Qualcomm has officially unveiled its new Snapdragon S4 chipset, which the company claims offers eight times the processing power of the S1
During the past three years Qualcomm’s business has grown exponentially, outpacing even smartphone sales.
The company now owns 35 per cent of the market as of Q2 2011.
The Snapdragon S4 sets to build on that gain through the introduction of more processing power, improved power efficiency and built-in support for next-level technologies like LTE, HD Flash video and 4G speeds of up to 100mbps.
Qualcomm also detailed the type of optimised software experiences users’ can expect from the Snapdragon S4 chipsets once they arrive in handsets. Rendering is up to 71fps, which should translate into silky-smooth performance on Android and Windows Phone handsets – but the difference will no doubt be most pronounced on Google’s platform.
The S4 chipset isn’t just hardware though. Qualcomm has added many levels of advanced software technology to the chipset, which it claims will allow its partners to offer the most up-to-date services to their customers.
One such aspect is All Joyn, which is Qualcomm’s new open-source peer-to-peer networking application for linking up devices. All Joyn uses Bluetooth technology to link devices, but cuts out all the normal developmental nuances usually associated with the technology.
‘We built it so it’s easy for a software person to build applications without having to know about radios,’ says Qualcomm.
It added: ‘Namco turned Mario Cart into a multiplayer game in a week.’
All Joyn uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect devices, so you can chat on the tube or play games – it’s a complete peer-to-peer mobile service. Developers don’t need to worry about logistics or networks, it’s just a case of adding an API to a game and you’re literally away.
All Joyn is completely open-source as well and runs on stock Linux, Android and Windows 7.
Qualcomm also confirmed that it will be releasing a bespoke gaming centre known as Snapdragon Game Command where Snapdragon S4-optimised games will be showcased.
Will Qualcomm have more success with this than NVIDIA did with its NVIDIA gaming centre? We don’t know. But Qualcomm seems extremely confident.