Qualcomm has announced their new processor the Snapdragon 820 in New York at their official launch.
Qualcomm are boasting a host of new and exciting new features, improving massively on the much maligned Snapdragon 810. The Snapdragon 810 proved to be quite a hot topic (sorry, not sorry) since its release, due to the thermal issues it had. Although before the conference Qualcomm confirmed the 820 had surpassed thermal requirement scores.
Snapdragon 820 is a signifiant improvement from the 810 due to adopting some current ideas already in the market. The main improvement that makes it all the new features possible is the 14nm FinFET, which is also seen on Samsung’s Exynos 7420. With 14nm FinFET more transistors can be included on the processor, whilst reducing power usage and run faster.
The 820 will be 30% more efficient than its predecessor the 810. Not only that, smartphones with an 820 will also be able to support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0.
Photography was also on the agenda as Qualcomm is boasting that the 820 will remove all noise in low light shots and increase details.
VR seems to be the new thing for smartphone makers to consider in future handsets and Qualcomm have recognise that. A combination of 4K screen technology, 3D Audio, a new Kyro CPU and Adreno GPU, Snapdragon 820 can offer a more immersive VR experience.
3D Audio will not only make your VR experience more immersive, it will also boost your music experience too. Even with those rubbish in-house earphones that come in the box. You can also record video which utilises 3D Audio to create deeper videos. Directional audio recording is possible too, which will help you eliminate background noise.
A 4K display is nothing new, but Qualcomm promises it will be better this time with better colour contrast, shadows and lighting. 2K is all you need for the best browsing experience, but 4K will be fully utilised in VR.
On to the topic of speed. Qualcomm’s new X12 LTE Modem will be included in the 820, giving users the ability to download 600 mbps, while uploads can clock up to 150Mbps. It all depends on your internet and 4G connection of course, but with the inclusion of this technology, the 820 is pretty future proof.
Below is the detailed specifications of the Snapdragon 820:
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