Tag Archives: NPU

Samsung Unleashes New Exynos 1080 SoC

November 17, 2020 Leeden Tang Leave a comment

Samsung’s next-generation midrange SoC (system on a chip) is the newly introduced Exynos 1080. The new chipset offers the latest Cortex-A78 CPU cores paired with the latest Mali-G78 graphics core. It’s the first SoC in which Samsung is adopting a new 1+3+4 CPU configuration with one core clocked at 2.8GHz and 3 others at 2.6GHz. This is supplemented by 4 more Cortex-A55 cores which are clocked at 2.0GHz.

The chipset is built on a 5nm process, which has until now only been used by Apple in their A14 processor. The new 5nm, octa-core Exynos 1080 touts better performance with the new architecture and also boasts significant power efficiency boosts. According to Samsung, the single-core performance has been boosted by 50% while the multi-core performance is boosted by 100%.

In addition to the power savings from the architecture itself, Samsung has also introduced a power-saving solution it calls “Amigo Power”. The new solution will help monitor and optimize battery consumption. Samsung is touting that the solution will make the Exynos 1080 10% more power-efficient than its predecessor. Samsung has also spent some time optimising the NPU and DSP which boast a machine-learning interference power of 5.7TOPs indicating that any AI programs running on the SoC should be able to crunch more data at any given time. This should indicate better, quicker image post-processing and optimizations in both user experience and response speed.

Power consumption isn’t the only area Samsung is focusing on. The Exynos 1080 SoC can support a single 200MP camera or dual 32MP + 32MP sensors. On the video end of things, the processor is able to support shooting up to 4K resolution at 60fps.

Connectivity-wise, the Exynos 1080 is going to be able to support 5G on both the sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum which indicates that the SoC could be making it to the U.S. given that, until now, the U.S. is the only country with official rollout of 5G on the Sub-6 wavelength. Aside from 5G, the SoC supports Cat.18 4G LTE connectivity. The Exynos 1080 will also support Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. In addition to this, the SoC will support up to 144Hz refresh rate, LPDDR5 RAM and has UFS 3.1 compatibility.

The Exynos 1080 will be available in the market in Q1 of 2021. That said, it looks like it will be making its way to consumers in a new Vivo device first. It has been confirmed that the SoC will see its debut in the Vivo X60 series come 2021. Vivo will also be using last year’s Exynos 980 in their upcoming X30 series smartphones.

Android, Mobile, News

HUAWEI MatePad and MatePad T Completes the Family

May 12, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

The HUAWEI MatePad Pro is awesome. We tried it at its launch and loved it. There was only one problem we have with the tablet. If not for that small problem, it would have been perfect. Still, nothing in this world is perfect.

Let us not dwell on that though, there are new tablets in town from HUAWEI. You Might have guessed them from the title. The HUAWEI MatePad, and the HUAWEI MatePad T is joining the HUAWEI MatePad Pro in Malaysia.

HUAWEI MatePad

The regular HUAWEI MatePad is easily mistaken as the HUAWEI MatePad Pro. They are similar in design and functionality, to be fair. They are similar only in design though. Everything inside is different from one to the other.

The HUAWEI MatePad packs a HiSilicon Kirin 810 System on a Chip (SoC) with an integrated Da Vinci Artificial Intelligence (AI) NPU. You get slightly less resolution than the HUAWEI MatePad Pro too at 2K resolution. Still, 2K in resolution is still plenty of pixels for 10.4-inch. That display is still paired to a great four-speaker stereo audio system tuned by Harman Kardon.

It is also compatible with HUAWEI’s magnetic keyboard that was designed for the HUAWEI MatePad Pro. You can even use the M-Pencil on this if you want. You charge the M-Pencil with the large 7,250mAh battery pack in the tablet.

Unlike the HUAWEI MatePad Pro though, the MatePad has something called the eBook mode that optimises its display for better reading experience. Of course, it comes with MEETime out of the box too. Yes, it also has HUAWEI’s clever Share capabilities.

