12 November 2011

Qualcomm Working Closely With Nokia On
Higher Spec Windows Phone Devices To Come?

According to TechRadar, Nokia's forthcoming Windows based smartphones will be using Qualcomm chips, and it has been revealed that the company was not just a component supplier, but working closely with Nokia on higher spec devices to come.

The senior vice president and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Europe, Enrico Salvatori said: "We are working on a roadmap and not a single device, a single launch. It's an important collaboration for Qualcomm, so we are very excited about working together. It's been very effective in terms of time to market because we developed the phone together. It's been a very successful development."

This is kind weird situation considering that just two weeks ago, Gilles Delfassy, president and CEO of ST-Ericsson, said that they're preparing chips for Nokia to use with its future Windows Phone based smartphones. "We are pleased to have been selected by Nokia as a key partner for Windows smartphones, in line with our goal to be present in all segments and major operating systems,"

The Lumia 800 phone when shown off was noted to be running on a single-core Qualcomm processor, at a time when more manufacturers are switching to dual-core, and even proposing quad-core chips for their smartphones.

The Snapdragon S2 class of processors provides a best-in-class mobile experience, including high-performance mobile computing with prolonged battery life and next-generation graphics for Nokia's Lumia phones.  Lumia users will also experience rapid network connections and fast, responsive Web browsing.

As one of the largest providers of wireless chipset and software technology in the industry, Qualcomm has one of the most diverse chipset and software product portfolios spanning multiple device classes.  Specifically, the S2 processors are optimized to enable HD videos in the browser, a rich gaming experience, top-quality pictures and video.

However, the company pointed to the tight timeframe in delivering Nokia's first Windows based smartphone. Qualcomm indeed has dual-core processors available and is also working on its previously announced quad-core 28nm Snapdragon S4 which will see clockspeeds rising to 2.5GHz.