Milking the Galaxy: Journey from Galaxy S to Galaxy S II

I bet that reading the title would have made your mind wander off to the ‘Milky Way’ galaxy in which our planet Earth is a teeny-tiny part. Well, let me bring you back to it. I am talking about the ‘Galaxy’ range of smartphones and how Samsung’s marketing and operation teams worked together in a cohesive fashion to generate mind boggling revenues for the company.

It all started when Samsung announced the ‘Galaxy S II’ smartphone at ‘Mobile World Congress’ at Barcelona in February 2011. Samsung declared that the smartphone would be released in the world markets starting from its homeland in April and yes, true to its word, the ‘Galaxy S II’ has been released in almost every major world market till date and it has been a resounding success everywhere.

Almost all of you know that the smartphone has redoubtable specifications and has gained the approval and praise of almost every tech enthusiast in the world. But, if you view the whole ‘Galaxy S II’ exercise from the business point of view, you will get to know the real thing.

Understand that there are two technologies that are most prevalent in the market today: GSM and CDMA. While the GSM versions of the phones work on different carriers by just changing the SIM card, the CDMA versions are locked down to a specific carrier. Samsung originally released the ‘Galaxy S II’ bearing the model number GT-I9100 with the ‘Android’ operating system, a GSM version. On May 9, 2011 they announced that they had received 3 million pre-orders for the smartphone.

Samsung was very quick to foresee that it wouldn’t be able to meet the huge cumulative demand from all the markets. There is a very good reason for it. As you would have already got from my previous posts, The ‘Galaxy S II’ uses two important components manufactured by Samsung itself. The display ‘Super AMOLED plus’ is manufactured by Samsung and the SoC (System on Chip) i.e. Exynos 4210 is also manufactured by Samsung. So, Samsung had taken the help of Nvidia. It launched a Tegra-2 powered version (GT-I9103) of the ‘Galaxy S II’ and named it ‘Galaxy R’ also called the ‘Galaxy Z’ in Sweden. This European version of the ‘Galaxy S II’ didn’t get a ‘Super AMOLED plus’ screen and instead settled for an ‘SC-LCD’ display and a reduced 5 megapixel camera instead of the 8 megapixel camera that the original came with. But it was also priced lower as compared to the ‘Galaxy S II’ GT-I9100 version.

In order to compete well in the relatively lesser priced smartphone section, Samsung released another version called ‘Samsung Galaxy W’. This doesn’t have a dual-core processor but instead settles for a single core 1.4 GHz Qualcomm processor with an ‘SC-LCD’ screen and a 5 megapixel camera. It was also priced lower as compared to the original ‘Galaxy S II’ version in order to compete well.

In many of the world markets, 4G technologies had already been in place and Samsung also saw an opportunity there. The originally released ‘Galaxy S II’ did not have LTE (Long Term Evolution – A 4G Technology) baked into it. So Samsung released a variant of the ‘Galaxy S II’ called ‘Galaxy S II LTE’ and ‘Galaxy S II HD LTE’ on August 28, 2011. While the ‘Galaxy S II LTE’ has a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED display, the ‘Galaxy S II HD LTE’ sported a 4.65 inch SuperAMOLED 720p display.

Samsung saved the Canadian and the American markets for the last. In America, Carriers (Service Providers) tie up with mobile companies and sell CDMA versions at subsidized rates. Normally the contracts have duration of 2 years after which, the user gains ownership of the phone. Samsung tied up with ‘Sprint’, ‘T-Mobile’ and ‘AT&T’ carriers and offered ‘SPH D710’, ‘SGH T989’ and ‘SGH I777’ respectively. All of these are variants of the ‘Galaxy S II’ smartphone. The ‘T-Mobile’ version was released with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor instead of the Exynos CPU as the Exynos CPU wasn’t compatible with T-Mobile’s network. There are other differences between the models but they are minor. Samsung was able to bring the entire ‘United States of America’ under its purview with this release strategy. Currently, Samsung is also selling the ‘Galaxy S II Skyrocket’ for ‘AT&T’ (SGH-I727) which is an improvement over the original version that the carrier originally got. Similar to the strategy followed in the US, Samsung also hooked up with carriers like ‘Rogers’, ‘Bell’ and ‘Telus’ to cover the Canadian market. Samsung also launched a ‘Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 SoC’ powered ‘Galaxy S II’ which most people feel might be due to a deficiency of the ‘Exynos 4210’ SoCs. The ‘OMAP 4430’ chip offers a relatively similar performance as compared to the ‘Exynos 4210’ chip.

