Motorola post-Google acquisition - bringing their own SoCs?

[Deleted member 13524]

It was a cross-launch between Motorola and verizon:

I wonder if this verizon exclusivity is somehow permanent.

http://www.gsmarena.com/verizon_makes_the_droid_ultra_and_droid_maxx_official-news-6446.php


Thee flagships are using 5" RGB OLED screens for a 720p resolution. They have constantly enabled screen notifications like Nokia's Sleeping Screen which is a great case of taking advantage of an OLED screen.
There's a MAXX version with a whopping 3500mAh battery and there's a Mini version with a smaller 4.3" screen. The MAXX also supports wireless charging.
There's also some new camera tech that I haven't been able to read about.


But I think the biggest surprise is the fact that they're supposedly using a custom SoC which they call "Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System".
Comparing to last year's models, which bundled a MSM8960, they claim:

- 24% higher CPU performance than dual-core Krait @ 1.5GHz
- Twice the GPU performance than the Adreno 225 (close to Adreno 320 then?)
- A "contextual computing core"
- A "core for processing natural language"

If it wasn't for the branding and these custom computing cores, I'd say it's a dual-core Snapdragon 600.
Maybe it is a S600 along with a secondary custom chip?

 

[Laurent06]

You're right: it's Krait + Adreno + other Motorola specific IP

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549060/motorola-using-its-own-8-core-chip-in-new-droids

A Motorola spokesperson at a simultaneous event held in Chicago to announce the new phones tells The Verge that the X8 is a custom-made system-on-a-chip. However, the spokesperson added that company is using Qualcomm Krait CPU cores and Adreno GPU cores in the design.

 

[kalelovil]

You're right: it's Krait + Adreno + other Motorola specific IP

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549060/motorola-using-its-own-8-core-chip-in-new-droids

It's an X8 system rather than SoC they are promoting, consisting of what seems to be an MSM8960T SoC (Two 1.7Ghz Krait cores + Adreno 320) plus two additional custom chips to offload voice and sensor processing and extend battery life in a similar fashion as the PS4's secondary processor.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422158,00.asp

 

[Mariner]

Interesting devices. But Motorola can still go and screw themselves as far as I'm concerned, after they stopped supporting Atrix after Gingerbread.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Interesting devices. But Motorola can still go and screw themselves as far as I'm concerned, after they stopped supporting Atrix after Gingerbread.

Considering that it's now under Google's helm, I wouldn't assume the new models will share that kind of problems.

 

[wco81]

Isn't one of the "features" that the microphone is always on and listening?

So that's what the additional chips would be for? Hmm, doesn't sound terribly desirable.

 

[Mariner]

Considering that it's now under Google's helm, I wouldn't assume the new models will share that kind of problems.

Regardless, I'm never buying another Motorola device. The ultimate decision to drop support for the Atrix was taken with Motorola in the hands of Google. You reap what you sow.