iGaming welcomes mobile quad-core powered devices

Lee Bell
November 9, 2011
6 Comments

HTC EDGEMobile gaming is about to get a performance boost. In the past week, two different technology manufacturers have announced world-first mobile devices that will be powered by NVIDIA‘s mobile quad-core technology: Tegra 3.

On Tuesday Pocketnow revealed that Taiwanese phone giant HTC – whose favourite past-time is announcing “world firsts” – is cooking up the first ever quad-core powered smartphone, called the HTC Edge. Being double the processor speed of any other smartphone out there at the moment, HTC isn’t set to officially unveil the ground breaking Android device until February 2012. For now, it has its sexy red and black ReZound to flaunt around.

However, today a second story broke by BGR, confirming the Edge will be using NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 technology. That might be a change of pace from the norm as HTC usually goes with Qualcomm chipsets, but considering Nvidia invented Graphic Processing Units – we think they’ve made a good choice. The processor will be clocked at 1.5GHz alongside 1GB of RAM and a 4.7 inch 720p S-LCD 2 panel with optical lamination, resulting in a display with the sort of clarity and pixel density comparable to the Apple iPhone 4S Retina display. What an iGaming dream.

With these specs, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Edge will ship with the newest version of the ever-growing Android operating system too – Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0. Other features that are rumoured include a 8MP backside-illuminate rear camera with 1080p video recording, and a 720p front-facing camera, Beats Audio (of course), Bluetooth and a 1,800mAh battery – all at only 8.8mm thick. Could this be the one to beat Apple’s future iPhone 5? Does it sound like an iGaming dream to you?

While HTC conspire against the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers to be the first to get quad-core powered phones in our hands, it seems laptop makers Asus have been doing the same, but with a new tablet computer.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer PrimeThe Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was announced today and is in position to be the world’s most powerful Android tablet. The new slate is the first quad-core tablet and like the HTC Edge, will be the first to be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip.

As well as the quad-core powerhouse, the Eee boasts a fifth companion chip that runs at 1.4GHz when you only need a single core for simple tasks, like flicking through pictures of your favourite AyreHeads. The quad-core system fires up all four cores at 1.3GHz for more intensive tablet-fondling like igaming.

Here’s what to expect from the specs (or should we say “exspecs”):

  • 10.1-inch tablet sports a 8.3mm-thick body
  • 1280×800 display
  • 1GB of RAM,
  • an 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p video
  • a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera,
  • a microSD slot to expand memory

Like the HTC Edge, the Eee Pad (which if you say slow enough doesn’t sound anything like “iPad”) will run Android Ice Cream Sandwich through an update that is scheduled for the end of the year. It will cost $499 for the 32GB version and $599 for a 64GB model in the US, with an option attachable keyboard for $149 that will be available when it ships in December. It’s set to cost £499 when in it arrives in the UK – currently planned for January. Will this be the one to beat Apple’s upcoming Ipad 3?

If you’ll be on the lookout for super fast mobile gaming next year, it seems quad-core is the way to go. Are the HTC or Asus models ones which you’ll be betting on?

If you have any further information related to this story that you would like to share with us privately please click here.

Can't get enough CalvinAyre.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, then you'll never miss out on the latest gaming industry news.

Share
Tags: Article, asus, htc, iGaming, nvidia
Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com