The point to be noted is that, Samsung has successfully been able to penetrate all the major world markets with the myriad variants of the ‘Galaxy S II’ smartphone while not compromising majorly on any of the original characteristics that had made the phone such a popular device. If we consider the BCG matrix, when the ‘Galaxy S II’ was released in April, it was a ‘STAR’ and it has now become a ‘CASH COW’ which Samsung is looking to milk. This also reaffirms the relevancy of a popular proverb: ‘Make hay while the sun shines’. J

As we approach the end of another eventful year, one of the Samsung representatives has said that the world will witness the successor to the ‘Galaxy S II’ which, as you might have already guessed by now, is the Galaxy S III’ (to be released at Mobile World Congress at Barcelona in 2012). Samsung has surely had a hell of a lot of fun with the ‘Galaxy S II’ this year. Hopefully it will deliver again with the ‘Galaxy S III'.

Stay Tuned..!!

Gorilla Glass, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA: Smartphone Features

Let's get to know about some more terms today.

1. GorillaGlass
• In order to provide a tough cover glass for electronic devices, which not only provides damage resistance but also has a thin form factor, ‘Corning’, a world leader in specialty glass and ceramics, developed ‘Gorilla Glass’. It is an alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass engineered specifically to be thinner, lighter and more damage resistant. Today, most of the high-end smartphones use this glass to shield their screens from scratches while not hampering the quality of the displays. 
2. Wi-Fi Direct
• ‘Wi-Fi Direct’ is a technology that allows Wi-Fi devices to talk to each other without the need for any wireless access points (hotspots). Recently, there was news that 'Wi-Fi Direct' has been included as part of DLNA specifications.
3. DLNA
• DLNA or Digital Living Network Alliance is a non-profit collaborative trade organization established by Sony in June 2003, and has more than 250 member companies in the mobile, consumer electronics, and PC and service provider industries. Many electronic devices including TVs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Players are ‘DLNA Certified’ which means that they can interconnect with each other effortlessly. For example, if your TV and smartphone are ‘DLNA Certified’, then you can display photos from your smartphone on your Television.

Stay Tuned..!!

Samsung & Apple: Are they Competitors or Co-Operators?

Do you know what has been powering Apple’s iPhones, ranging from the original iPhone released in 2007 to the latest iPhone 4S in 2011: SoCs manufactured by Samsung. Not only for the iPhone, but also for Apple’s Macbooks, Samsung is one of the most critical component supplier as it supplies parts like DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) module and SSDs (Solid State Drives). But do you know who has been suing ‘Samsung’ all over the world for the past few months: Apple. So, are they Competitors or Co-operators?? Let's find out.

Before Samsung, Apple already had a long list of lawsuits filed against Android device manufacturers like Motorola (who actually was the first to file a lawsuit against Apple), HTC etc. as it believed that the technologies being used by the devices seemed to infringe a number of Apple patents.

I believe that the actual fillip for Apple to file a patent lawsuit came when Samsung came out with the ‘Samsung Galaxy S2’ which was touted by the reviewers of many gadget websites, as the best Android Smartphone available at that point of time and they foresaw that it would sell in millions. Also, many tech enthusiasts believed that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one of the best Android tablets that have come closest to dethroning iPad in the tablet category.

