Qualcomm Offers Devs Fastest, Priciest Android Tablet

Android devs can now get their on the fastest, priciest tablet so far that that operating system.

Based Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, the Mobile Development Platform/Tablet (MDP/T) can be pre-ordered Bsquare for US$1,300.

It is the first MDP in a tablet form factor, and the first feature the quad-core APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro. The tablet Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The MDP/T's price tag is at twice that of any other tablet on the market, but "this sounds a developer test model," Michael Morgan, senior analyst ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld.

"It sounds like they're putting everything that they can -- the best of what they have -- and are developers ready, if you will, for the next round of tablet technology."

Qualcomm "can see the power now for devices that may hit the market one to two years from at a more reasonable price point volume, say $700," commented Maribel Lopez, principal analyst at Lopez Research. "You as a developer can know to plan for."

The MDP/T is designed to give devs early access innovating, testing, optimizing and showcasing their apps and games, Qualcomm said.

The Qualcomm MDP/T's asynchronous 1.5 GHz CPUs provide longer battery while running CPU-intensive apps, Qualcomm said.

The tablet uses the generation Adreno 320 GPU. This has new multimedia capabilities, including a computational camera, lets devs tap directly into its computational capability new application programming interfaces (APIs) such as OpenCL. That access enables next- use cases such as light-field cameras for mobile devices. Adreno 320 uses hardware acceleration to enable realistic 3D graphics.

The Adreno 320 is more twice as fast as the Adreno 225 GPU, which enables more complex shaders, more effects, and better gameplay apps, Bsquare said

The MDP/T has a -resolution 10-inch WXGA multitouch display. It has 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. It has a 13 MP main camera with flash the rear, and a 2 MP front-facing camera.

All the usual sensors -- accelerometer, gyro, compass, ambient light and proximity, and temperature and pressure, are the MDP/T. The device also has a fingerprint reader.

Connectors available through a station include a full-size USB Type A; full-size HDMI Type A; UART; and Ethernet.

For $1,300, purchasers get the tablet preloaded Ice Cream Sandwich, a microSD card, an HDMI-M to Mini-M cable, a micro-USB cable, a battery, a Quick Start guide, and 30 minutes support.

Qualcomm tools appdevs on the tablet can be downloaded from the company's site. These include the Vuforia Augmented Reality SDK, the Alljoyn P2P framework, the Adreno SDK and profiler, and HTML 5 mobile device APIs.

The MDP/T is ready for development of the box. Devs just have to connect it a PC through a USB port to begin work.

Bsquare did not respond our request for further details.


Adapted and abridged from: Technewsworld, July 26, 2012.