LG to use NVIDIA Tegra 2 for 1080p, 3D in smartphones
updated 08:55 am EDT, Tue September 7, 2010
LG takes on Samsung in ARM wrestle
Not to be outdone by today’s announcement by Samsung for its forthcoming ARM Cortex-A9 chip, LG has broken the news that it will adopt NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 to power its next generation of mobile devices. In order to remain on an even-footing with Samsung and other competitors, LG will integrate the Tegra 2 into its forthcoming Optimus series of smartphones due to debut before the end of 2010. Like Samsung’s Orion chip, the Tegra 2 is fabricated on a 45nm process using a version of ARM’s Cortex-A9 dual-core processor design.
Unsurprisingly, the feature set of the Tegra 2 is also on par with Samsung’s Orion. Each of the two cores running in the Tegra 2 clock in at 1Ghz, offering up to a 200 percent increase in browsing performance as well as a 500 percent improvement in gaming performance. According to LG, this generation leap in performance will offer console-quality gaming its next generation of smartphones.
Where the Samsung Orion and the Tegra 2 differ substantially is in the integrated GPU, although the performance of the two is near identical. The Tegra 2 is powered by NVIDIA’s graphics technology, while the Samsung incorporates PowerVR. In the Tegra, NVIDIA delivers OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics with programmable pixel and vertex shaders. Like the PowerVR core in Samsung’s chip, the NVIDIA chip is capable of 1080p H.264 video encoding and decoding, and will output video at 1080p over HDMI. It also sports a true dual-display capability.
LG will be one of a number of hardware makers looking to use the Tegra 2 when it launches later this year; the Korean company may be NVIDIA's marquee signing to showcase the power of its next-gen flagship mobile chip.
