Low-cost emerging market SoC/phone discussion

[Deleted member 13524]

Thread-digging for the first benchmark of Mediatek's MT6595 (that I know of):

http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benc...pi=gl&D=Alcatel+One+Touch+D820&testgroup=info

Offscreen tests point to a performance that is a tad lower than Snapdragon 800 devices (Nexus 5, LG G2, etc.).
For mid-end devices, this is spectacular.


P.S.: Alcatel D820 with a QHD screen of 4.6" for a density of over 600dpi.. yikes..

 

[Ailuros]

Thread-digging for the first benchmark of Mediatek's MT6595 (that I know of):

http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benc...pi=gl&D=Alcatel+One+Touch+D820&testgroup=info

Offscreen tests point to a performance that is a tad lower than Snapdragon 800 devices (Nexus 5, LG G2, etc.).
For mid-end devices, this is spectacular.


P.S.: Alcatel D820 with a QHD screen of 4.6" for a density of over 600dpi.. yikes..

There were preliminary benchmarks from it so the results are within expectations so far. Any idea what the device could cost?

I'm expecting to see tablets with Allwinner's A80 which according to Allwinner representatives themselves was supposed to appear in devices in late May (no they didn't mention which year LOL...).

The A80 carries a G6230 instead of the plain G6200@600MHz in the MT6595 and should also clock higher than the latter.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

There were preliminary benchmarks from it so the results are within expectations so far. Any idea what the device could cost?

Being from Alcatel, I'd say it won't cost much more than $300 (in China, which usually translates to ~%40 more plus shipping, when imported).

Chinese brands rarely launch phones with flagship prices. If they wanted to, I think they'r rather create another (sub-)brand with a western name and launch the phone under this new brand.

I'm also very suspicious about that 4.6" QHD screen. It certainly isn't a panel made exclusively for Alcatel. Either they're doing piggyback orders from a major ODM (Xperia Z3 Compact? Xiaomi Mini?) or the screen size is simply wrong. 6.4" instead of 4.6" would make it much more believable for a QHD resolution.
It would make it a lot less interesting too, which is much more in line with what Alcatel can or is willing to do.

Some things are definitely wrong in the hardware description. For example, video recording is done at a higher max resolution than photo capture? Doesn't make any sense..

I'm expecting to see tablets with Allwinner's A80 which according to Allwinner representatives themselves was supposed to appear in devices in late May (no they didn't mention which year LOL...).

The A80 carries a G6230 instead of the plain G6200@600MHz in the MT6595 and should also clock higher than the latter.

I don't think we'll see the MT6595 in tablets because there's a LTE baseband processor in there.
Wikipedia tells me this should be the MT6595M, since the CPU clocks are lower than 2GHz. That would mean this G6200 is running at 450MHz, not 600MHz.
If true, the non-M variations should have little problems surpassing a Snapdragon 801 in 3D performance.

 

[Ailuros]

Being from Alcatel, I'd say it won't cost much more than $300 (in China, which usually translates to ~%40 more plus shipping, when imported).

Chinese brands rarely launch phones with flagship prices. If they wanted to, I think they'r rather create another (sub-)brand with a western name and launch the phone under this new brand.

I'm also very suspicious about that 4.6" QHD screen. It certainly isn't a panel made exclusively for Alcatel. Either they're doing piggyback orders from a major ODM (Xperia Z3 Compact? Xiaomi Mini?) or the screen size is simply wrong. 6.4" instead of 4.6" would make it much more believable for a QHD resolution.
It would make it a lot less interesting too, which is much more in line with what Alcatel can or is willing to do.

Up to $300 it'll be fine. No idea about the display to be honest, but it sounds likelier that it's a 5" display with the power buttons included.

I don't think we'll see the MT6595 in tablets because there's a LTE baseband processor in there.
Wikipedia tells me this should be the MT6595M, since the CPU clocks are lower than 2GHz. That would mean this G6200 is running at 450MHz, not 600MHz.
If true, the non-M variations should have little problems surpassing a Snapdragon 801 in 3D performance.

For tablets Mediatek has the MT8135 which has a 2*A15+2*A17 config with a G6200 at up to 600MHz again.

And no the Alcatel hasn't the GPU clocked at 450MHz: http://gfxbench.com/subtest_results_of_device.jsp?D=Alcatel+One+Touch+D820&id=554&benchmark=gfx30

2172 MTexels / 4 TMUs = 543MHz

And no it won't surpass the Adreno330 in the S801; you need for that something like the A80 I mentioned above: http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx30&os=Android&api=gl&D=Allwinner UltraOcta A80

That's a G6230 (meaning a wee bit more enchilada compared to the 6200) and it's most likely clocked a tad under 800MHz. Remember you're looking a two cluster Rogue; on estimate it should be half as big as a 4 cluster solution from another competitor

At 600MHz a G62x0 delivers 76.80 GFLOPs FP32; that's roughly half as much as an Adreno330@580MHz/S801.

 

[RudeCurve]

Unlocked smartphones for a little over $100 seem to be the ticket for emerging markets. I'm actually thinking of getting this one to use at home as a small portable media device.

http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-...4-4-mtk6582-4-5-inch-1gb-8gb-13mp-camera.html

 

[Deleted member 13524]

If the purpose is to stay at home (not in the pocket) and function solely as a media player/extender/controller, I think the DG550 phablet would be a much better choice for a little more:
http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-...core-5-5-inch-1gb-16gb-13mp-camera-white.html

You get WiDi, MHL, a much larger 720p screen and quite a bit better performance.

