Qualcomms new Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform for entry-level Windows 10 laptops & Chromebooks is now official

Back in 2019, Qualcomm expanded its portfolio of chips for Windows on ARM PCs with the introduction of the Snapdragon 8c and Snapdragon 7c processors. Entry-level Windows machines and Chromebooks powered by these platforms are already out there on the market under various price points. Now, the company has introduced a new chip in the portfolio, the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2.

The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform is the second generation of the company’s breakthrough entry-level platform for always-on, always-connected Windows PCs and Chromebooks with efficient performance and support for multi-day battery life. While we are not looking at a significant upgrade from its predecessor, the new compute platform is expected to deliver some meaningful enhancements to camera and audio capabilities, integrated LTE connectivity, AI acceleration, enterprise-grade security features, and more.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform Specifications

The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform is designed for entry-level Windows 10 laptops and Chromebooks in the sub $400 (approximately Rs 29,000) price range. The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 features Kyro 468 CPU cores with clock speeds up to 2.55Ghz. It's built on the 8nm process technology and is based on 64-bit architecture. The CPU is coupled with an Adreno 618 GPU with a max on-device display support for up to QXGA @60Hz and FHD @60Hz. The max external display support tops out at QHD @60Hz.

The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 features the Qualcomm Spectra 255 ISP with 14-bit image signal processing. It also has a Snapdragon X15 LTE modem with support for up to 600Mbps LTE downlink. The chip also has the 5th Gen Qualcomm Hexagon 692 DSP AI engine that can support intelligent applications 'on-device' to enable the latest accelerated features.

Qualcomm also says that the new chip comes with enterprise-grade security with features like Qualcomm Processor Security, Qualcomm Content Protection, and WPA3 Wi-Fi Security. Additional noteworthy features of the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform includes Location-Aware GPS, Qualcomm Aqstic technology, Qualcomm aptX HD technology, and more.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform Performance

With the new Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform, Qualcomm is claiming some significant performance gains over Intel's entry-level chips. The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform is said to be up to 60-percent more efficient than the Intel Celeron N4020 based on the PCMark 10 applications score. The chip seems to be outperforming competing chips in the Chromebooks department as well, delivering some solid numbers across Geekbench 5, GFXBench 5.0, and other battery life tests.

Miguel Nunes, Senior Director, Product Management Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. said that they are excited to bring this next-generation upgrade to their entry-level platform. "Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 brings the leading innovations of our compute portfolio to the next generation of entry-tier and affordable devices. Laptops powered by this platform will redefine mobile computing for education users, first-line workers, and everyday light consumers, enabling reliable and powerful devices that feature advanced AI, and support for multi-day battery life,” he said.

We don't have exact dates yetn but according to Qualcomm, the first devices based on the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 compute platform is expected to commercially available this summer.

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Xiaomi Mi TV 4A 40-inch Horizon Edition to launch in India on June 1

Xiaomi has confirmed that the Mi TV 4A 40-inch will launch in India for June 1, 2021. The upcoming TV is said to include a “Horizon display” with narrow side bezels that aim to offer an immersive viewing experience. Xiaomi already retails affordable 43-inch and 32-inch Mi TV 4A Horizon Edition TVs in India, and the new 40-inch variant is expected to be a new size variant that is priced somewhere in between. 

Xiaomi Mi TV 4A 40-inch Horizon Edition Details 

The Mi TV 4A 40-inch will be entry-grade TV that’ll be significantly more affordable than the company’s recently launched QLED TV lineup. This includes the Mi QLED TV 55-inch (review) and the Mi QLED TV 75-inch (review). 

Teaser images reveal the fascia bordered by very narrow bezels. Xiaomi doesn’t confirm any specific detail, but the company already retails Mi TV 4A in 43-inch and 32-inch sizes in India with the same Horizon Edition branding, marketed with the same “Immersive. Work of Art” tag line. The upcoming Mi TV 4A 40-inch will most likely be a new size variant that takes after these existing TVs when it comes to other specifications and features. 

Immersive experience. Beautiful visuals. Truly a work of art. Uncover the excellence on the #HorizonEdition with Bezel-less design.  

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Sony PlayStation 5 up for pre-booking again on May 27

May is turning out to be a pretty good year for gamers looking to buy the Sony PlayStation 5 (review). It seems like the new console will be up for another round of pre-booking this month. According to a banner posted by a Sony Authorised dealer, the PS5 will e up for pre-booking from May 27, 12 PM onwards. 

It should be noted that the banner is posted by the same dealer who unveiled the May 17 pre-booking date, so it stands to reason that this information is legitimate as well. It should also be noted that shortly after the dealer posted the banner, other notable online retailers such as Vijay Sales,  GamesTheShop, PrePaidGamerCard, Flipkart advertised the same on their platforms.

While the console will now be up for pre-booking twice in the span of 10 days, it doesn't look like the shortage of stock is going to go away anytime soon. While speaking to investors, Sony CFO, Hiroki Totoki confirmed that the company facing a challenge keeping up with the strong demand. He noted that in addition to the global semiconductor shortage, there were “other factors” contributing to the scarcity. Totoki did not elaborate any further on these “other factors”, but one can assume those to be the global shipping crisis that is happening due to the ongoing pandemic. 

With everyone stuck at home, many people have turned to gaming as a way to pass the time. However, companies are struggling to keep up with demand. Sony isn’t the only company facing this. Microsoft has also been struggling to keep up with demand. On the PC gaming front, AMD and Nvidia are also struggling to keep pace with the demand for their new GPUs. Needless to say, while this might be a great time for gaming in terms of hardware, getting your hands on said hardware is another matter entirely. 

