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NVIDIA dubs Tegra 3 architecture: 4-PLUS-1

By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 at 8:18 PM

We all know that the Tegra 3 packs a ton of power with a quad-core processor but it actually has a fifth core which is aimed at handling battery life. Well, NVIDIA decided it was tired of this being called a “ninja core” or something, so it has officially dubbed this “4-PLUS-1.”

The name is interesting but it’s mostly a branding issue. What should excite you is what NVIDIA says the 4-PLUS-1 architecture will mean for devices utilizing it:

What this revolutionary architecture does is simple: It provides both exceptional processing power and great battery life. It does this by using four powerful CPU cores to handle demanding tasks, such as gaming, and a fifth low-power, battery-saver core to manage less strenuous tasks – like processing e-mail or operating in standby mode.

It also strongly hints that we’ll be seeing some 4-PLUS-1 smartphones at Mobile World Congress 2012, so be sure to keep an eye on IntoMobile for the latest news.

[Via NVIDIA]

About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.