My blog about tablet pc android and smartphones

Yesterday, ARM launched its latest MCU, Cortex M7. Compared with the Cortex A7, though the name is quite similar, but they are completely different.

Now, ARM Cortex A series is widely adopted in tablets and smart phones. As we know, they are app processor. Cortex M and Cortex R are the other two products from ARM. Different with Cortex A, they are for embed style. Cortex M is micro processor unit, and Cortex R is real time processor.

Cortex M and Cortex R don't have memory management unit. They are used to bridge between CPU and RAM. and switch between MAC address and VA. Most common OS like iOS, Android, Windows, etc need it to work.

In fact, Cortex M is already available in 2014. The first product is Cortex M3. Till now, total sales of Cortex M MCU is over 8 billion pieces. In last year, its total sales is 2.9 billion pieces, and the first half of this year, the sale is 1.7 billion pieces. In fact, its sales is much bigger than Cortex A series.

In fact, we known Cortex A processor a lot since it also appears in our eyes. In fact, Cortex M and Cortex A work together. Cortex M usually is regarded as coprocessor. In my idea, Cortex A is more likely to be coprocessor since Cortex M is always working, and Cortex A is only working when apps run.

I will not introduce too much about Cortex M7 since it is too professional. Cortex M7 has already leveled up the MCU performance a lot. In future, tablet or smart phone suppliers will rely on MCU more, and adopt CPU less than before. It will help to reduce the unit power consumption, and more powerful products.

As Intel has already started to develop its 64 bit chipset, ARM is also focusing on the 64 bits MCU. But even so, ARM still launched a new Cortex MCU. From 2005 till now, ARM has already sold over 8 billion pieces chips based on Cortex M. In the past 18 months, ARM has sold 460 million pieces chips. Today, ARM has launched its new Cortex M7.

Cortex M7 adopts the 32 bits ARMv7-M, and owns six-stage superscalar pipeline. It is compatible with the last generation, and running speed of the new MCU will be doubled than the old one.

ARM said, the single 400Mhz Cortex M7 which is based on 40nm process technology can reach 2000 Coremarks. The new Cortex M7 will adopt 28nm technology, so it will break the 2000 Coremarks.

Now, ARM has already authorized Ateml and other partners of this new MCU.

From last year, smart watches became more and more popular. As Apple launched the iWatch, the market reach the top.

Smart watches have some similar functions as smart phone, for example, text, calls etc. But as the technology innovation, smart watches becomes the trends in market.

From the following data, we can see the smart watch market in future.

1. As IDC tells, the smart wearing device will be increased to 113 million pieces from 19 million pieces this year.

2. As forecast of Gartner, in 2016, smart watch will take 40% sales of smart wearing device.

3. The smart watch sales this year is 15 million pieces, and in 2020, it will be 373 million pieces.

4. The sales of wearing device has increased by 684% during the first half of 2014.

The above information can tell us, smart watch is quite potential. That is why there are so many suppliers starting to move this business.

But as smart watch is still a new product. Now, it is not so powerful. As the technology improved, it will become much better.

As the demand of smart phone reduces a lot and profit is also very low. So for smart phone suppliers, smart watch is a new stuff. But since it is quite new, smart watch is not so powerful. Smart watch has two many similar features as smart phone. So suppliers started to promote by some other features, like health monitor, etc.

Smart watch becomes the focus of many smart phone suppliers in China. So in near future, we will see a lot of smart watches available in near future.

News from ontablets.es, Lenovo will launch a new tablet pc, named Yoga 3 Pro. That is one 2 in 1 tablet. This Yoga 3 Pro may be the first tablet adopting Intel Core M low power consumption processor. In meanwhile, Ontablets also disclosed more information about this Yoga 3 Pro.

First, this Yoga 3 Pro owns one 13.3 inch IPS screen, screen resolution is 3200*1800 pixels. CPU is the Intel Core M 5Y70 processor, and adopts Intel HD 5300 Graphics.

The battery capacity is 44.8Whr, and can last the tablet working for over 7 hours.

Just like other Lenovo Yoga tablets, this Yoga 3 Pro can be rotated at 360 degree as well. If connected with the keyboard, it can work as a laoptop PC as well.

Unit can support USB 3.0, HDMI and Bluetooth 4.0. It owns one 8GB RAM and 512GB flash memory space at max. The web camera is 720P resolution.

In fact, there are a lot of news about this Yoga 3 Pro before, but Lenovo did note confirm it. But we think it is available. Although, the detail information is unknown for now, but it should be available very soon for sale.

Now, the 3rd of 2014 is coming to end, and soon, the 4th quarter will come. From the past three quarters, the tablet sale is not good as expectation. Many tablet suppliers have already lower down their target in 2014. Even though, we still can not expect a good future in 2015. As estimation from Ontablets, in 2015, the situation will continue. Its increase will be less than 10% compared with 2014.

In 2014, some top tablet brands like Toshiba, Acer, ASUS has launched some good tablets in low price. It has limited the growth of some made in China units. More important, now, in Europe and US, the demand is reduced a lot. In 2014, tablet sales just increased 12.4%. We know, in 2013, it was increased by 69.6%.