 

[silent_guy]

Unlocked smartphones for a little over $100 seem to be the ticket for emerging markets. I'm actually thinking of getting this one to use at home as a small portable media device. http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-dg800-smartphone-android-4-4-mtk6582-4-5-inch-1gb-8gb-13mp-camera.html

Is it possible to install Google Play apps on this thing? I'm tempted to inflict a cheap Android phone on my daughter (who has a tendency to lose things.)

Also: any ideas on compatibility on Tmobile network in the US?

 

[RudeCurve]

If the purpose is to stay at home (not in the pocket) and function solely as a media player/extender/controller, I think the DG550 phablet would be a much better choice for a little more:
http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-...core-5-5-inch-1gb-16gb-13mp-camera-white.html

You get WiDi, MHL, a much larger 720p screen and quite a bit better performance.

Yeah I had my eye on that one too but it seems to not be in stock and it costs a bit more.

Is it possible to install Google Play apps on this thing? I'm tempted to inflict a cheap Android phone on my daughter (who has a tendency to lose things.)

Also: any ideas on compatibility on Tmobile network in the US?

Unfortunately I do not know the answers to those questions as I don't plan on using it as a phone. Also I have no idea what Google Play apps are since I've never owned an Android device.

 

[Ailuros]

I'd go for a tablet instead personally...something like that: http://www.tinydeal.com/created-x8s-8-android-44-mtk6592-3g-tablet-phone-p-131606.html

....or if that's too expensive:

http://www.tinydeal.com/teclast-p78hd-7-retina-android-44-a31-quad-core-8gb-tablet-p-125713.html

***edit: and yes it's possible to install everything from the Google play store. If in doubt check with the online retailer's support if they don't mention anything on their homesite.

 

[silent_guy]

Yeah I had my eye on that one too but it seems to not be in stock and it costs a bit more. Unfortunately I do not know the answers to those questions as I don't plan on using it as a phone. Also I have no idea what Google Play apps are since I've never owned an Android device.

Looks like a Motorola E for $129 will be a better choice.

 

[Ailuros]

http://www.tinydeal.com/onda-v989-97-android-44-a80t-tablet-pc-w-miracast-p-132523.html?currency=EUR

Nice price/performance ratio.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

http://www.tinydeal.com/onda-v989-97-android-44-a80t-tablet-pc-w-miracast-p-132523.html?currency=EUR

Nice price/performance ratio.

No thanks, I'll rather have one with a decent screen ratio

 

[Ailuros]

No thanks, I'll rather have one with a decent screen ratio

LOL@tinydeal and it's rather entertaining info tidbits at times. WTF is a T764?

Anyway both the Pipo and the Onda further above have good price/performance ratios and there's thank God an aspect ratio for everyone.

Apart from Pipo's usual excellent manufacturing quality that 6600mAh battery is a bit on the low side for a 9 incher.

On a sidenote the preorders of the MiPad at merimobiles are at around 235 Euros; if I would be scoring for a <9" device I'd fetch it without a second thought. Too bad it's got a rotten 4:3 aspect ratio too, but hey they all want to copy fruitco

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Allwinner announces a 4-core Cortex A7 SoC for $4 (four dollars):

http://www.allwinnertech.com/plus/view.php?aid=407

GPU is Mali 400MP2 and fuzilla claims the CPU cores are clocked at up to 1.3GHz.

They claim support for 1080p video decoding but the MIPI DSI only goes up to 1280*800. Does this mean the SoC can't output anything over 1280*800?

Nonetheless, I think this is spectacular for low-cost devices, mainly development boards.
I see this is pin-compatible with the predecessor Allwinner A23, which was already present in a lot of dev boards (cubieboard being the most popular).
It looks like people could be building perfectly capable media center and web browsing boxes for $25 with this.

 

[Alexko]

That's pretty damn impressive—I had no idea SoCs like that could be so cheap.

Makes me wonder: give it a year or two for quad-A53s built on 20nm to become mainstream, and with a slightly more modern GPU (with 1080p support) you could see some very decent tablet chips for $4 or less.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I mean come on, in that configuration the chip should barely go over 20mm². Probably even less depending on what accelerator blocks they have.

 

[Ailuros]

I mean come on, in that configuration the chip should barely go over 20mm². Probably even less depending on what accelerator blocks they have.

I don't see where the surprise is either. Very small SoCs at very low prices is the success recepy for both Allwinner and Mediatek amongst others in the Chinese market.

 

[Alexko]

It's just that I would have guessed more like $8~10.

How expensive is it to develop a chip like that? How high would AllWinner's margin be? How many do they need to sell to turn a profit?

 

[Ailuros]

It's just that I would have guessed more like $8~10.

How expensive is it to develop a chip like that? How high would AllWinner's margin be? How many do they need to sell to turn a profit?

It's a quad A7 SoC; that was mainstream at best last year. Margins are obviously ridiculously low and as for Allwinner only Apple sells more tablet SoC on an annual basis.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/35322-allwinner-to-launch-64-bit-arm-socs-this-year

About 88Mio units per year if the above is accurate.

 

[Ailuros]

By the way:

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/35376-intel-is-quietly-working-with-chinese-tablet-vendors