Smartphones 2015: new technologies according to MediaTek

    Each company - a developer of chipsets for mobile devices has its own proprietary set of technologies that distinguishes their products from competitors. This is quite logical: all developers have access to the same ARM processing cores and graphics accelerators; if you don’t invest resources in creating your own technical chips, then the chipsets of all market players would be almost the same. And in terms of energy consumption, and in the field of performance.



    In this article I will talk about chips implemented in the top chipsets of Taiwanese MediaTek, - MT6595 ( review on Geektimes) and all newer eight-core solutions. But the focus, of course, is MT6595: several smartphones already exist on the basis of this chipset. For example, Meizu MX4, Lenovo Vibe X2, Zopo ZP999, Alcatel One Touch D820 and so on. MediaTek MT6595 will be relevant throughout 2015, and on its basis several more mid-range and high-end devices are likely to be released. Plus, from day to day, the baton will be picked up by the 64-bit eight-core MT6795 ( announcement on the Habré ) and other latest developments of the Taiwanese chip maker.

    We spend energy wisely


    In MediaTek MT6595, the company's engineers decided to implement the most complex version of ARM big.LITTLE technology , in which both clusters with four cores each - ARM Cortex-A17 (up to 2.2 GHz) and ARM Cortex-A7 (up to 1.7 GHz) - can be used at the same time. There is nothing super-special about this - such an opportunity is also implemented in the ARM big.LITTLE technology itself. But the kernel management system implemented in MT6595 and called CorePilot was developed already in MediaTek. It allows you to achieve the most optimal balance of power, energy consumption and heat dissipation, depending on the specific tasks facing the smartphone.



    Using CorePilot to perform various types of tasks, an individual assessment and selection of not only a bunch of different types of cores, but also their frequencies is performed. For example, for a certain game, all ARM Cortex-A7 cores will operate at a frequency of 1 GHz, and ARM Cortex-A17 - at 1.8 GHz. As a result, on the one hand, the performance is enough for a high and stable frame rate, and on the other hand, the smartphone will not overheat and waste battery power too quickly. Compared to less flexible chipsets based on ARM big.LITTLE technology, the power consumption of MediaTek MT6595 is reduced by almost 20%, while the performance is increased by the same 20%. By the way, it was in MediaTek that, in principle, they were the first to come up with and implement “intelligent control” of the processor for dynamically distributing kernel load.

    In practice, the results of this approach can be seen in the latest flagship smartphones - the already mentioned Meizu MX4 and Lenovo Vibe X2. With a mixed load, both devices are able to work on one battery charge for more than one day. Moreover, MediaTek helps manufacturers choose the chipset, depending on the other components used in the smartphone. For example, a thin Lenovo Vibe X2 with a not-so-capacious 2300 mAh battery uses the MediaTek MT6595M modification, which in comparison with the MT6595 gives an autonomy increase of 10-15%. And still, in the AnTuTu benchmark, the model is gaining a solid 45,000 points.



    On the contrary, the creators of Meizu MX4 did not seek to minimize the thickness of the device and chose a 3100 mAh battery, placing the most productive version of the chipset in the case - in fact, MT6595 without any letters “M” in the name. MT6595 allowed the MX4 to score in AnTuTu from 48,000 to 51,000 points and become the most powerful smartphone in the world in 2014 .

    For optimizing energy consumption, the 4G modem (Cat. 4, up to 150 Mb / s) built into MT6595 is also “sharpened”. MediaTek MT6595 became the first eight-core chipset in the world with an integrated LTE modem. Many other chip makers prefer modems in the form of a separate chip, which in essence can be “screwed” to any chipset. However, for such versatility, you have to pay for autonomy, the total power consumption of the device grows by at least 10-15%.