Apple had a filed a host of patent infringement cases: 7 utility patents, 3 design patents, several iOS system application icons case and a host of trade dress registrations and packaging that each of Samsung's devices come with. I am not going to detail what each and every patent infringement case was but some of the bottom-line things that you need to take note of are as follows:

• Apple believed that Samsung’s Galaxy range of phones like the Galaxy S 4G and the Nexus S were awefully similar looking to the iPhone.
• The way Samsung had modified the vanilla Android OS with its ‘TouchWiz’ skin to display application icons also had an overwhelming resemblance to the way Apple was displaying icons on both the iPhone and the iPad.
• Apple also had a problem with the way Samsung had packaged its phones. It said that the packaging was also very similar to the way in which its iPhones were packaged.

On a funnier note, there was a recent incident where a Judge had held the iPad 2 (Apples’ tablet) in one hand and a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Samsung’s tablet) in the other and asked Samsung’s group of lawyers to distinguish both the devices from a distance of 10 feet away. Samsung’s lawyers did pick their own device correctly but not before an aweful lot of time had passed. This shows that there is a lot of similarity between the iPad 2 and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and when you have a look at their external design and specifications it is not hard to fathom why. This might be the reason why Apple has been able to get a temporary injunction on Samsung selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and Galaxy Tab 7.7 in Germany.

Samsung has also filed some lawsuits against Apple citing that Apple’s iPhone violates patents related to wireless communication: 3G. Samsung claims that Apple can’t sell a 3G compatible device without using Samsung’s Technology.

The irony is that even as Apple and Samsung are trading blows against each other, Apple has reportedly awarded Samsung the contract to supply the next-gen Quad-Core A6 CPUs which are most probably going to be used in iPhone 5 (or whatever the next generation iPhone is going to be called) and the iPad 3. Apple had reportedly considered other options like the ‘Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’ (TSMC) but had found that TSMC hasn’t quite stabilized its foundry good enough to manufacture the A6 CPU.

So, are they Competitors or Co-Operators? The Question still remains..!!

Stay Tuned..!!

Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, HDMI Mirroring: Smartphone Features

Today, let's get to know the various features that today's smartphones come bundled with.

1. Proximity Sensor
• A Proximity Sensor is a sensor that is able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. This is possible through emission of an electromagnetic radiation while looking for change in the field or return signal. In some of the HTC phones, proximity sensor is being used very well. When the phone rings and you turn the phone over, it automatically goes into a silent mode. The other famous application of ‘Proximity Sensor’ is in car bumpers where the distance to nearby cars is sensed in order to facilitate parking.
2. Accelerometer
• In the context of mobile phones, accelerometer was primarily used as a tilt-sensor for tagging the orientation of photos taken with the built-in camera. Thankfully, it has been extended to other applications like messaging where tilting the phone changes the layout of the keyboard from either landscape to portrait orientation or portrait to landscape orientation. The presence of an accelerometer also allows people to play games with amazing ease especially in racing games where tilting the mobile phone can make cars move from right to left or left to the right.
3. HDMI Mirroring
• Most smartphones today come with an HDMI port or mini-HDMI port or a micro-USB port. An HDMI cable is used to connect the smartphone and the HDTV (Most of the HDTVs being manufactured today also come inbuilt with an HDMI port). After successfully connecting the smartphone you can view content (like games, video) that is being played on the smartphone on the big-screen TV. This feature is called HDMI Mirroring. If the phone has a micro-USB port and doesn't have an HDMI port, an MHL (Mobile High-definition Link) adapter can be used to connect the smartphone and the HDTV.

Stay Tuned..!!

The Truth about the 'Core'

So, do you absolutely have to have a dual-core phone to enjoy the best experience on a smartphone? The question might be a one-liner but the answer is not quite simple.

You need to take note of the fact that most of the dual-core phones that are being launched in the market right now are actually running the same operating system: Android. Is it a coincidence?? Probably Not. For knowing the reason, you need to get to know about the companies a little deeply.

Most of you opine that Apple’s phones are cool. I know many of you use it for the kind of oohs and aahs that it draws from the surrounding crowd rather than truly knowing why you need it. But the kind of image that Apple has developed in the minds of consumers has a good grounding.

