Expert: Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen

I've just posted a new section to the YouTube Bible. See section UPDATE (05/12/2008) at the bottom.

CONTINUED FROM HERE

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The underlying chipset in a handheld device or phone has probably the biggest impact on major properties of the device like battery life, the (in)ability to use 3G and overall performance, particularly when it comes to graphics. Even users that don’t know much of of the hardware of these devices know that, for example, at least in the Windows Mobile world (as opposed to Symbian devices), TI OMAP almost exclusively means very good battery life but reduced performance and lack of hardware acceleration of, for example, 3D or video decoding. In this installment of my MWC series, I explain and evaluate most of the remaining, announced new chipsets.

In Part I of my CPU/chipset-related MWC series, I’ve elaborated on the brand new and really-really cool MWC announcement of Samsung. I’ve also introduced the latest technology from Imagination Technologies and have also touched on Qualcomm. Let’s start with the latter.

Qualcomm

In the previous article, I’ve promised I would fill you in on their latest chipset, the QST1x0x (QST1000, QST1100 and QST1105). I’ve already linked to the official announcement in a later, generic article. Now, let me elaborate on the new chipsets a bit more thoroughly.

The new chipset, as you can check it online too, has three submodels: the cheapest and non-connected QST1000, which promises some additional niceties compared to the current MSM7200(A) chipset many Windows Mobile devices are currently based on; for example,

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THIS article, along with the comments, is definitely worth checking out. It emphasizes the device will have WM 6.1 (unlike what Mobile-Review stated some days ago) and will be based on the Qualcomm MSM7200A chipset running at 528 MHz. The latter means I was right at guessing it must be Qualcomm-based after Tuesday's press Q&A session, when the S-E guys explained the device doesn't have a separate GPS chip (that is, the chipset itself contains GPS support), which pretty much rules out all the alternative chipsets.

The original (referenced, but not directly linked) article is HERE. The textual contents of the article don't contain much information; it's still worth checking out because it contains way more shots.)

(BTW, I just don't know how these guys were able to get the prototype - and use it. Not even the Moebius folks were allowed to switch it on. In addition, judging from the quality of the pictures - meaning they have spent quite much time on making them - they haven't been taken at MWC.)

As you all may already know, so far at MWC, hardware-wise, the multimedia- and gaming-friendly, high-resolution Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1 has generated the biggest stir. A lot of folks all over Windows Mobile forums have started discussing the new device. Many even called it the HTC Kaiser / AT&T Tilt-killer. Which isn’t far from the truth – if Sony-Ericsson indeed manages to deliver a PDA that delivers excellent multimedia / gaming performance (too), then, this model may be the most popular Windows Mobile device of the day.

I had the chance to speak to the Sony-Ericsson people today evening. They will release the new device the second half of this year. Currently, their device was truly just a demo device with a very-very unstable Windows Mobile version; therefore, they didn’t really show any of the niceties (for example, the built-in programs), just the main launcher screen.

The camera of the X1 is pretty low-specced – they’re in no way a close match to that of the Nokia N95 / N82. On the other hand, the other parts of the design are far better than those of, say, the new Toshiba G920 I’ve reported on in the previous part.

Physically, the device is really tiny (also meaning the WVGA screen is only 3" ), which can clearly be seen in my following comparative shots:

With the sliding keyboard opened:

(note that the HTC Universal had an extended battery; hence the thickness.)

Compared to a “dumb” S-E "walkman" phone:

Hardware specification-wise, they haven’t told me anything not present in the leaflet. The latter also contains the currently known configuration. When I’ve asked them about the 3D acceleration, they have stated they try to implement it, but nothing is for sure. (Read: it’s in no way guaranteed the device will have hardware 3D acceleration – that is, the official spec may not become fully implemented.)

A quick note: I'll continue writing about what booths I've visited, what I've seen etc. tomorrow. Not, it's very late in here (12:39AM) and I need to wake up very early.