NVIDIA's Tegra 2 Take Two: More Architectural Details and Design Wins
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 5, 2011 2:51 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola Droid
- Tegra 2
- LG
- Optimus 2X
- ATRIX 4G
- Mobile
- NVIDIA
Final Words
Although it feels a bit odd to be talking about the same SoC architecture I did twelve months ago, the difference this time around is that NVIDIA actually has tangible design wins. LG’s Optimus 2X and Motorola’s ATRIX 4G both use NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 SoC and will be shipping later this quarter.
I’m also expecting to see a number of Froyo and Honeycomb based tablets running Tegra 2 to be teased at the show, although we probably won’t see them for an even longer period of time.
NVIDIA also managed some Tegra 2 design wins in automotive with announcements from Audi and Tesla at this year’s CES.
All in all, Tegra 2 is feeling a lot more like nForce 2 did upon its launch. It’s finally greeted with much better reception than its predecessor and it is poised to actually make some waves in the industry. Whether it can hold up to dual-core Snapdragon and TI’s OMAP 4 remains to be seen.
I believe we’ve probably seen NVIDIA’s best foot forward with Tegra 2 today, the question from here on out is one of execution and how soon can we get to the next iteration of the Tegra family.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
21 Comments
View All Comments
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
Anand or Brian - any idea what carriers the 2x will be available on in the US?therealnickdanger - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
While I don't know anything officially (I don't think anyone does yet), LG brought its current Optimus line to all carriers. I would imagine that they will do the same with the 2X - assuming one carrier seeking exclusivity doesn't dump a pile of cash on LG's doorstep.If the LG Optimus (S, T, One) are any indication of the build quality of the 2X, then I will probably be in line to buy one as soon as it is made available on Sprint. I love my Optimus S.
Cali3350 - Thursday, January 6, 2011 - link
Probably the iPhone 4. When it comes to being smooth iOS is untouched at this point in time (probably because everything is GPU accelerated).Cali3350 - Thursday, January 6, 2011 - link
Clearly posted in response to the wrong item, sorry.metafor - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
I think those are "throughput" numbers, not latency numbers. The technical reference manual:http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/co...
states "cycles" definition is merely the minimum number of cycles it takes to issue, not actually execute the instruction.
VADD, for instance, takes 4 cycles for VFP (scalar) and 3 cycles for NEON/ASE (6 to writeback).
Cali3350 - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
Have to say Im pretty wildly disappointed with how you guys seem to be mentioning it will be several months before this thing launches.I am desperately waiting for a new phone right now, but want the new tech. The HTC Mecha looks like it will be a killer phone but will still be running the same old Snapdragon HTC has used since the Incredible. I was really hoping either the Optimus or the Motorola Tegra 2 phone would be out by end of January/February, but that seems like its DEF not happening after reading this. That is all sorts of disappointment.
aebiv - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
You mean the HD2 and the Nexus One... Incredible and EVO were late to the Snapdragon game.sirsoffrito - Thursday, January 6, 2011 - link
I have a Droid Incredible. I beg to differ.solipsism - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
Is the die size different from the Cortex-A8? I’m wondering how this could affect placement in other smartphones.solipsism - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
Er, I mean in the dual-core variety.