Ahead of Taiwan's Computex, Qualcomm has unveiled the new version of its Snapdragon chipset, the QSD8650A, which is based on a 45nm manufacturing process and allows Qualcomm to boost its speed from 1GHz to 1.3GHz.
Compared to the earlier version which equips Toshiba's gorgeous TG01 smartphone, the new chipset consumes 30 percent less power with a standby power consumption of 10mW. This should mean a much, much longer battery life compared to netbooks.
Qualcomm has managed to keep the same physical size for the Snapdragon at 15mmx15mm surface area but promises GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, support for WiFi and multi-mode support for UMTS and CDMA 3G connectivity. The QSD8650A also boasts support WXGA displays and mobile TV technologies like MediaFLO, DVB-H, and ISDB-T.
But the paradigm shift will happen later this year when Qualcomm ships its QSD8672 processor in bulk. With two computing core running at 1.5GHz, it should provide smartbooks with the extra oomph to slay bloated netbooks once and for all.
Tweaktown also reported that Asus has a modified EEE PC Smartbook running Android on a Snapdragon chipset and amongst the photos that were snapped, was a Snapdragon-based tablet laptop. Photos are courtesy of Tweaktown.
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Our Comments
It is interesting to find out that the biggest netbook manufacturers have already queued up to build up the next Smartbooks, which proves that competition is a good thing. It also shows that Smartbooks should benefit from economies of scale as they share the same chassis. Yuo can see that the keyboard in the Tweaktown photos carry a Windows Key.
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