Apple's iPad

someone please read this and translate to me.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/1/27/apple-a4-soc-unveiled---its-an-arm-cpu-and-the-gpu!.aspx

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Apple A4 SOC unveiled - It's an ARM CPU and the GPU!

 

1/27/2010 by: Daniela Kustre - Get more from this author

 

 

Apple today didn't introduce just a new product, but rather an entrance into the world of fabless semiconductors with their A4 CPU, which is not a CPU at all. Meet the A4.

 

During the GlobalFoundries event in Las Vegas, we spoke with Warren East, CEO of ARM. We discussed many trends in the industry and also learned about the new member of the family, which we can now reveal as the Apple Inc. This wasn't as surprising, given the previous history between PA Semi and ARM [PA Semi founder Dan Dobberpuhl was a lead designer at Digital Equipment Corporation on Alpha and StrongARM processors].

 

Getting back to Apple A4, Steve Jobs incorrectly addressed Apple A4 as a CPU. We're not sure was this to keep the mainstream press enthused, but A4 is not a CPU. Or we should say, it's not just a CPU. Nor did PA Semi/Apple had anything to do with the creation of the CPU component.

 

 

Apple A4: latest SOC that ARM added to its family of IP customers - not only with the CPU but with GPU IP as well

 

A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon - not unlike what Intel is trying to achieve with its future "Moorestown" Atom processor that debuted inside LG's Smartphone. http://scoop.intel.com/2010/01/intel-moorestown-smartphones-at-ces.php

 

The A stands obviously for Apple, and the difference between the Samsung processor inside the iPhone 3Gs and A4 is the clockspeed and the core type. A4 runs at 1GHz while the chip on iPhone 3Gs works clocked to 0,6GHz. This is one of main reasons why iPad can deliver a lively interface compared to stale iPhone one.

 

So yes, PA Semi/Apple chip is actually mostly ARM IP. This is quite a logical step to do, given that this is first new piece of silicon that came from PA Semi after the acquisition in April 2008. We'll see if future iterations will have more Apple IP than ARMs, but somehow we doubt it. ARM is the pervasive force in the world of mobile chips, as witnessed by many new players on the market. We could even conclude that Apple logically followed what nVidia had done with their own SoC, Tegra, followed Qualcomm with their Snapdragon, Samsung with their own Cortex-A9 core at 1GHz. BTW, as a small comment - isn't it interesting how everybody is clocking the A9 core to 1GHz [nVidia, Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments]? This is due to the thermal sweetspot of the core, given that the maximum achievable clock of 1.3 GHz comes with a significant thermal penalty.

 

Similar SOC chip architecture is already used in the iPhone and other smartphones, such as Google’s Nexus One and Motorola’s Droid, as well as the upcoming tablets and smartbook/netbooks such as the ICD Vega and Ultra or Lenovo's Skybook.

 

During the Apple event in San Francisco - the A4 was described as "the most advanced chip" Apple has done yet. While fast, it's also good at managing the power, thanks to advanced process manufacturing at Samsung. BTW, do expect that GlobalFoundries just may bag Apple as a customer due to their industrial lead on 28nm and next-generation ARM processors. Remember where you read that first. "The A4 chip is so power efficient that it helps iPad get up to 10 hours of battery life," according to Apple's venerable CEO, Mr. Steve Jobs.

 

Steve Jobs also called iPad the "best [Web] browsing experience you’ve ever had. A whole Web page right in front of you that you can manipulate with your fingers. Way better than a laptop," in a video of the event streamed by CNET. That browsing experience will mainly depend on the chip’s ability to handle the background tasks as future iPad user accesses different images or videos. We might ad "true, for as long as you don't visit flash laden sites."

 

For us, it is very interesting to see that EE Times was banned from covering Apple's launch event due to this story. Then again, given that Steve Jobs controls the information in a manner very similar to Goebbels and punishes the non-biased members of the media, we're not surprised. EE Times broke many stories in relation to Apple. Here at BSN*, we broke the Mac Tax and now revealed the A4 [A "Mali" GPU and ARM Cortex-A9 CPU core - is that really Apple IP or just a LEGO approach to building an ASIC?], so we don't expect to be allowed into future Apple events either.

When do the iWank and iShit come out? Tired of running to the bathroom every day . . .

  On 1/28/2010 at 8:38 PM, mafted said:

so what happens when touchscreen laptops come out with things like open source Google OS? these things will not be needed ( i wouldn't think?).

touch screen laptops that run linux have been around for at least five years and have been readily available for at least 3.

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touch screen laptops that run linux have been around for at least five years and have been readily available for at least 3.

far from the same thing though. Something that would be normal consumer friendly hasn't even been done yet.

hell even the mainstream commercially available laptops that run Linux, Dell's Ubuntu model for example are horribly configured and are no more tailored or ready to be used for a mainstream consumer than if you installed Ubuntu on any random PC. The drivers on Dell's linux models were minimal, none of the controls on the front panel worked like stop or play id be shocked if there was a company that made user friendly touch screen linux laptops that were as usable as an Ipad right out of the box.

  On 2/8/2010 at 6:12 AM, Awepittance said:

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touch screen laptops that run linux have been around for at least five years and have been readily available for at least 3.

 

far from the same thing though. Something that would be normal consumer friendly hasn't even been done yet.