Even in 2015, the situation will not turn better. It will only have less than 10% increase as our estimation.

So the situation is not good for tablet suppliers. They need to find other niche market to increase the sale.

Today, Amazon has launched several new products. There is one Kindle Fire HDX8.9 tablet pc, one new Kindle Voyage e-book reader, one Fire HD Kids edition, and two Kindle Fire HD tablets.

The two new Kindle Fire HD tablets is 6 inch and 7 inch. There are five different color for both units. New Fire HD 7 adopts one 7 inch IPS screen, resolution is 1280*800 pixels. Unit comes with one quad core CPU from Mediatek, frequency is 1.5GHz. The GPU performance is about 3 times of Samsung Tab 4. It has two different edition, one is 8GB flash memory, and one is 16GB. Battery can last working for over 8 hours.

The other one is Kindle Fire HD 6. It owns one 6 inch IPS screen, its configuration is very similar as Fire HD 7.

This Kindle Fire HD 6 is only 99 US dollars, and Kindle Fire HD 7 is 138 US dollars, both are quite cheap. As estimation, both units will be available for sale next month.

Kids edition Kindle Fire HD is based on the Fire HD 6 and HD 7. It has been pre installed a lot of apps suitable for kids. This kids edition also comes with one quad core CPU of 1.5GHz frequency. Flash memory is 8GB or 16GB. Screen resolution is 1280*800 pixels.

Compared with Kindle Fire HD 6 and HD 7, this kids edition is more expensive. The 6 inch will be 149 US dollars, and 7 inch is 189 US dollars. It comes with two years warranty.

In the past 8 months of 2014, we did not see any new Nexus device. But as our latest news from Ontablets, HTC will display the Nexus 9 in the presentation conference hold on 8th Oct. This morning, we have already seen the invitation letter. It is marked 'Double Exposure". That may mean in the conference, HTC will show two new products. It might be one smart phone and one tablet.

As the news from Ontablets, new Nexus 9 will be water proof, and come with one 16M pixels camera. Bluetooth and NFC will be built in as well.

Furthermore, HTC will develop one special app for Nexus 9. Users can control the unit through their iOS or Android smart phones. Nexus 9 will run the latest Android L operation system. It may be the first one with Android L OS for sale in market.

Unit will adopt the Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core processor, 3GB RAM and 16GB flash memory.

Of course, till now, HTC did not confirm any news above. We need to wait till 8th Oct when the conference is opened.

Core M processor is the latest chipset from Intel. Though it is quite new, now in market, there are many new tablets adopting it. Today, let's talk about its advantage and shortcomings.

The advantage of Core M processor is its process technology. Now, ARM is trying develop 20nm chipset, but Core M has already adopted 14nm technology. By the new process technology, the power consumption is reduced and size is also small.

The performance of Core M is better than Atom chipset which is also from Intel. Tablets with Core M processor can be only 7.2MM thickness, and don't need a built in fan. Its performance is nearly doubled than ARM processor.

The problem is Core M is mostly adopted in Windows OS. As we know, Windows 8 is not so popular in tablet. And the future of Windows 9 is also not so positive.

So if we adopt Core M processor in a tablet with Android OS, it will reduce the performance of chipset.

So the problem of Core M processor is how to make it work in Android OS. But in makret, iOS and Android OS is most welcomed and popular. If Intel can not resolve the problem, the future of Core M processor will not be good.

In the CES 2014 trade show, Sharp displayed its latest MEMS IGZO screen which is its latest product and owns a lower power consumption. This panel is developed by Sharp and Qualcomm. This new technology can make the panel more slim and lower power consumption. Some people told this new screen will be available for mass production at this end of this year.

Sharp is trying to adopt this new MEMS technology on its IGZO panel. This new panel will be named by MEMS IGZO panel. It will be available for mass production in 2017 as schedule.

The power consumption of this MEMS technology will be only 1/6 of the old technology. Except the high performance, this MEMS panel can work well even under super low temperature. In future, it will compete with LCD and OLED panel.

The first product adopt this MEMS technology is the Qualcomm TOQ smart watch, and following that, there is one 5.1 inch screen adopting this technology.

If integrating MEMS and IGZO, it will become more competitive than now. All the information is from Ontablets. For detail, please go there.

As 4G network is more and more popular, now 4G tablets is in high demand. This morning, the well known tablet PC supplier, Colorfly launched a 4G tablet. But different with other 4G tablets in market, this Colorfly i108W is running Windows 8.1 operation system. Till now, Colorfly did not tell detail information of this unit.

From the picture, we can see some basic information. First, this i108W may own one 10.1 inch screen. Resolution should be 1080P. CPU should be the Intel Bay Trail-T quad core processor.

The operation system is the Windows 8.1 OS. Most software in your desktop PC or laptop PC can be worked on this tablet as well. Once it is connected with a keyboard or mouse, it can be used as a laptop PC.

Most important is this i108W come with 4G network. Users can surf internet in a very fast speed. It can help you to handle your daily job easily.

Now, this unit is very near to be available for sale. We can see it in the following weeks. More information about it, we will let you know then.