Apple is responsible for both the components of its smartphone and tablet devices: The ‘Hardware’ and the ‘Software’. Yes!! Apple manufactures its own hardware (Though it procures individual components from other manufacturers, it is consequently responsible for its own hardware) and also software: the iOS operating system. The software isn’t Open-Source. It is Proprietary and only controlled by Apple. So, Apple, in control of both the components that make up its smartphones, knows how to design its software to complement its hardware or how to design its hardware in order to complement its software. So, it is able to offer a complete package and hence you can feel that in all of its phones. Usually, you can see zero lag while operating Apple’s phones as the software is optimized for the underlying hardware and that hasn’t warranted a more powerful smartphone. Hence you did not find a dual-core processor in an Apple phone (until iPhone 4S) when other manufacturers were going hammer and tongs releasing dual-core smartphones. In summary, you have only 1 kind of software i.e. iOS and it only runs on one kind of hardware i.e. Apple’s devices. This approach works for Apple as they have full control over the final output. They have generated, are generating, and will generate huge profits with such phones but the market reach is going to be less.

Now, take the example of Android. It is an open-source operating system and the stock-build of Android is delivered by Google. Google is only responsible for the software part. Android is an open-source operating system and manufacturers are free to customize ‘Android’ to suit their own phones. Samsung has its own skin called ‘Touchwiz’, HTC has its own skin called ‘Sense’ and Motorola has its own skin called ‘Motoblur’ and so on. These different flavors of android are not being optimized extensively for the underlying hardware. In fact, ‘Froyo’ (Android 2.2) and early versions of ‘Gingerbread’ (Android 2.3) don’t even recognize the true power of dual-core smartphones. It is only the latest version: Android 2.3.5 which can actually take advantage of dual-core power being offered by the smartphones. The other build of Android: ‘Honeycomb’ (Android 3.0) also supports dual-core but that operating system is for tablets. The latest build of Android: ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ (for both smartphones and tablets) will hopefully have plenty of dual-core optimizations.

But, there are problems for ‘Android’ which is actually making it compulsory for manufacturers to make dual-core smartphones:

• The software is being run on low-power hardware (some low-powered smartphones) which is allowing lag to creep in.
• Very few manufacturers are using the vanilla version that Google releases and developing their own versions with heavy customization which, according to most of the experts, is actually slowing down the performance of ‘Android’. This is also leading to the problem of ‘Fragmentation’ due to which ‘Android’ is not presenting a consistent user-interface across all the smartphone devices.

In summary, there are several versions of the software: Various ‘Android’ flavors and there are several kinds of hardware: Various smartphone manufacturers. This is not to say that such phones are bad. Manufacturers are releasing their own flavors of android because they are adding extra features to make their phones unique. For example, you can find beautiful 3D transition effects in ‘HTC Sense’ that is unavailable in stock-builds that Google releases. In fact, such beautiful effects are even absent in the iPhone. But, it is just that with such a whole lot of varieties of hardware and software, ‘Android’ is not able to actually utilize the single-cores fully which is warranting manufacturers to go for dual-core smartphones.

Similar to the iOS, Microsoft’s OS for mobiles:  Windows Phone, also doesn't mandate a dual-core smartphone. Microsoft is not exactly responsible for the hardware on which it runs its software but it has stringent requirements for the underlying hardware and all the companies which use this OS have to adhere to the requirements. It also has designed its OS in such a way that the OS does not necessitate a dual-core smartphone for providing a high-quality end user experience. Eventually, Windows Phone will also get dual-core processors but that will be mostly for providing extra features.

In all the mobile operating systems, ‘Applications’ or ‘Apps’ as they are being popularly called, are the core. Absence of applications is what led to the downfall of ‘Web OS’ which is another great operating system. Thankfully, developers are also realizing the fact and they are developing games that can actually take advantage of the dual-core power of the smartphones. So, you won’t be able to play HD games on your single-core smartphones as they are being designed keeping in mind the raw power of dual-cores. Also, features such as shooting 1080p video @ 30 fps and the ability to connect smartphones to HD Televisions and play 1080p content are also only available on dual-core smartphones.