    "Tuning" the screen in Taiwan


    The current rivalry between smartphone makers in the area of ​​screens is obviously at a standstill. Manufacturers not only did not stop measuring PPI , but even began to increase the resolution of displays. However, this is of little use. The resolution of the human eye already at a distance of 25 cm from the screen will be 0.073 mm. Thus, the distinguishable PPI limit is set at 350 dpi. At the same time, for example, in 5-inch FullHD-smartphones, the pixel density per inch has a decent margin of 441 units. A further increase in resolution to 2k and higher becomes a purely marketing advantage, for which you still have to pay the same autonomy and increased load on the chipset.



    It would seem, what features of the screens can the processor developer focus on - the same MediaTek - to really improve the picture? The company drew attention to such an important parameter as the refresh rate. With the participation of Japan Display, one of the world's largest suppliers of mobile screens, MediaTek experts have implemented a support for a display frequency of 120 Hz. This allows you to achieve a smoother image in any situation, from scrolling through desktops to watching movies and games. At the moment, in almost all smartphones and tablets, the frequency does not exceed 60 Hz.



    By the way, MediaTek MT6595 from the previous top-end “eight-core” MT6592 inherited “technology”, also related to the frame rate, - ClearMotion. This technology increases the clarity of video during playback, increasing the frequency of clips from the usual 24-30 frames per second to 60 frames per second.

    A small but important contribution to reducing the energy consumption of gadget screens is the MiraVision intelligent backlight control system .also developed by MediaTek. Usually, even in the most expensive smartphones, the brightness of the display is adjusted only on the basis of the readings of the light sensor. Therefore, sometimes at maximum brightness, the image in the sun can “go blind” or vice versa - be too bright in the dark. When using MiraVision, the light sensor works in conjunction with the chipset, the latter analyzes the color gamut of the current image and selects the best brightness taking into account not only the external lighting, but also the brightness and color gamut of the picture itself. So the image on the screen is maximally adjusted to all conditions.



    Excellence without Photoshop


    The latest iPhone 6 can capture video at 240 frames per second - just like the GoPro Hero4 Black action camera. However, smartphones with MediaTek MT6595 can support the Super-Slow Motion option - recording with an even more outstanding performance of 480 frames per second! In other words, we get a clear image and smooth playback even when playing a movie with a slowdown of 16 times.



    The next feature is related to photos, and girls who are ready to spend 15-20 minutes before uploading their photos to the Internet, just to cover up acne, red eyes and other little things will especially like it. In the end, even the magical Instagram filters are not omnipotent, so often you can not do without the help of a computer. Unless you have a smartphone on MediaTek MT6595 with Face Beautifier technology.



    Tone and color correction, the formation of harmonious facial features, smooth skin - these and many other “plastic” tasks are performed in real time. And in the settings you can choose the degree of processing. The result is instantly displayed on the smartphone screen to select the best angle and evaluate the potential photo even before touching the virtual shutter button. For example, this is how the function works in Meizu MX4, which is already on sale. Face Beautifier makes your face slimmer, eliminates stubble and some skin defects.





    Unfortunately, in the bulk of smartphones, the quality of shooting the front camera leaves much to be desired, which sometimes makes people take selfies with the back module. And this, you see, is extremely inconvenient. After all, you can’t even look at the screen and understand how successful the shot will be. The Picture-In-Picture function combined the ability to get a fairly clear foreground with the front camera and an excellent background with the help of the main “eye”. Even if you wanted to make such a collage manually, you would have to use Photoshop and spend at least 15 minutes. MediaTek MT6595 saves your time and on-the-fly processing, combining the image from two cameras into one picture.

    Instead of output


    In 2015, we will certainly see many smartphones based on the new MediaTek MT6595 processor. The cost of such smartphones is unlikely to exceed 15-20 thousand rubles (prices taking into account the exchange rate at the time of preparation of the article). At the same time, the new models will practically not be inferior in technical characteristics and performance to much more expensive competitors for 30-35 thousand rubles, and the fresh November Lenovo Vibe X2 and Meizu MX4 clearly confirm this. MediaTek implemented in its chipset many software and hardware features that rightfully allow us to call MT6595 one of the most powerful, technical and promising processors for smartphones to date. But soon models on MT6795 will appear soon ... But this is a completely different story.

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