

Google is looking to one-up that iPad's Retina display



Source: The Next Web

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RE: Great
By TakinYourPoints on 10/22/2012 1:37:56 AM , Rating: 2
It needs to be custom, at least based on the GPU performance of current non-A5X and A6 hardware. If they go with current Android hardware right now then it will be choppy as hell.

RE: Great
By theapparition on 10/22/2012 9:44:34 AM , Rating: 3
Please. You act like the A5, A5X and A6 aren't cobbled together from available off the shelf designs. The GPU isn't some mystery, it's just a PowerVRSGX540-MP4.

ANYONE can license that design and put in in a SoC. Or the myriad of other available GPU designs.

And Apple SoCs are designed by..........Samsung. Same manufacturer of this rumored tablet.

RE: Great
By senecarr on 10/22/2012 10:47:56 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry, as much as I'm a Samsung fan, I have to correct you there. The A5 and A5x are indeed off the shelf the designs, and the A4 was designed for Apple by Infineon and Samsung. The A6 is a different animal. It was designed by Apple's team, many of whom are from Infineon (Which Apple bought). One of Apple's employees is actually also a designer for the ARM A15.
What Apple did with the A6 was the same thing Qualcomm has been doing - custom core that is ARM instruction compatible, but specific design is not the stock ARM one.
Now, can Samsung make a processor that can run this tablet? Well of course, the Samsung Exynos 5 is perfectly capable, it runs two Arm A15 cores, and has a Mali T604. The chip is already out there, powering the newest Chromebook. The chip has some serious graphics advantages - since both GPU and CPU are designed by core, they are integrated so they can share their cache for working together.

RE: Great
By theapparition on 10/22/2012 4:31:22 PM , Rating: 2
Specifically the issue was GPU. You are correct though, that the A6 uses a custom core that is not stock ARM. Correction taken.

But you also minimize Samsung's role in the design of the A6. They are not strictly the manufacturer, they also co-designed it as well.

RE: Great
By TakinYourPoints on 10/22/2012 5:18:08 PM , Rating: 1
Incorrect, Samsung is purely a foundry in regards to the A6

RE: Great
By theapparition on 10/23/2012 9:53:03 AM , Rating: 3
That comment alone indicates you know nothing of the industry.

Foundries aren't like PCB shops where you just supply the gerbers.

In short, stop commenting about things where you have no clue.

RE: Great
By testerguy on 10/24/2012 5:17:05 AM , Rating: 2
He's absolutely right.

Samsung played no part in the design.

Apple is rumoured to be moving chip production away from Samsung. They essentially designed the architecture and can employ any manufacturer to produce it.

RE: Great



