Key smartbook silicon players: Qualcomm

Yesterday we highlighted the features and benefits of NVIDIA’s Tegra platform. Another key player in silicon for smartbooks is Qualcomm, a mobile giant who have been developing Snapdragon as a classy strategic move.

Qualcomm is a leading player in developing digital wireless communications based on CDMA technologies. Qualcomm's core business has revolved around mobile phone chips. So they’re used to dealing with small design real estate and optimizing battery life. However, the launch of the Snapdragon platform has pushed Qualcomm towards the mobile computing arena. Qualcomm have turned their focus on smartbooks which promise to bring a new dimension in connectivity, portability and power performance. Chipsets coming from the Snapdragon family will help OEM manufacturers to develop their designs quickly and it should be noted that Snapdragon requires no fans at all, so designs can be very streamlined.



Developing the Snapdragon platform has been a long term project of Qualcomm. In the beginning of the year, Qualcomm demonstrated the Android based operating system, which can run on Snapdragon chipsets.  Qualcomm has partnered with leading MID manufacturers like Acer, Samsung, LG, HTC and Asus who will develop smartbooks based on the Snapdragon platform.

To get everyone hyped up for the pending launch of all of these glorious new devices, Qualcomm has launched a promotional website called ‘MEET A SMARTBOOK’ which elaborates on different aspects and benefits of smartbooks.



Features

To get the maximum computing output from a smartbook, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon is designed to optimize processing power and at the same time consume less power. The QSD8x50 and QSD8672 are the two main chipsets.  The standout features found in Snapdragon based smartbooks are:

• Integrated 3G mobile broadband
• Built-in location-aware GPS
• WI-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• HD video and high-performance 3D graphics
• High-resolution WXGA or WSXGA display support
• Powerful 1 GHz CPU and 600 MHz DSP
• Supports a wide array of Linux and Android
• 12-megapixel camera support

Benefits

Keeping in mind the portability factor, Snapdragon based smartbooks will offer users numerous benefits, especially for web activities. Some of the benefits are:

• You don’t need to wait for your email to download.
• Access to social networks through video conferencing, instant messaging and chat.
• You can access 3G connectivity and get mobile broadband speed with your wireless network carrier.
• There is a built-in GPS.
• The customizable interface allows one-touch navigation to your favorite web applications.
• It weighs less than 2lbs and its less than 20mm thick.
• All day battery life and week-long standby.
• View high quality still pictures and video clips.

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