Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Running Windows RT
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 5, 2012 6:47 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
- Snapdragon
- Qualcomm
- Krait
- Windows 8
- SoCs
- Computex 2012
- S4
Last night we saw NVIDIA running Windows 8 RT via ASUS' Tablet 600, and today we got a glimpse of Qualcomm doing the same. Qualcomm's reference tablet features an APQ8060A, the modem-less version of the Krait based 8960 we've seen in HTC's One X on AT&T. The two Krait cores are clocked at up to 1.5GHz. GPU duties are handled by the integrated Adreno 225, which appears to have made the transition to Windows 8 just fine.
Performance seems very good, and Qualcomm says things should improve even further by the time final software is ready. We asked why none of Qualcomm's partners were displaying Snapdragon powered Windows 8 hardware and the answer was those partners weren't ready to unveil their industrial design just yet. Qualcomm remains committed to having S4 based Windows 8 tablets available whenever Microsoft decides to officially launch Windows RT.
To be honest I am a bit surprised by Windows RT. I initially expected only the x86 based Windows 8 tablets to make sense but with ARM based Office support and Microsoft really driving Metro, I do believe there's hope for Windows RT. There has to be some sort of an advantage however. As long as Windows RT tablets can come it at significantly lower prices than their x86 Clovertrail based counterparts I see a real market for these things.
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ganeshts - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Hmm.. Here I was.. thinking that Qualcomm had finally decided to license Imagination Tech's DirectX compatible GPUs for their WoA platforms...B3an - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
The Adreno 225 in this tablet would have to support DirectX 10 and WDDM 1.2 as it's a requirement for all WinRT (and Win 8 x86) tablets.r3loaded - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I was actually expect them to wait for the S4 Pro with the Adreno 300 series GPUs before unveiling their Windows RT support.worleyeoe - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I am very price conscious, mainly because I'm not into gaming. Therefore, I will be giving WinRT devices an almost exclusive look. Just get the display size up to about 12" and make sure it's a dockable hybrid. IMO - there will be lots of consumers willing to use a WinRT device with its Office and Skydrive integration. Outstanding! Please get id of as much of the outside edge around the display as possible.codedivine - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Some sites reported it as using Adreno 320, though I am far more willing to believe Anandtech on this.dagamer34 - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Depends on whether its a Snapdragon S4 or S4 Pro. Both are expected to be available by the end of the year, so it'll be up to OEMs which chip they use.Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Qualcomm told us it's APQ8060A and thus Adreno 225. I couldn't physically verify however.Take care,
Anand
Makaveli - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
isn't the Adreno 225 the same one used in the HP touchpad?codedivine - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
Touchpad had Adreno 220. Adreno 225 is similar but with higher clocks and usually comes with newer drivers.