Even though Qualcomm planned to launch the Snapdragon 820 a while back, the incident never occurred due to the never-ending upgrades that the chip required in order to get over the flaws of its predecessor.
This delay in mass production held up numerous smartphone launches over the past few months, the most-awaited of which is the Xiaomi Mi5.
Even though Qualcomm has revealed quite a bit about their new chipset, most of its features are still left to the imagination. Qualcomm hosted an event this week, commemorating the launch of the product, but most importantly to reveal the processing prowess of the new chip.
Among the details revealed at the event, the most important were the processing power and details regarding the Kryo CPU cores that are in place. Qualcomm presented a few graphs depicting the power consumption and processing speed of the new chip using an in-house model.
When compared to its predecessor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 proved to consume 30% less power while providing similar performance within the same deadline. However, this should not come as a surprise considering the 14LLP inside the chip.
The major drawback of the Snapdragon 810 was with the problem of overheating and Qualcomm claimed to have remedied the issue. However, the actual performance of the chip inside a smartphone remains to be seen.
Qualcomm claims to have reduced the power consumption of the chip by 15%, diminishing the need for you to recharge your device every few hours of heavy usage. Feel free to use Wi-Fi and LTE all you want!
With the launch of the 820, you can be sure that every high-end smartphone that is slated to launch in 2016 will feature this powerhouse.
Qualcomm had claimed before the launch of the Snapdragon 810 that the processor was invincible. However, after a few weeks of use, complaints started pouring in regarding the inadequate battery life of compatible devices and overheating.
The problem arose to such an extent that Samsung ditched the 810 in favor of their in-house processors. However, the engineers have been hard at work on the Snapdragon 820, or so they claim, and it remains to be seen if the chip finally gets rid of its downsides.
The chip has been designed with a 14-nanometer FinFETprocessing technology, which enables the chip to run faster and cooler than its predecessor. Qualcomm recently announced that ‘Heat is just wasted power.” It remains to be seen what the company has done to remedy their flaws.
Another interesting feature in the Snapdragon 820 is the SmartProtect app, which uses machine learning to distinguish between new forms of malware, instead of just searching for known forms of malware. This is bound to make the new smartphones safer than ever before.
However, manufacturers enjoy the liberty to decide whether or not they would like to integrate this feature in their devices. The app does not simply block the files that it may deem malicious, it explains why the file was blocked. You might be able to manually unblock the files, but there has been no confirmation on this yet.
Another interesting security measure on the Snapdragon 820 is the latest in ultrasonic fingerprint sensing technology known as Sense ID.This sensor reads deep inside your finger using ultrasonic technology to determine your identity.
The reading is accurate down to the sweat pores on your finger, which means that the reading is skin deep and your device is safer than ever.
If you are worried about containments such as water, dirt or lotion messing with the reading, the technology scans your fingerprint nonetheless. Qualcomm has even figured out a way to read fingerprints through metal and glass! The two common components that most smartphones and similar devices are composed of.
Overtime, smartphone manufacturers plan on getting rid of external protrusions of any kind, normally known as buttons, and replace them with sensors and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 takes a step in that direction.
If you are a passionate photographer, Qualcomm has a treat for you. The latest 680 DSP inside the chip automatically adjusts brightness and reduces noise in all conditions. Your images are bound to be as crisp as ever with the new chip.