Samsung Introduces Faster Full-Duplex UFS 2.0 Storage for Mobile Devices

eMMC (embedded multimedia card) provides a boost in read and write performance compared to traditional NAND flash memories, let alone micro SD cards. Samsung has now announced the manufacturing of the first 32, 64, and 128GB embedded memory solution based on Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard delivering up to 350MB/s read speed and 150MB/s write speed, or 40% improvement in read speed over eMMC 5.1.This should help further reduce boot time, and app loading times. Moreover, while eMMC read and write operating are sequential (half-duplex), UFS 2.0 allows for full-duplex operating, meaning writing and reading can happen at the same time. UFS can achieve this feat thanks to a LVDS (Low-Voltage Differential Signaling) serial interface with dedicated read/write paths contrary to the parallel 8-bit interface used for eMMC. Combined with a Command Queue(CQ), which sorts out the commands that needs to be carried out, UFS 2.0 allows three times […]

Samsung Z1, the First Commercially Available Tizen Smartphone, Has Launched in India

Tizen operating system is already found in cameras, and smartwatches, with works also being done for televisions, laptops and cars, but the Tizen smartphone has been mostly newsworthy because of product cancellations or delays, rather than product launches. But finally, the first Tizen smartphone has been introduced in India, it’s called Samsung Z1 and sells for 5,700 Indian Rupees ($92). Samsung Z1 (SM-Z130H/DS) specifications: Processor – Spreadtrum SC7727S dual core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 768 MB RAM Storage – 4GB Internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB) Display – 4” WVGA (800×480) PLS screen Cellular Connectivity – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA 900/2100 MHz. Dual SIM support. Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS Video – MP4, M4V, 3GP, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV Audio – MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, AMR, AWB, FLAC Camera – 3.1MP rear camera, VGA […]

TyGL OpenGL ES 2.0 Backend for WebKit Speeds Up Web Rendering by Up to 11 Times

ARM, Szeged University in Hungary, and Samsung Research UK have been working on TyGL, a new backend for WebKit accelerated with OpenGL ES2.0, and developed and tested on ARM Mali-T628 GPU found in Samsung ARM Chromebook. It will typically provide 1.5 to 4.5 times higher performance, but in the best cases, it can achieve up to eleven times the performance of a CPU-only rendered page. The key features of TyGL include: Web rendering accelerated by GPU – Batching of draw calls delivers better results on GPUs. TyGL groups commands together to avoid frequent state changes while calling the Graphics Context API. Automatic shader generation – TyGL generates complex shaders from multiple shader fragments, and ensures the batches fit into the shader cache of the GPU. Trapezoid based path rendering – Work in progress. It will leverage GPU capabilities such as the Pixel Local Storage extension for OpenGL ES. No software […]

Android 5.0 Lollipop Coming to Allwinner A33 & A80, Rockchip RK3288, and More…

I can often see questions requesting whether SoC XYZ will support Android 5.0 Lollipop. The good news is that last week, I’ve read lots of news about Android 5.0 support on various devices including Nvidia Shield tablet, Motorola G & X smartphones, and of course the Google Nexus devices. A developer (Nanik T.) also ported Android Lollipop to ODROID U3 development board based on Exynos 4412, and he mentioned that “porting was pretty straight forward as KK and 5.0 does not have a lot of differences in terms of HAL”, which means there’s hope for more recent devices and SoCs getting the update. Chinese SoC vendors are also getting the word out that they are working on Android 5.0. Rockchip announced Lollipop support for RK3288 processor (original news in Chinese) probably coming to tablets first, and Android TV boxes later. They used their reference platforms in the provided pictures, and […]

$99 ODROID-XU3 Lite Development Board Powered by Exynos 5422 Octa Core Processor

Hardkernel is known for their low cost Exynos based ODROID boards such as the $59 ODROID U3 board based on Exynos 4412 quad core SoC, and with ODROID-XU3, they also have a more powerful Octa-core Exynos 5422 board which sells for a premium price of $179. The company has now decided to offer a cheaper version of the board, which they call “ODROID-XU3 Lite” and lacks DisplayPort, the current and voltage sensors, and uses an Exynos 5422 processor clocked at 1.8/1.3 GHz instead of 2.0+/1.4 GHz for the original board. Price? A cool $99. ODROID-XU3 Lite specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5422 quad core ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.8GHz quad core ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.3GHz in big.LITTLE configuration with Mali-T628 MP6 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM PoP (933Mhz, 14.9GB/s memory bandwidth, 2x32bit bus) Storage – Micro […]

Samsung Officially Announces Exynos 7 Octa big.LITTLE ARM Cortex A53/A57 Processor

Samsung started to commit code related to Exynos 7 processor to mainline kernel in August, but at the time details were scarce, and many tech websites referred to a Exynos 5433 64-bit processor from Samsung. Exynos 5433 for a Cortex A53/A57 SoC did not make much sense as the company recently announced Exynos 5430 based on Cortex A15 and A7 cores, so finally Exynos 5433 has been renamed to Exynos 7 Octa. Here’s what we know about Exynos 7 Octa from information on Exynos 7 Octa page and an older Anandtech article about Exynos 5433: CPU – 4x Cortex A57 cores @ 1.9 GHz , 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.3 GHz GPU – Mali-T760 @ 700 MHz Memory Controller – 2x 32-bit @ 825MHz (13.2GB/s b/w) Display – Up to WQHD (2560 x 1440) / WQXGA (2560 x 1600) resolutions Video – Advanced multimedia format codec (MFC) including support […]

Samsung Gear S SmartWatch and Tizen SDK for Wearables

Albeit Tizen struggle in the smartphone market widely reported by the tech press, devices from cameras to smartwatches, all made by Samsung, are currently selling with the new mobile operating system. Announced about two weeks ago, Samsung Gear S is the latest Tizen product launched by the company. The smartwatch features a 2″ curved display (Samsung likes curved displays), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.. and it can also make phone calls and access the internet over 2G/3G cellular networks. Samsung Gear S specifications: SoC – Dual core processor @ 1.0 GHz (Maybe Exynos 3250 like in Gear 2?) System Memory – 512MB Storage – 4GB internal storage Display –  2.0” Super AMOLED touchscreen display with 360×480 resolution Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS/Glonass Cellular Network 900/2100 or 850/1900 (3G) 900/1800 or 850/1900 (2G) USB – micro USB 2.0 Audio Codecs – MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ Audio Formats – MP3, M4A, WMA, AAC, OGG […]

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge with Curved Display

IFA 2014 tradeshow is just starting today, and will last until the 9th of September, but several companies have made announcements just before the show. One of them is Samsung which announced Gear VR virtual reality kit, Tizen based Gear S smartwatch, as well as two new smarthones, Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge, which will be the subject of this post. Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Galaxy Note Edge is much different from most other phones thanks to its curved display on one side of the phone. Other specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon S805 quad core Krait 400 processor @ 2.7 GHz with Adreno 420 GPU System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32 or 64 GB internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB) Display – 5.6″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED (2560 x 1440 + 160) Cellular Networking: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / […]