Fudzilla: Nvidia has high hopes for Android

[A_Dying_Wren]

You do have to have a certain level of performing graphics card to utilize Windows Aero, or Windows won't even allow you to turn it on.

As of right now, the top-end Android devices are more powerful than the iPhone 3GS. It looks like the top-end Android devices right now as of 6/5/2010 -> HTC EVO4G, Nexus One and HTC Droid Incredible with their Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processors will be still more powerful than the iPhone 4G.

The dual-core Android devices will be out later this year. I understand what you are saying, but it really is just the "opposite" as to what you are thinking. Apple developers are the ones who are limited to what they can do because they can only do so much with whatever hardware Apple puts in their devices.

It probably won't be until the iPhone 4GS or whatever they decide to call it where a dual-core solution will be implemented.

The dual-core Snapdragon processors will run between 1.2Ghz and 1.5Ghz. That is insane for a cell phone

Its curious actually. Despite their much vaunted snapdragon processors, the gpu attached with said processors is actually pitiful compared to the 3GS's. The Galaxy S which IMO is the most desirable android phone atm (no 4G here) however does have a powerful GPU. Thus, from a gaming point of view, android is already disadvantaged by the fact the vast majority of its users do not actually have that powerful GPUs. No doubt the snapdragon is faster than the iphones processor. I can't say for certain which phones are snappier but I'm guessing the difference isn't as wide as it could've been owing to the fact that apple can tune the OS to a specific hardware and that it is overly restrictive in what users can actually do.

Working within limits does have its benefits. Look at console gaming. Developers have eked out (or are eking out still) every last drop of performance from the miserable hardware inside the ps3/360 whereas on PC, developers have far more leeway as PCs are considerably faster but come in vastly different configurations. This comparison unfortunately fails when talking about android because at the moment, android's hardware isn't incredibly faster than the iphone but with a good deal of variability (not as much as PCs of course).

That said, I certainly hope android's fast rate of hardware improvement will force apple to get some really fast hardware out but again, I think on the software side android will have trouble fulling using such hardware. What microsoft is doing with setting various hardware standards is sheer genius. It'll be easy to program for (whether it'll be lucrative is a separate issue) to the fullest or near fullest, users can easily check compatibilities and performance but hardware manufacturers can still manufacture different phones for different price points. That the manufacturers will really have to compete on matters other than the hardware alone will be a boon for aesthetics (I hope) and other basic functionality.

I have to ask, what did Steve Jobs say "The" Android OS was? Is it Sense? Is it MotoBlur? Sony's custom build? Which build did Steve say is "The" Android OS? Cupcake? Froyo? Hard to state with accuracy if "The" Android OS can explicitly use Tegra's power unless we know what Steve has deemed "The" Android OS. Those of who are capabale of actually thinking differently see a very large and divergent grouping of choices many of which are tailored to fit the hardware they are running on. I understand this goes against what Steve Jobs allows his people to think, but it is the reality of the current market.



Do you know much about The Way It's Meant To Be Played(TWIMTBP)? nV has no problem offering financial backing to developers to promote their platforms- I think you'll find that the cell phone market won't be all that different.

Fair enough I entirely forgot about how skinnable Android is. Its perfectly conceivable that one of the manufacturers will actually be able to utilize tegra's power for the OS.

For TWIMTBP, there's still the issue that there's little in the way of money being made on Android apps I believe in both absolute terms and part of marketshare. Nvidia would have to substancially subsidize such games/apps. Not that it couldn't be a possibility but I think persuading apple to use tegra would again be a more successful and cheaper approach simply due to the reasons I mentioned above (existing and thriving market/guaranteed userbase)