequencies used for high-speed wireless access vary pretty widely in different countries, or here in the US, across different networks. Chip OEM Qualcomm is hoping to banish network anxiety with a new family of LTE radios, christened RF360. You can expect to see the radios embedded on future Snapdragon platforms.

The RF360 will work across a staggering amount of standard frequency ranges: GSM, CDMA and WCDMA, EV-DO, and an impressive array of LTE bands.

19
Feb
batteryguru

[New App] Qualcomm Releases Snapdragon BatteryGuru, Aims To Extend Your Device's Battery Life

Posted by in Applications, News

If there's one common issue with smartphones across the board, it's battery life. Rightfully so, we all want more of it without having to sacrifice usage. Thankfully, Qualcomm is looking to help owners of Snapdragon-powered smartphones get just a bit more out of their device's battery with the new Snapdragon BatteryGuru beta.

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In a nutshell, it monitors your usage, "learning" what you do with your device. It discovers where you connect to Wi-Fi, what apps you often use, when you sleep, and the like. From there, it automatically configures certain aspects of the device to optimize battery life, like disabling Wi-Fi when you're away from common hotspots, and re-enabling it when you're back in the area.

07
Jan
800

[CES 2013] Qualcomm Announces Next Generation Snapdragon Mobile Processors With A New Naming Scheme

Posted by in News

If you thought the Snapdragon S4 Pro in the Droid DNA was snappy, get ready to redefine snappy. Not to be outdone by NVIDIA's Tegra 4 announcement yesterday, Qualcomm has detailed its own 2013 ARM chips. The S4, S3, etc. naming scheme is no more – the new chips are the Snapdragon 800, Snapdragon 600, Snapdragon 400 and Snapdragon 200. The 600 and 800 are the new high-performance processors in Qualcomm's lineup, and that's where the company is focusing most of its attention.

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The Snapdragon 600 will be running on four new Krait 300 cores (at clock speeds up to 1.9GHz), and should be able to deliver 40% more power than the S4 Pro while consuming less battery.

26
Nov
gamecommand

Qualcomm Kills Its 'GameCommand' App In Lieu Of A New Snapdragon Gaming Website

Posted by in Games, News

Back in January of this year, Qualcomm released its "Snapdragon GameCommand" app in order to highlight games specifically designed with enhancements for Snapdragon processors. Basically, it was Qualcomm's answer to NVIDIA's TegraZone. The only thing is... we didn't really hear much about it past the initial release. And now, Qualcomm has pulled the app from the Store altogether. You can go look - we'll wait.

Once we realized the app was missing, we reached out to Qualcomm for comment. Sure enough - they pulled the app because "[they] feel that GameCommand satisfied its goal of generating consumer awareness of Snapdragon gaming." Moving forward, developers interested in building games for Snapdragon devices are directed to Qualcomm's gaming site, Snapdragon Gaming.

16
Nov
nexus-4-imagen-oficial

Teardown Of Nexus 4 Finds World Band 4G LTE Chip That You Probably Can't Use

Posted by in LG, News, Nexus 4

It was a little surprising to see Google announce a new Nexus device this year without LTE support. While LTE deployment is still lagging behind in many regions, the good old USA is fast becoming blanketed with speedy 4G. Now that the Nexus 4 is in the wild, iFixit has taken it apart, and you'll never guess what they found. Yes, a 7-band 4G LTE radio chip. The plot thickens...

nexus4

The chip in question, the Qualcomm WTR1605L (highlighted in green above), supports all currently operating LTE networks around the world. This chip is probably a holdover from the LG Optimus G design, which the Nexus 4 is based on.

09
Oct
unnamed

Rigonauts Finally Arrives On Android With 2 Week Verizon Exclusivity And Snapdragon Optimization

Posted by in Games, News

We were originally told that Rigonauts would be out on Android last Spring, but it has just now dropped. If you were waiting on this title, there is yet another barrier to entry. Rigonauts is a Verizon exclusive for two weeks, after which it will be available on other carriers. The kind of ARM chip in your device will also figure into your enjoyment of this game. Aren't exclusivity deals grand?

Rigonauts is essentially a strategy building game where you have to construct a fighting machine capable of turning back the bad guys in each of 30 unique levels. The graphics are really interesting, and it appears to have a great sense of humor.

13
Sep
2012-09-13_12h11_38

LG Teases A Smartphone Announcement Set For September 19th, Promises A Life 'Without Boundaries'

Posted by in LG, News

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid nothing's going to change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you what's going to be announced. I came here to tell you how it's going to be teased. I'm going to send out this invite, and then I'm going to show these people what they want to see. I'm going to show them a world without Samsung, or HTC. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything could be announced. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you." -- LG PR

Okay, maybe that's not what the actual PR says.

26
Jun
qualcommlogo

Qualcomm Announces Its Own Android SDK For Snapdragon Processors, Promises Tighter Hardware Integration

Posted by in News

Qualcomm, the company behind the S4 processor that so many US devices are receiving as consolation prizes in exchange for LTE, has announced that it will be releasing its own SDK for Snapdragon processors. The SDK will initially support the S4, and continue to support future processors as they're released, supporting multiple tiers of hardware.

The company touts the SDK as enabling developers to more tightly integrate their apps with Qualcomm hardware, as well as enabling access to more powerful hardware features, like so:

 

  • facial processing, such as blink and smile detection, which makes it easier to take better pictures of people in groups;
  • burst capture, which leverages zero shutter lag to photograph a stream of images at once to select the best shot;
  • surround sound recording for better audio capture;
  • hardware echo cancellation for better real-time audio experiences;
  • sensor gestures (tap-left/tap-right, push/pull, face-up/face-down, tilt) that enable developers and device makers to push the envelope on new, differentiated user interfaces;
  • low power always on geofencing capabilities; and
  • indoor location that enables apps to continue providing accurate location information even when the user is indoors.

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