Blackberry + QNX + Intel Inside = true jaw-dropping awesomeness?

[soo007]

just some food for thought.

What if the generation bb devices were powered by intel chips?
i think it would be the single greatest technological boost for bb devices by just adopting intel. mobile graphic chip vendors would gladly supply chips for intel-based systems (you'd have to be mentally retarded to refuse intel)

popular myth: intel cannot compete in the mobile space because their chips run too hot and are inefficient (reminds me on the days when macs were powered by power-pc cpu's and ifanboys used to brag "macs are 5x faster than wintel machines").

fact: intel by now is excellent at efficiency and just getting better. besides they are the only one to have the manufacturing capabilities that the others simply cannot match (not even samsung, amd, tsmc, etc); and intel has deep experience with the pains relating to excessive heat (remember the pentium 4 days?) something arm manufacturers lack and are about to deal with.

yes right now current os7 devices are inferior and unreliable (and awful at battery life) and as of right now the 9900 is my last bb device. that medfield-based motorola looks great by the way.

but this could change if rim goes intel the same way motorola did. my wishful thinking is that bb10 devices have been delayed because the company is working on a "medfield" prototype.

any thoughts?

[lnichols]

Microsoft is making Windows 8 to function with ARM based chips. ARM is so far ahead of Intel in mobile/tablet phone computing chips. Signing up with Intel would be like RIM's staying with Marvell way past their prime, i.e. a disaster. IMHO.

[soo007]

Originally Posted by lnichols

Microsoft is making Windows 8 to function with ARM based chips. ARM is so far ahead of Intel in mobile/tablet phone computing chips. Signing up with Intel would be like RIM's staying with Marvell way past their prime, i.e. a disaster. IMHO.

i don't mean disrespect to you and you are that intel is way behind arm

for now.....

i am gonna frame your comments and pull them back out in 4 years (maybe 3) and laugh at it (and laugh at you)

[kg4icg]

I think someone hasn't learned the way of the cpu.

Let's see, Intel is about to release IvyBridge which is 22nm cpu's, Arm on the otherhand hasn't come down to that scale yet.

Meanwhile, Intel is starting developement on it's next step in cpu evolution in which the cpu's will be on the 14nm scale. Currently there is no one with the R&D and production facilities that even come close to what Intel can do with cpu's and nand memory.

Don't forget, Intel also makes there own SSD's too.

[Superfly_FR]

The CPU fight is for nextgen+1 phones. Intel's not ready ... yet.

[BBThemes]

call me a little biased cos im from the UK, but ARM has a monopoly on the chip design right now. ARM is only a design house though, with people like qualcomm and TI using the architecture, so in theory its in the hands of companies like that who suceeds, but if we`re being honest, apple uses ARM in the iPad, iPhone and iPod ranges, so they arent going anywhere

[jranciano]

I think a RIM+Intel alliance would make for one formidable force to reckon with.

ARM may be leading in the mobile chip world for now, but the sum of RIM and Intel would make for much more than just what they are individually on their own.

I'd like to see it happen and see what they can do, especially since Intel is in the Silicon Valley, RIM would be knocking on Apple's back porch. What a way to step on the fertile Silicon Valley soil...

[BBThemes]

Originally Posted by jranciano

I think a RIM+Intel alliance would make for one formidable force to reckon with.

ARM may be leading in the mobile chip world for now, but the sum of RIM and Intel would make for much more than just what they are individually on their own.

I'd like to see it happen and see what they can do.

the issue with that is that PB (effectively BB10) runs very well on ARM, so why take the risk?

[dbw1000]

Actually Intel is partnering to release phones in 2012. LG is releasing the first Medfield phone soon. Motorola has also said they will release one. The early results look promising, although a lot is not known yet:

Intel phones ‘fastest ever’ - Telegraph

There is a good write up about it here:
How will Intel do in the phone market? | SemiAccurate

I think Intel will be become a tough competitor for ARM. It takes the sleeping giant time to wake up, but when they do, look out. Their market is challenged in that mobile devices are stealing PC and laptop market share. They have to enter the space in a big way. They know chips and have tons of cash. I would like to see them put out a tablet chip so Windows 8 will run x86 applications on tablets and PC's. That would be great for corporations.

I actually think a BB and Intel combination would be a great combo and way to BB to differentiate. They could use a marketing partnership with Intel anyway. Intel could really help them in this area, and it adds credibility instantly in the consumer/less tech savvy space. However, Intel has to put out chips with both power and power efficiency. BB people want battery life!

Would an x86 Intel chip hurt application compatibility? The LG phone will run Android 4.0, but will it run all Android Apps?

[app_Developer]

Originally Posted by dbw1000

Would an x86 Intel chip hurt application compatibility? The LG phone will run Android 4.0, but will it run all Android Apps?

We have Android running on Intel here in the office. Most apps work fine (the ones written to the dalvik vm), but the ones that use the NDK require recompiling.

Short answer, it wouldn't be a big deal for Android devs to support Intel. Or for that matter, it wouldn't be a big deal for Apple either since they already have the infrastructure for this (of course it's very unlikely that Apple would do this, since they use their bespoke chips now).

The BB angle with Intel is interesting. Intel tried to make Meego go, but it didn't. Maybe BB10 is the answer?

[app_Developer]

Originally Posted by BBThemes

the issue with that is that PB (effectively BB10) runs very well on ARM, so why take the risk?

Because you'd have a very large company (Intel) in your camp, and the possibility of developing some interesting custom products down the road. Samsung and Apple are not taking Intel seriously at all in mobile, and Microsoft is not really committed to them either. There is an interesting gap there that RIM could fill.

These are the sorts of big ideas that I hope Heins is thinking about.

[lewis71980]

no. Not particularly awesome.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[Blacklac]

That is definitely an interesting thought that never crossed my mind...

[lnichols]

Originally Posted by soo007

i don't mean disrespect to you and you are that intel is way behind arm

for now.....

i am gonna frame your comments and pull them back out in 4 years (maybe 3) and laugh at it (and laugh at you)

So they should go behind for the short term, when they are already getting hammered for using not the latest and greatest, because your assumption that Intel will be better in 3 to 4 years?! That's not laughable? Sorry but RIM needs to go with what is mass market and better now for scale, pricing, and performance IMHO. Nothings says that they can't migrate to Intel down the road when Intel proves themselves in the mobile space, but I really don't want RIM to beta test Intel chips in products I use (Sandy Bridge???). Qualcomm probably is the best bet for a truly integrated SoC for wireless devices as they have years of experience in this and power management. I'm not saying that Intel won't pass them at some point, but I don't think RIM should even look at them until they are close to or surpassing ARM based chips available. Medfield is a 32 nm chip design, The Qualcomm Krait (which is the most likely RIM nextGen candidate) is 28 nm design. Even the OMAP5, which would be a pin for pin replacement of the OMAP4 in the Playbook and be simple for RIM to implement is 28 nm design.

[BBThemes]

Originally Posted by lnichols

Medfield is a 32 nm chip design, The Qualcomm Krait (which is the most likely RIM nextGen candidate) is 28 nm design. Even the OMAP5, which would be a pin for pin replacement of the OMAP4 in the Playbook and be simple for RIM to implement is 28 nm design.

also dont forget Nvidia use ARM chips, their Tegra 3 uses a quad core ARM cortex A9, also as soon as big.LITTLE starts landing into phones, intel wont really stand a chance, as its meant to reduce power useage by up to 70% by selecting cores itself.

also only ARM as you say have available 28nm chip designs