Published in PC Hardware

Qualcomm brings LTE to entry level phones

by on10 September 2014



Snapdragon 210 for frugal data addicts

Qualcomm has revealed the Snapdragon 210, its cheapest LTE-enabled SoC to date. Qualcomm’s 200-series products are usually reserved for emerging markets, so European and American customers don’t often get a chance to see them in action.

This time around Qualcomm is going after tablets, too. The Snapdragon 210 offers integrated multimode 3G/4G LTE (Cat 4) and LTE Dual SIM capabilities. Qualcomm stopped short of disclosing the full spec, but its Snapdragons with a ‘10’ at the end of the designation tend to be 64-bit parts. There are some conflicting reports though, with some outlets claiming that the 210 will feature up to four Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.1GHz.

The chip sports Adreno 304 graphics and Qualcomm says it can handle 1080p with hardware HEVC. Cameras up to 8 megapixels are supported, along with features like HDR, autofocus and zero shutter lag.

What sets the 210 apart from previous entry level Snapdragons is the fact that Qualcomm is trying to push it into tablets as well. The Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) version of the chip is on the way and it is aimed at affordable LTE tablets, or even tablets with added voice functionality which have proven very popular in some Asian markets.

Qualcomm is already selling the Snapdragon 410 in QRD flavour and it says it is gaining a lot of traction with its reference tablet designs.

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