Several companies have announced processors with big.LITTLE processing technology, but until recently only some Samsung Exynos 5 processors (Exynos 5420, 5422, and 5260) are found in products available for purchase. Available a few weeks ago, Teclast P98 3G tablet changes that as it is powered by Mediatek MT8135 quad core processor featuring big.LITTLE processing.
Teclast P98 3G specifications:
- SoC – Mediatek MT8135 (aka MTK8135) with two ARM Cortex A15 cores @ 1.5 GHz (1MB L2 cache), two ARM Cortex A7 cores @ 1.2 GHz (256KB L2 cache) in big.LITTLE configuration, and Imagination PowerVR GC6200 GPU
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 32GB eMMC (UP to 120 MB/s) + micro SD slot
- Display – 9.7″ 2048×1536 IPS screen
- Video Output – HDMI
- Audio – Earphone jack, and AAC stereo speakers
- Connectivity – WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, FM
- Cellular – Built-in 3G WCDMA modem and one SIM card slot (Not for Wi-Fi only version)
- USB – 1x micro USB
- Camera – 2.0 MP front camera, 12.6MP rear camera
- Sensors – G-sensor, compass, 3-axis gyro
- Misc – Home, Vol +/-, and Power buttons,
- Battery – 8,500 mAh, or 7,500 mAh for Wi-Fi only version.
- Battery Life – 8 hours video playback time (Wi-Fi off), 15 hours audio playback (Wi-Fi and screen off, headphone output)
- Dimensions – 239.5mm(L) x 180.5mm(W) x 8.2mm(H)
- Weight – 608.2g
The tablet runs Android 4.2.2, and comes with a 5V/1.5V charger, a micro USB cable, and a user’s manual. Although the specs mention a Wi-Fi only version I could not find it anywhere for sale.
According to one seller, the Antutu score is 20500, which seems decent considering the screen resolution. Please noe that Antutu detects the CPU frequency as 1.2 GHz. I’m not quite sure how Antutu handles heterogeneous system with different CPU cores, so this may be a bug, or really means the Cortex A15 cores are clocked @ 1.2 GHz instead fo the 1.5 GHz advertised.
It would be interesting to find out more about battery life, but as usual it’s more complicated as there aren’t any standard tests. However, in some use cases it should be similar to a dual core Cortex A7 system, as the Cortex A15 cores should only be used for CPU intensive tasks, for instance while loading apps, or web pages. Audio and video playback should fully rely on the Cortex A7 cores.
Teclast P98 3G is available from several shops on Aliexpress as well as Teclast.org for about $240 including shipping. In China, the tablet sells for 1249 CNY (~204 USD) on Tmall.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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If http://www.xda-developers.com/android/mediatek-taking-steps-to-be-more-open/ delivers, MTK devices might eventually actually be an option….
@Someone from the other side
They’ll start with wearables as mentioned in http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/06/05/mediatek-unveils-linkit-platform-with-mt2502-aster-soc-for-wearables-and-iot-applications/
But eventually, let’s hope they’ll be more open with their smartphone and tablet processors as well.
What about this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PiPo-P1-RK3288-Quad-Core-9-7-inch-Tablet-PC-Retina-Screen-2048-1536px-2GB-RAM/1893568082.html
@EG
It’s a tablet based on ARM Cortex A17, no big.LITTLE here.
If you’re asking about performance, then it should be slightly faster, especially for tasks requiring multi-tasking (actually not that many), but probably not be as power efficient. This may not be noticeable as the battery is larger.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Yes, you’re right. It’s simply A17 without companion A7.
Ipad Mini clone, also big-little I think:
http://malm.teqy.net/2014/06/13/week-24/
@onebir
That’s a long list a links. I can’t see any reference to tablets or iPad clone however.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Sorry; bottom of this section:
http://malm.teqy.net/2014/06/13/week-24/#SmartphonesOEMs
Points to TECLAST P89, a 7.9″ Retina IPS Screen 3G tablet that uses MTK8392, which I *think* is also big little architecture…
@onebir
OK. That’s actually that device which gave me the idea of checking out about Mediatek big.Little SoC based products.
MT8392 is an octa-core ARM Cortex A7. Not big.LITTLE here.
Ok – sorry; I found conflicting info on the MTK8392…
Actually I guess a relatively inexpensive 3G octocore Ipad Mini clone is interesting for some people even if not big.LITTLE 🙂
@onebir
Yes, of course 🙂