So, if you are going to use a mobile phone and do not value ‘Geeky’ features like those listed above, single-core smartphones will be more than enough to satisfy all your wants. If you want proof, you can check out the latest Nokia Windows Smartphone: The ‘Lumia 800’. It is powered only by a single-core 1.4 Ghz Qualcomm processor but it has a very-fluid and gorgeous user interface. But, if you do buy a dual-core Android smartphone, you know that it is not going to go waste. J

Stay Tuned!!!

Quad-Core Smartphones: Exynos 4212, OMAP 4470 details

If you have been following my blog closely, I said that I would discuss the 'OMAP 4470' in another post in conjunction with the 'Nvidia Tegra 3' (in 'The 'Core' Enigma (Contd.) - 1' post). As we are done with the 'Tegra 3' let's now get down to the 'OMAP 4470' processor.

As you already know by now, I had mentioned that 'Texas Instruments' manufactures 3 SoCs: OMAP 4430, OMAP 4460, and OMAP 4470. Well, it actually manufactures another SoC: OMAP 4440, but it is only a minor upgrade from the OMAP 4430. So, why is 'OMAP 4470' special??

The 'OMAP 4470' uses an architecture which is very similar to the one found on the 'Tegra 3'. The 'OMAP 4470' is actually a dual-core processor (2 ARM Cortex A9s) but in addition to these 2 cores, it contains 2 other cores (2 ARM Cortex M3s). While the Cortex A9s are clocked at a maximum frequency of 1.8 Ghz, the Cortex M3s are clocked at a maximum frequency of 266 Mhz. The 'Cortex M3s' kick-in when less CPU intensive tasks are running like 'Playing Music', 'Editing a document' or 'Checking E-Mail'. But once you start playing 'HD games' on the smartphone device (inside which the SoC is present) the 'Cortex A9s' make their presence felt. Very Impressive architecture indeed..!!! :D

As far as the GPU is concerned, Texas Instruments went with the leader in the GPU space: 'Imagination Technologies'. I have already mentioned that currently 'Imagination Technologies' produces one of the best GPUs in the market. The GPU inside the 'OMAP 4470' is 'Power VR SGX 544' (Surprisingly this is a single-core GPU). Supposedly, it offers tremendous improvement in the GPU performance as compared to the other OMAP SoCs. Now as in the CPU, there is an additional 2D graphics core that kicks-in when less graphic intensive tasks are performed, it is only when applications which demand better graphics performance are run does the 'Power VR SGX 544' actually kick-in. So, there is a by-pass for the GPU too. Wonder what all crazy steps are being taken by SoC makers for saving battery life. :-|

Anyways, the 'OMAP 4470' is actually being touted as a competitor to the 'Tegra 3' and given it's architecture it's hard to conclude why it won't offer performance similar to the 'Tegra 3'. And don't worry Samsung is out to compete with both of them with the 'Exynos 4212' and Qualcomm won't be far behind in its development of 'Snapdragon S4'.

With this post, I will be shutting up on CPU and GPU :). In the next post, I will tell you whether you absolutely need to have a 'Dual-Core' smartphone to enjoy it's features completely.

Quad-Core Smartphones: Nvidia Tegra 3 Details

So, we have talked about ‘Single-Core’ and ‘Dual-Core’ smartphones and tablets. You might be thinking ‘These are soooo Yesterday!! Tell us something that we don’t know’. Well, I’ll oblige by telling you that 2012 will be the year of ‘Quad-Core’. Yes!! You heard it right!!! Most of the market leading SoC manufacturers will come out with their ‘Quad-Core’ creations in the next year and these SoCs will have performance that is multiple times their previous generations’.

