The NVIDIA Blog

NVIDIA Brings Tegra 3 Phones to Barcelona

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:07 AM PST

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The who's who of mobile technology players will soon descend on Barcelona for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012, which runs Feb. 27 to March 1, and NVIDIA will there be running on all five cores.

This is the year of quad-core devices. More to the point, this is the year of NVIDIA Tegra 3, the world's only 4-PLUS-1 quad-core mobile processor, which delivers up to 5x the performance of the Tegra 2 dual-core processor. We've been working with our partners around the clock to bring you a glimpse of the best mobile tech.

In fact, LG just announced overnight the launch of its Optimus 4X HD phone, powered by Tegra 3, with a 4.7-inch, True HD IPS (1280×720 resolution) screen, an 8 megapixel camera and Google's Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. Plus, it's a wispy 8.9 mm thick.

Looking to next week, the NVIDIA MWC booth will feature:

Tegra-powered phones and tablets
Console-quality mobile games
Cool new apps

The Tegra 3 mobile processor combines a desktop PC-class CPU and a 3X faster GPU with stereo 3D support to deliver both high performance and low power consumption. As part of its 4-PLUS-1 architecture, Tegra 3 uses a fifth battery-saver core, in addition to the four performance CPU cores. This fifth core is used to handle less demanding tasks and active standby mode to save power when higher performance isn't required.

We'll also showcase the freshly announced ZTE Mimosa X smartphone, powered by the Tegra 2 mobile processor and the NVIDIA Icera modem. The Mimosa X marks the first time NVIDIA technology will power all the major processors in a single smartphone.

If you're at the show, make sure to stop by NVIDIA at Booth # 1C34, in Hall 1.

Keeping tabs on the MWC madness from the comfort of your couch? You can get all the latest updates on this blog, our Social Media Newsroom and Twitter.

And don't forget to enter to win a Tegra 3-powered ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet on our Social Media Newsroom. We're giving away one Transformer Prime each day of MWC.

Technology Formerly Known as vSMP Gets a New Stage Name: 4-PLUS-1

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 09:46 PM PST

We've described Tegra 3's unique architecture in a number of ways since its launch back in November 2011 – as variable symmetric multiprocessing, as having a “companion core” or as wielding a “ninja core“.

Today, we're officially calling it the 4-PLUS-1 quad-core architecture and trademarking the name.

The reason is that, the more popular this technology became, the more our customers wanted a name for it that's unique and descriptive. A name they could put on a box or a store sign that immediately represents its value.

The Tegra 3 processor’s 4-PLUS-1
quad-core architecture, visualized

What this revolutionary architecture does is simple: It provides both exceptional processing power and great battery life. It does this by using four powerful CPU cores to handle demanding tasks, such as gaming, and a fifth low-power, battery-saver core to manage less strenuous tasks – like processing e-mail or operating in standby mode.

Don't be surprised to see it turning up more and more in devices at next week's Mobile World Congress and beyond.

And while Prince Rogers Nelson initially changed his stage name to Prince and then to TAFKAP (the Artist Formerly Known as Prince) when he took up a symbol combining elements of male and female symbology, 4-PLUS-1 is here to stay.

You can learn more about it in our whitepaper on the technology, which has just been updated.