The HUAWEI MatePad is available 16^th May 2020 onward. There are no colour options for this, so you only get to have it in Midnight Grey. The HUAWEI MatePad will set you back MYR 1,399 when it is available, about MYR 1,000 less than its bigger, higher end brother. You get a Flip cover, a free 3 months Premium subscription to HUAWEI Video, and 15GB of HUAWEI’s Mobile Cloud storage for 12 months. For more information on the HUAWEI MatePad, you can head over to their website and webstore.

HUAWEI MatePad T 8

10-inch tablets are not your thing? We understand that. 10-inch is a little on the hefty side and difficult to enjoy in a lot of conditions. You just need something to carry around and might need to kill time with it.

The HUAWEI MatePad T 8 would fit in that bill very easily with its 8-inch display. The 8-inch is no slouch still, mind you. There is still an Octa-Core processor within its smaller form factor. Given, it is a MediaTek. The MT8768 platform is MediaTek’s latest tablet platform.

That new tablet processor is also designed to be kind to the battery. Still, it does not hurt to have 5,100mAh battery packed in the 8-incher. All that and you are still only carrying 310g around. It is not lighter than an average smartphone, but it is pretty close to some of the flagships these days.

It is not just a tablet designed for the adults though. It is also designed with kids in mind. You can have a Kids Corner put on the tablet for your kids. That dedicated space is designed as a safe space for children to learn and be entertained. It is also designed so that parents can have better control over their kids’ media consumption of course. You can set time controls, content restrictions, and more.

The HUAWEI MatePad T will also be available the same time as the HUAWEI MatePad on the 16^th May 2020. You can get your hands on one for MYR 559. It only comes in one colour though: Deepsea Blue. If you do get your hands on one, you are entitled to a 3 months Premium subscription of HUAWEI’s Video app and 12months of 15GB access to HUAWEI’s Mobile Cloud Storage. For more information on the HUAWEI MatePad T 8, you can head over to their website and webstore.

HUAWEI Sound X

Alongside the HUAWEI MatePad T and HUAWEI MatePad, HUAWEI also launched the HUAWEI Sound X finally in Malaysia. HUAWEI’s Sound X is a result of their collaboration with one of the world’s premium audio solutions manufacturer, Devialet. It has six tweeters and two woofers. The 8 drivers should deliver clean, crisp, and punchy audio from the low frequencies to the high all around. Apparently the woofers can go as low as 40Hz, which is where bass frequencies lie. The HUAWEI Sound X will set you back MYR 1,299 and is also available at the same time as the HUAWEI MatePad and MatePad T.

Business, Mobile, News

HiSilicon No Longer HUAWEI Exclusive

January 3, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

You know that CPU in your HUAWEI smartphones that you are so used to? Yes, the HUAWEI branded processing chip that has been a staple in HUAWEI’s flagships and other smartphones. Yes, HiSilicon, as the title named. No, they are still HUAWEI’s subsidiary.

From 2020 onward though you might not just see HUAWEI devices fitting in chips from their in-house chip maker. They are starting to sell their chip technologies and processing chips to other manufacturers, expanding their business opportunities.

It does make a lot of sense this move of opening themselves up to the bigger market. HiSilicon makes some of the world’s cleverest and powerful processing chips to be put in a smartphone. The HiSilicon Kirin 990 for example, is proven to be one of the most powerful System on a Chip (SoC) to be found on a smartphone. So it is not like they make subpar products, they do make some compelling stuff. It is just that we have never seen anyone other than HUAWEI using the chips due to HUAWEI’s agreement with their subsidiary.

These years where Shanghai HiSilicon operates exclusively for HUAWEI too sees the Chinese telecommunication giant benefit from the clever chip designs of the chip manufacturer. The Kirin SoC series is partly responsible for HUAWEI’s successful P series and Mate series line-ups thanks to the clever dedicated Neural Processing Unit (mostly known as an AI chip) integration, first in the world in the HiSilicon Kirin 970.

The expansion does not just cover smartphone SoC sales though. The expansion also extends to Shenzhen HiSilicon expanding their manufacturing scope to more than just smartphone chips. They will be responsible for making processing chips for things like smart TVs, set-top boxes, and other smart home electronics that needs a processing chip.

Source: Android Central

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