Reading between the lines, Launch of Mediatek's new octacore LTE CPU and Google's Android One

Mediatek recently launched the mt6595 chip with inbuilt LTE modem. It is the first octacore processor with cortex A17 and A7 in big.little configuration from the company. Cortex A17 sits between A9 and A15 when it comes to performance. The chip is capable of some serious tricks including slow motion HD video capture upto 480fps and support for 20mp camera. The benchmark scores are well above the current flagship's which means that some very capable Chinese phones are on its way that are easy on the budget too

 Other news you should read with this is the announcement of Android one. It is a new project put forth by Google to bring decent Android phones to the next billion customers in developing markets like India.(“The next billion” is a moniker used for the middle income customers which are more in number in developing countries) The companies complying with Android one will get reference designs from Google and the major benefit for the customers is the fact that it will be running stock Android with direct updates from Google. No more cheap phones with outdated android versions running on them. The whole phone would cost approximately 100$ to make and might sell for 150-200$.

And it is good to know that India’s Micromax is the first company complying with the project. Karbonn is also a confirmed partner and many will follow.

To achieve such price points, the easiest and currently used approach is to use Mediatek processors. But the business model Mediatek follows contradicts Google's intentions. Mediatek doesn’t give the source code of the android running on their processors. Because of this, the only possibility of updates is if and only if Mediatek itself makes an update. You can’t rely on any developer to bring the update to your Mediatek phone. Mediatek has an attitude like, “If you want the latest android, come buy phones with our latest processors.” This is a problem because android has reached a point where it can run smoothly on basic hardware, thanks to Project Butter and Project Swelt. And the fact that the current generation of Mediatek processors are more than just average adds insult to injury.

If (and that’s a very big If) Google decides to partner with Mediatek on the Android One project, there is every possibility that Mediatek will be forced to give the source to public. But the deal ensures that Mediatek will get assured sales thanks to the strict compliance that the mobile companies have to follow to stay on the project. The exclusivity will be like the partnership that Microsoft has with Qualcomm for the windows 8 platform. So let us hope these two tech giants make a partnership that ultimately benefits the customer.

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