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Texas Instruments was in Las Vegas last week at the Consumer Electronics Show offing off their next generation OMAP platform, aptly called OMAP 5. It packs a pair of ARM Cortex A15 processors, each capable of a maximum clock rate of 2 GHz, in the GPU department there’s a PowerVR SGX 544MP2, and this thing is even capable of supporting USB 3.0 and SATA. Now before you get all excited, TI is saying that retail hardware running the OMAP 5 isn’t going to come out out until early 2013. Considering we’re barely half way through January, that translates into quite a wait. That little detail aside, is there anything in the OMAP 5 that catches our eyes? Yes, this is one of the first chips we’ve seen that uses ARM’s next generation Cortex A15. The TI people claim that an 800 MHz Cortex A15 benches roughly the same as a 1.5 GHz Cortex A9, so you can only imagine how quick a 2 GHz A15 will perform.
That being said, Qualcomm’s new Krait core is going to land in devices due to be released in the next few months and it’s estimated to be around 30% faster clock for clock than a Cortex A9, which isn’t as fast as the A15, but hey, it’s got a time to market advantage. Let’s not forget that Qualcomm also sells you the whole package, their Snapdragon platform comes with everything you need to slap into a plastic case and call it a day. Besides, we know that a fast chip doesn’t always translate into a fast device. It’s all about the software integration and how much crap the operators throw on top of Android.
Anyway, what also makes the OMAP 5 special is that it’s going to run Windows 8. If you’ve been wanting a tablet, but something that doesn’t run either Android or iOS, then Microsoft’s platform has got you covered. Expect more details about that during the second half of this year.
[Image Credit: Engadget]
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
