Android currently supports three processor architectures: ARM Intel and MIPS . ARM is currently the leader, but Intel and Imagination Technologies (who design MIPS processors) are very viable alternatives. The next big area where these three chip designers will fight for a slice of the pie of mobile technology is the 64-bit computing .
The MIPS 64-bit architecture already exists almost 20 years ago. Today, Imagination announced a new core 64-bit processor, which is designed to scale from mobile devices to large data center servers. A new family of I-class CPU MIPS I6400 offers full 64-bit computing to a wide range of applications, including embedded, mobile digital consumer, networking and storage.
Google announced that the Android L will offer 64-bit support for all three processor architectures including MIPS 64-bit. The I6400 also has many specific optimizations for Android including instructions that accelerate performance in several key areas related to the system, like JIT compilation, Javascript, and web browsing . What this means is that OEMs can build based smartphones I6400 which is optimized and fully compatible with Android.
The MIPS I6400 offers several important hardware features that may become an attractive option for manufacturers of smartphones and tablets. The processors can be constructed using multiple cores and multiple clusters of cores . Each set can have up to 6 nuclei and can contain up 64 groups a chip . Just do the math! OK, we will not see one processor with 384 cores in a smartphone , but this demonstrates the flexibility of the design of the I6400. The I6400 also supports multi-threading hardware with up to four hardware threads per core. Known as simultaneous multitasking (SMT), this technology allows one core can execute multiple instructions from multiple threads every clock cycle.
The new design also includes PowerGearing , an advanced system power management. With it, the Imagination OEMs can design processors with clock levels and dedicated to each core of a cluster voltage, enabling dormant cores in the cluster to continue sleeping when unused .
Imagination is already working with several partners to build processors based on I6400 and these should start appearing until the end of the year . “The I6400 lends itself to the needs of a wide range of next generation applications, including smartphones and tablets,” said Tony King-Smith , head of marketing for Imagination. “We already licensed to guarantee the I6400 in various markets.” It seems that the second half of 2014 and early 2015 will be really geared for 64-bit devices, and not necessarily equipped only with ARM or Intel processors.
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