Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Differences and relationship between CPU and GPU

gpu
The CPU or Central Processing Unit is where all the program instructions are executed in order to derive the necessary data. The advancement in modern day CPUs have allowed it to crunch more numbers than ever before, but the advancement in software technology meant that CPUs are still trying to catch up. A Graphics Processing Unit or GPU is meant to alleviate the load of the CPU by handling all the advanced computations necessary to project the final display on the monitor.

Originally, CPUs handle all of the computations and instructions in the whole computer, thus the use of the word ‘central’. But as technology progressed, it became more advantageous to take out some of the responsibilities from the CPU and have it performed by other microprocessors. In the days before GUIs, the screen was simply a small grid with each box having an 8bit value that corresponds to a character. This was relatively very easy to do for the CPU, but GUIs have greater resolutions with each pixel having a 16bit or 32bit color value.

GPUs where originally developed to render 2D graphics; specifically, to accelerate the drawing of windows in a GUI. But as the need for 3D and faster graphics acceleration grew, the GPU became faster and more specialized in its task. GPUs are now generally floating point processors that can easily crunch geometric computations along with texture mapping tasks. Most GPUs have implemented MPEG primitives to make enhance the playback of videos; some even have the capability to directly decode HD video data, taking another task away from the CPU.


Hardware wise, GPUs and CPUs are similar but not identical. If we looked at the very building block of each, the transistors, we can see that most GPUs already rival CPUs in transistor count. The specialized nature of GPUs means that it can do its task much faster than a CPU ever can, but it is not able to cover all of the capabilities of the CPU. Multiple GPUs can also be employed to achieve a single goal much like the dual core CPUs currently available. ATI’s Crossfire and NVidia’s SLI allow users to connect two identical GPU’s and make them work as one.


Summary:
1. CPU is the brain of the computer the GPU is only meant to complement it.
2. GPUs are specialized and cannot replace the function of a CPU.
3. CPUs can perform the functions of a GPU but at a much slower speed.
4. GPUs can rival CPUs in transistor count.
5. GPUs can also work in tandem just like the CPU’s multi core capability.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Samsung finally launched Omnia W its first Windows Phone 7.5 Mango SmartPhone in India


After a long wait, just after the arrival of Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710, Samsung has launched Omnia W its Windows Phone Mango SmartPhone for India. Samsung Omnia W became visible (to the best of my knowledge) in the product list of Samsung's Official Indian Version of the website ( www.samsung.com/in/ ) at around 18:00  IST on 18th December.

Samsung finally lists Omnia W - the Windows Phone based Smartphone  in its website


The Samsung Omnia W (also known as the Samsung Focus Flash and GT-8350) is a SmartPhone running Windows Phone operating system 7.5 also known as Mango. The device features Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 SoC clocked at 1.4 GHz, 3,7-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 480x800 and 8GB capacity of internal storage.

Omnia W is the first Windows Phone Mango to be launched by Samsung in India. Though Samsung had launched Samsung Focus, Samsung Focus S, and Samsung Focus Flash in the UK/USA Market, it wasn't until 18th Decemeber that Omnia W finally appeared in Samsung's official website for India. Hence, Omnia W is Samsung's first Windows Mango Phone by Samsung for the Indian Market.


The Samsung Omnia W - Samsung's first Windows Phone 7.5 Mango SmartPhone for India



However, the product itself was not available in stores not even with the authorized dealers. Dealers and retailers are more excited about the recently launched Samsung Galaxy Note - the Android Tablet cum Phone cum NotePad.


The Awesome New Samsung Galaxy Note


Considering the fact that Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 - the much awaited Windows Phone Mango phones from the one time King of the Mobiles, were launched just 4 days its a good move by Samsung to launch Samsung Galaxy Note and Samsung Omnia W at the same time. Not only this increases the competition but also gives users a wide range of products to choose from.

Nokia Lumia 701 and Nokia Lumia 800

Click on the above pic to have a better view of Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710


However, if you happened to have visited the Atta Market in Sector-18, Noida especially the Great India Palace or the Mobile retail shops opposite the Great India Palace you would have found stalls for each of the following phones:

1. Samsung Galaxy Note
2. Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710
3. HTC Sensation XL

We can easily assume that similar trend will be observed all over India.

So basically Nokia will be facing a tough competition. Lumia 710 (with approx market price 19000/- ) will be pitted against Samsung's Omnia W (with approx market price 19000/- ) while Nokia Lumia 800 (with approx market price 30000/- )will be competing against Samsung Galaxy S2 (with approx market price 29000/- ) and Samsung Galaxy Note (with approx market price 32000/- ). Also Nokia Lumia will additionally be competing with HTC Titan and HTC Radar.


To conclude its a great move by Samsung.