Notion Ink explains picking TI over NVIDIA for Adam II
updated 05:15 am EST, Mon January 30, 2012
Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shraven offers SoC insight
Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shraven has taken the unusual step of explaining why his Android-based tablet company opted to follow its NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered Adam tablet with a TI OMAP 4 processor for its Adam II . Rather than plumping for the quad-core Tegra 3, Shraven argues that the TI OMAP platform offers Notion Ink certain advantages. As a small vendor, with its limited software and hardware engineering resources, it believed that it could not leverage the NVIDIA Tegra 3 as well as it can the TI OMAP 4, leading to a better implementation for end users.
In making the decision to opt for the TI OMAP 4 processor for the Adam II, Shraven also felt that in order to get the maximum support from NVIDIA to develop hardware based around the Tegra 3 platform, that Notion Ink needed to carry full OEM status with NVIDIA, which it is unable to achieve at this early stage in its evolution. The Indian-based company also knew that a number of ex-Texas Instruments engineers who had helped to develop the TI OMAP architecture reside in near-by Bangalore, making access to additional technical support much easier. Moreover, Google has chosen the TI OMAP platform as its SoC for Android 4 - the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is powered by a dual-core TI OMAP 4460 and includes a PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
The dual-core TI OMAP 4470 that will make its appearance in the Adam II also incorporates a PowerVR SGX544 GPU. It is said to be offer a 20 percent boost in overall performance compared to the chipset in the Galaxy Nexus. While it is the same GPU core as found in the Apple A5 processor, it is only a single-core variant, versus the A5’s dual-core SGX543MP2.
This is not the full story, however. It is expected that the GPU found in the Adam II will ship overclocked, and will produce more performance than what might be expected from its single-core status. Texas Instruments says that the GPU in the OMAP 4470 offers 2.5x the performance of the OMAP 4430. This means that it will be capable of producing console-level graphics comparable to the NIVIDA Tegra 3, but not the Apple A5.
