The big star of the show this year was Nvidia’s long delayed Tegra 2 dual-core mobile processor. Introduced last year at Nvidia’s CES 2010 keynote, the 40nm SoC platform features an ARM dual-core Cortex A9 CPU coupled with an ultra-low power GeForce GPU in a marketed TDP envelope of just 500mW.
Jen-Hsun starts by asserting that the iPhone and iPad have revolutionized the way we use computers and the way we build them. “We’re going to have more than one of these mobile computing devices in our lives… [and eventually] we’ll have The Internet of Things.”
“The companies of the past are readjusting their strategies. New positions are going to emerge. At this particular CES, you’re going to see the pieces come together. The landscape is going to change, and in quite dramatic ways. Your most personal computer changed from a PC to a mobile device. The person who makes that mobile computer – that OEM – used to be a computer company. Now, you’re buying these mobile computers from wireless carriers. The person who builds it, and the person you buy it from, are different.”
In essence, Jen-Hsun explains that mobile consumers are not computing anymore in terms of productivity. Rather, they are computing to consume content. “This mobile device is going to become a computer first, and a phone second. With this paradigm shift, it needs the ability to access the web in its full glory, because fundamentally the Web is today’s computing platform.”
Nvidia has officially introduced the age of the superphone, and starting in 2011 we will see mobile devices capable of being “fully Adobe Flash Player compatible” with 1080p playback and external Full HD display outputs becoming standardized.
Jen-Hsun introduced LG VP on stage for the announcement of the world’s first superphone. The device is the LG Optimus 2X, a rather old bit of news that we have previously written about. In early 2010, LG Electronics had a vision of creating “beauty outside, but a monster inside” device that would serve as a multitasking-centric pocket device. The goal of the LG Optimus 2X was ultimately achieved through a partnership with Nvidia and Adobe to deliver a dual-core mobile architecture that could fluidly run Adobe Flash Player 10.1 content. All in all, the device should break ground for other mobile device manufacturers looking to bring superphones to a market of consumers who enjoy the essentials of desktop multitasking in a pocket-sized environment.