 

hell even the mainstream commercially available laptops that run Linux, Dell's Ubuntu model for example are horribly configured and are no more tailored or ready to be used for a mainstream consumer than if you installed Ubuntu on any random PC. The drivers on Dell's linux models were minimal, none of the controls on the front panel worked like stop or play id be shocked if there was a company that made user friendly touch screen linux laptops that were as usable as an Ipad right out of the box.

My wife's HP tx1000, put Ubuntu on it, did a bit of hunting for drivers and the only thing I can't get working is the fingerprint reader. Mind you that didn't work under Windows either. And I am not a particularly tech oriented kind of guy. That's beside the point though, which is, if it hasn't been done well already, why would it be any different under Google OS (which is after all, yet another linux distro...)?

i meant once touchscreen stuff becomes more available and we start seeing it become affordable it will be a better buy than this. it's pretty close already ..

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-touchsmart-tx2-1275dx/4505-3121_7-33712927.html?tag=mncol;txt

ok, so now there is this company making a MIDI hub that connects directly to your iphone/ipad so you can sequence gear using iphone/ipad apps... no need to have the computer at all...

the apple store is currently internationally offline

hopefully some new MacBook Pro i7

i really love how the iPad doesn't let you run concurrent aps, and how super generous they are with memory et cetera. Wonder what apple's next innovation will be? Perhaps an iBin, into which you can throw all this impulse buy, cult worshippy junk you bought whilst in a state of suspended disbelief.

hrmm i mean iRecycle bin of course, those hippies at apple wouldn't have it any other way.

  On 2/9/2010 at 2:45 PM, delet... said:

whilst in a state of suspended disbelief.

it's called the reality distortion field, and it's fascinating.

"See also

* Apple Inc.

* Drinking the Kool-Aid

* Propaganda

* Steve Jobs

* Suggestibility

* Somebody Else's Problem field

* Brainwashing

"

lol

jobs always reminds me of elliot carver from tomorrow never dies:

"he who controls the media controls the world! (fu, i'm married to teri hatcher)"

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"Small advances are applauded as breakthroughs. Interesting developments become turning points, or huge leaps forward"

  On 2/10/2010 at 2:03 AM, delet... said:

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"Small advances are applauded as breakthroughs. Interesting developments become turning points, or huge leaps forward"

well microsoft are just as guilty of that... have you seen the windows 7 ads advertising aero snap, peek, and shake? granted, they are actually very nice enhancements to the UI, but between them i'd be surprised if they take up more than a hundred lines of code.

yeah but microsoft consumers are cynical enough to not absorb and retransmit the marketing speak yaknow.

Of course all companies hype their products. That's what marketing departments are meant to do. But seriously there is a messianic tinge to the apple marketing vibe, it's something that stands alone in the tech world. And it seems to work for them, so good on them, it's all about moving units yeah, and there's enough suckers going round for everyone to catch some of the action.

patents 'iBin'

i said this to someone recently; in a weird grotesque way, microsoft are admirable. the aim of $CORPORATION is to make money for the stakeholders.

if that means exploiting poor chinese people or ripping off other people or ripping off the people who ripped off other people or redefining the meaning of "sell", then so be it.

apple's 'hey look at us, we're different' is complete artifice. at least microsoft don't pretend they wouldn't sell their mother for a point percentage gain on NASDAQ.

Mostly lol

globey. win.

The mass media is suddenly excited by this again now it's on sale.

A BBC newsreader just declared it 'perfect for dummies', meaning those who don't consider themselves computer-literate. Surely it's only worthwhile if you have an iMac to act as a base for it, and if you've got an iMac you're an idiot if you think you need something else.

The expert just said that it's useless if you like to do things with your online media. It's for looking at things.

Wow, cool. It's the cool thing, yeah. Groovy.

:insideofmyskullpalm:

this is just fucking excruciating: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/31/a-first-look-at-ipad.html

xeni jardin is generally facepalm city though

like all Apple products, the first version is overpriced and underpowered. one year from now they'll introduce the next iPad with a usb port (& perhaps a bunch of other connectors) a faster processor, more RAM, and it will be $100 less than this one. in the meantime, companies will be making peripherals for it (MIDI, pro quality audio in/out ports, etc) and the app ecosystem will start to grow. 2-3 years from now, this thing could be a powerful little performance tool for artists working with audio & video. as cpu power increases, some pro apps could get ported to it. this thing would be great for running things like Reaktor, Live, hosting VSTs, etc... in a live performance setting. do your hardcore patching on your desktop/laptop & then transfer them over to the iPad for playing out.

right now, the main interest i have in this thing is using it as a configurable MIDI controller. something like a Lemur but with a MIDI out straight to hardware. MIDI interfaces have already been announced for the iPad so it is just a matter of waiting for a really good controller authoring app to be released. as soon as something like that comes out i'll buy one of these right away.

but as far as using this for general computing use (internet, email, word processing) or even watching movies or whatever, i'm not interested. rather use a laptop for that.

can't it like not multitask or something? surely that fact alone means it is totally useless?

  On 4/4/2010 at 6:01 PM, ezkerraldean said:

can't it like not multitask or something? surely that fact alone means it is totally useless?

They did mention it briefly during the BBC report I watched, but they quickly moved onto the 'it's the cool new thing' part.

I agree that it's inability to multi-task is deplorable and nullifying.