Qualcomm the unsung hero
Life is weird; the ones that do the donkeywork and change the world, rarely get recognition. While Apple and Samsung seem to be monopolising attention in the current innovations of the mobile industry, Qualcomm is the real hero; but one unsung.
In November, 2016, Qualcomm announced the introduction of the Snapdragon 835 chip. This is the fuel that propels Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8 up into the skies of glory.
Snapdragon 835 is an overhaul of Snapdragon 821; the chip that powered Samsung Galaxy Note 7; the smartphone that Samsung does not want to be reminded about 835 processor is smaller yet parks more transistors than its forerunner. This makes it more efficient and consumes 25 percent less power.
The reduction in size frees up ‘real-estate’ that phone manufacturers can use to squeeze in bigger and higher capacity batteries or go the opposite direction and make paper-slim phones. The chip allows for faster battery charging without generating enormous amounts of heat.
Snapdragon 835 is not only a computer processor; it is a self-contained house, profusely furnished. It includes in one packaging; an intelligent graphics processor, Wi-Fi engine, 4G LTE modem, amasing sound mixer and sensor hubs, just to mention but a few.
The X16 LTE modem supports breath-taking speeds up to 1-gigabit 4G LTE connection. At the moment, this is a theoretical speed; all I am saying, in English, is that nobody in the industry has dared to move data around that fast.
802.11 ad Wi-Fi is a new 4.6 gigabit standard for short-range transfers and for long-range transfers, Qualcomm has built-in Bluetooth 5. No manufacturer has utilized this facility yet, but is there for anybody adventurous enough.
The new chip supports Qualcomm EIS 3.0 (Electronic image Stabilization) and dual-rear camera shake-free video and images. And there is Qualcomm Security Haven which bolsters security in amazing ways. It keeps track of suspicious apps’ behavior.
For example if somebody tries to log into your WhatsApp several times with the wrong pattern, Qualcomm Security Haven will simply lock WhatsApp down.
The chip is 8-core. 4 cores cruse at 2.4 GHz and takes care of the main workload while the other 4 cores race at 1.8 GHz and are responsible for background tasks that do not demand huge power.
“In prosperity, our friends know us, in adversity, we know our friends” John Charlton Collins observed. Microsoft, the once bedmate of Intel seems to be suggesting a divorce. Microsoft announced this week that it would join Apple and Samsung as wives of Qualcomm in a tech polygamy.
Microsoft will deploy Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor in laptops, laptop-tablet combos that will survive on a single charge for almost a week. The company will cheat Windows 10 so that it can run on Qualcomm’s 835 ARM processor. Qualcomm is king, but disguised.
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