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Call of Duty: Mobile Season 4 update will be called Spurned & Burned

Activision has finally confirmed the name of the Season 4 update to Call of Duty: Mobile, The upcoming update will be called Spurned & Burned and have a Wild West theme. This is not the first time that the game has gone back to that time. The Season 6 update was called Once Upon a Time in Rust and it too features a Wild West theme. That update was a pretty major update and it introduced the Battle Pass as well as the in-game Comics that add a bit of story to the proceedings. The Season 4 Spurned & Burned update will arrive later this week.

 

Season 4: Spurned & Burned Time to saddle up and head back west! New season is deploying in #CODMobile later this week! pic.twitter.com/yTBT7miNT3

— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) May 24, 2021

 

Call of Duty: Mobile Season 4 Spurned & Burned update: What to expect

The developers have already revealed a bunch of new additions that players can expect in the Season 4 Spurned & Burned update. This includes two new weapons, a new map, a scorestreak, and a piece of new tactical equipment. 

The two new weapons include the Holger LMG and the MK2 marksman rifle. The base version of both these weapons should be earnable for free to all players. As is usually the case, one of the weapons will most likely be available via the free Battle Pass, while the other will be available via a seasonal challenge. 

The new map is called Dome and will be set in an abandoned NATO outpost in the middle east. This map was first seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The Heartbeat Sensor is a piece of new tactical equipment that will show players the approximate location of enemy players. It is equipped in the tactical grenade slot and has to be manually equipped to use. The device will be available via a Season Challenge called Under Pressure.

The new Scorestreak is called the Hawk X3 and gives the player the control of a drone armed with a machine gun. The drone has limited armour and enemies can shoot it out of the sky. It will most probably control in a manner similar to the MQ-27 Dragonfire, but with a lot more firepower. 

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PS5 India Restock: PlayStation 5 Pre-Orders Restart On May 27

PlayStation 5 India restocks are here. Sony Center website ShopAtSC has announced that the PS5 will be available for pre-order on Thursday, May 27 at 12pm (noon).

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Honor 50 confirmed to arrive with pre-installed Google Apps

Honor looks set to mark its grand comeback in the global market. The phone that will mark the company's return is the Honor 50. The company has confirmed that the device will pack pre-installed Google apps and services. The information was revealed by Honor’s German Twitter handle in response to a user inquiry. 

Losing access to Google Apps and Services put a major dent in Huawei’s global market share. The company was subject to a lot of pressure from US Sanctions and, to cut losses, it ended up selling its sub-brand Honor to a consortium of over 30 agents and dealers for an undisclosed sum. 

Now free of its ties with Huawei, Honor has since been reportedly working hard to re-instate its ties with key US companies and has now managed to regain access to Google Mobile Services. Earlier, Honor had also confirmed its renewed alliances with AMD, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Intel. 

For the upcoming Honor 50, the company will stick to its Magic UI as the software overlay, but with several exclusive features on top. According to rumours that have surfaced so far, the Honor 50 series will include three phones. Reports suggest that at least one of these will include a 6.79-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, triple-rear cameras with a 50MP primary sensor, an 8MP telephoto camera, and dual-selfie cameras. 

The Honor 50 Pro is rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 octa-core chipset, while the Honor 50 is confirmed to employ Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G chip. These are both powerful 5G capable SoCs that’ll help the company garner attention. The Honor 50 series is expected to launch globally in June 2021. 

There is still a long road ahead before Honor regains lost ground and returns to where it was. The brand regaining access to Google Play Services is still great news for its fans and for the Android ecosystem in general. 

Via

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Qualcomm will push regular Neural Network API updates via Google Play Services

Qualcomm has partnered with Google to provide regular Neural Network API (NNAPI) updates to Android phones. These updates will be pushed via Google Play Services and install in the background, similar to GPU driver updates that Qualcomm first announced in late 2019. The good thing is that these NNAPI drivers will also be compatible with older Snapdragon chipsets, and will be supported by phones running earlier versions of Android. 

Currently, NNAPI drivers are pushed alongside major OS updates that aren't as frequent. Thus, all devices don't have access to the same APIs and this is a major deterrent for developers using Neural Network abilities for their apps that need to function seamlessly on a variety of phones. 

So, what does this means for Android users?

These regular NNAPI updates will improve the performance and power efficiency of apps that use on-device machine learning, at least on Snapdragon-powered phones. That’s not a very long list as of today, but includes several key services like Google Lens, Google Maps, live captions, face recognition, etc. 

Google says that the performance boost from using NNAPI could be equivalent to that of two extra performance cores on your phone. 

The change will also encourage developers to use NNAPI across multiple versions of their apps. This, in turn, should help reduce app size and boost privacy by keeping the AI processing on consumer devices. 

Google made several other announcements at I/O 2021 to make machine learning on Android phones more consistent and to help its benefits spread evenly across the Android ecosystem. For example, Tensor Flow Lite will now be integrated with Google Play Services so developers don't have to bundle it with their apps, and there will be a built-in list of GPUs that can be used for hardware acceleration. 

When will NNAPI driver updates start rolling out to Android phones?

Qualcomm says these driver updates will start rolling out to phones later this year alongside Android 12. The company started rolling out GPU drivers via Play Services in 2020, but such updates had been very few and far between. So, we will have to wait and watch if the new changes have any consequential impact on users.   

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