If you would have followed this blog closely, you might have seen the mention of two devices: the ‘Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime’ and the ‘HTC Edge’. Both will be sporting an ‘Nvidia Tegra 3’ (Project Kal-El) CPU which is, as you rightly guessed, a quad-core processor. I have also highlighted about the display panels used in both of them in ‘The Display Dilemma’ blog posts below: a ‘Super IPS+’ panel in the ‘Transformer Prime’ where as an ‘SLCD-2 optically laminated display’ in the ‘HTC Edge’.  So, they both have industry-leading displays and also processors. So expect these to get sold as fast as cakes. The ‘Transformer Prime’ will be hitting stores next month and the ‘HTC Edge’ will make its presence in Q1 2012.

So, let’s get down to the actual dirt: the ‘Nvidia Tegra 3’. The ‘Nvidia Tegra 3’ is, as you rightly expected, a successor to the highly successful ‘Nvidia Tegra 2’ and ‘Tegra 3’ has received a significant performance boost over the ‘Tegra 2’. Nvidia has detailed that the Tegra 3’s processor is 5 times as fast as the Tegra 2’s and the Tegra 3’s GPU is 3 times as fast as the Tegra 2’s. So, let’s find out how this is possible!!

Tegra 3 has got 4 ARM Cortex A9s (a step up from the 2 ARM Cortex A9s in Tegra 2) and therefore has got its name as the ‘Quad-Core’ SoC.  Nvidia actually had a surprise for the general audience when it announced the ‘Tegra 3’ SoC. It not only had the above mentioned 4 ARM Cortex A9s (which can run at a maximum clock-speed of 1.3 Ghz when running simultaneously and at a maximum clock-speed of 1.4 Ghz when only one of them is active), but also had another ARM Cortex A9 clocked at a lower frequency of 500 Mhz. So actually, ‘Tegra 3’ has got not 4 but 5 cores. The reason for including an additional ‘Companion Core’ (ARM Cortex A9 at 500 Mhz) was simple. Normally, when you increase the cores on the SoC, it tends to draw in more power which leads to loss of battery life. Most basic tasks like ‘Playing Music’, ‘Editing a document’, ‘Checking e-mails’ etc. do not require the power delivered by 4 cores. So utilization of 4 cores in such scenarios would be pointless. Nvidia thought that they could take care of these tasks with the ‘Companion Core’ and let the other ‘Quad Cores’ come into picture only when the applications demanded it. For example, if you are trying to watch a HD video or trying to play a game on your TV by connecting your smartphone or tablet to it, the performance of ‘Quad Cores’ is required. So in such scenarios, the ‘Companion Core’ would quietly hand over the control to the other 4 cores. So, as you would have got by now, at any point of time only one of them would be active: either the ‘Companion Core’ or ‘The other Quad Cores’. This type of functioning has been branded ‘Variable Symmetric Multi Processing (vSMP)’ by Nvidia. I remember using such terms to impress my professors while taking exams in MBA. ;-)

Right. The other major difference between the Quad-Core processor cores in Tegra 3 and the Dual-Core processor cores in Tegra 2 is that each of the cores (in the Quad-Core architecture and not the Companion Core) is equipped with a ‘Media Processing Engine’ (MPE) part. This MPE part is absent in the dual-core CPUs of Tegra 2. This MPE not only will allow users to watch any video in any format but also will support voice recognition.

Nvidia claims that it has been able to significantly improve the battery life of the smartphone or the tablet using such architecture. The other important thing to be noted is that even the GPU has 12 cores. But the actual meaning of ‘Core’ in a GPU is different from that of a ‘Core’ in a CPU. The only thing to be remembered is that the GPU in ‘Tegra 3’ is clocked at a higher frequency and delivers more performance than the GPU in ‘Tegra 2’, which will allow you to play games, that necessitated a graphic card in your laptop or desktop, with consummate ease.

So that is it about the CPU and the GPU of Tegra 3 SoC. At the time of writing this post, I have also got to know that 'Lenovo' and 'Acer' also planning to come out with their Tegra 3 offerings very soon. Looks like 'The Transformer Prime' won't be alone after all. Stay tuned..!!!