Nvidia today announced that its Tegra 2 System-on-chip has received the Best Choice Award from Taipei Computer Association who handles the Computex expo. The Tegra 2 chip was selected amongst 400 products from electronics product category and marks a third straight year for winning this award.

Nvidia had previously won the Best Choice award for its ION chipset in 2009 and GeForce GTX 480 GPU in 2010.

Tegra 2 is a dual-core processor that is used in many new smartphones and tablets like the LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 etc.

Nvidia is also working on the next-gen Tegra chip codenamed as Kal-El, which will have a quad-core CPU.

It was almost clear when the first evidence of I9103 trickled onto the web but Nvidia has now confirmed that the Tegra 2 running Samsung phone is in fact Galaxy S II. Samsung originally announced the Galaxy S II at MWC with its own Exynos 4210 processor but will apparently launch the Tegra 2 variant to sort out the supply issues of Exynos.

We’re not sure what performance differences both these SoCs will have but if you preferred Samsung’s SoC in Galaxy S over to other single-core SoCs, you might want to confirm the regional specs before buying it from your local store when it hits in couple of months.

Galaxy S II’s unveiling at the Mobile World Congress confirmed that Samsung’s latest Android device will sport their in-house Exynos 4210 or Orion dual-core applications processor. However, a test upload on GLBenchmark’s database reveals a new Samsung device is under development running Tegra 2.

The phone goes by the model number GT-I9103, which in all likeliness could be an alternative of Galaxy S II with Tegra. This could be the reason why Samsung has listed Galaxy S II AP on the specification page as “May not be available in some regions.”

So which one will you prefer? Galaxy S II with Exynos 4210 or Nvidia Tegra 2?

[Via Samsung Hub]

Tegra 2-powered devices may rule this year’s Mobile World Congress but the day isn’t far enough where this dual-core baby will be obsolete. At the MWC, Nvidia showcased its next-generation Tegra platform which is dubbed as Project Kal-El. The chip will be the world’s first quad-core mobile processor and was demonstrated in an Android tablet that was able to browse the web, run games and even stream HD videos.

Some interesting facts about the new SoC are that it will take the resolution support beyond full HD (2560×1600 pixels, 1440p), increase the display DPI to up to 300 and features 12 GeForce GPU cores to handle intensive graphics. In short, Kal-El-based Tegra will be 5 times superior to current breed of Tegra processors. New Tegra SoC is currently being sampled and production is slated for August.

Additionally, Nvidia also threw some light on its Tegra roadmap and according to it, Nvidia will follow a yearly-release schedule for new Tegra chips. Wayne, Logan and Stark are expected in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively with Stark touting to be 75x better than Tegra 2.

[Via Nvidia]

Nvidia’s small partnership to bring GPU to the cars last year has taken a giant leap in 2011 as BMW and Tesla Motors have announced their association with Nvidia to integrate the Nvidia technology.

Termed as the Ultimate Driving Machine the integration of Nvidia’s GPU will allow BMW’s iDrive to bring topnotch in-car navigation and information to all the BMW cars including the 7-Series, 5-Series, 3-Series, Mini Cooper line and X-Series.

All the details will be displayed on a screen supporting a resolution of up to 1280×600 pixels, will have a very little response time and will be visually rich with a next-gen UI.

Nvidia has also teamed up with Tesla Motors who’ve confirmed to fit Tesla’s Model S electric sedan with Nvidia Tegra-powered 17-inch touchscreen console. The processor will also power the car’s connected display and climate-control systems along with Tesla S’ 12.3-inch LCD screen used for 3D digital instrument cluster.

Nvidia will be showing off the tech at the CES and we promise to check back once the showfloor opens on Jan 6.

Nvidia Blog

We’ve witnessed Star’s leaked pictures, seen its performance and now it’s finally here. LG has announced Star, which is officially christened as the Optimus 2X. Optimus 2X is the world’s first smartphone to be powered by a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor that easily pips the current breed of Android smartphones.

The phone’s dual-core CPUs run at 1GHz clock speed that ensures faster, smoother multimedia playback, web browsing and multitasking.

Optimus 2X boasts a 4-inch WVGA display, full HD video playback and recording, 8MP rear camera with 1.3MP front, HDMI support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB port, 1500mAh battery, microSD card slot, DLNA, accelerometer and gyro sensor.

The phone will ship from next month in South Korea followed by rest of the regions. It will ship with Android 2.2 but will be upgraded to Android 2.3 in due course.

Looks like LG is gearing up for the ultimate battle in the smartphone arena. Engadget has received few pictures of the new LG device that looks to be the most power packed phone we’ve seen till date. The phone codenamed as Star will sell under the Optimus line and feature some meaty specs like a 4-inch screen, an 8MP snapper with full HD (1080p) video recording, a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, microSD card slot, front-facing camera and 1500mAh battery.

The Google branding at the back suggests that the phone will come with a stock Android OS, although it is not clear which Android version will be loaded onto the device.

The phone is expected to be unveiled in early 2011 and if our guess is correct, it should be at MWC.

LG just confirmed that they’ll be launching an Android-based tablet in first quarter of next year. The tablet will be known as the LG Pad and will feature an 8.9-inch display, Android Honeycomb OS and powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

Other tablets like iPad and Galaxy Tab feature a 9.7-inch and 7-inch screen respectively.

LG is also preparing a Windows 7-based tablet.

[via MK]

LG has confirmed that its high-end smartphones due in fourth quarter of this year will use Nvidia’s Tegra 2 SoC. Tegra 2 chips will be used in LG’s Optimus line of phones and will ensure a competitive advantage to LG, who currently is lagging in the smartphone race.

Tegra 2 has many advantages like it has dual-core 1GHz processors that shares processing workload, allows 1080p video playback, 2X faster web browsing and high-quality graphics which is said to be 5 times superior to single core processor-based devices.

LG’s decision to go with Tegra 2 will help them to combat its arch-rival, Samsung who also announced a dual-core chip today based on ARM Cortex A9.

MSI’s pre-Computex showcase has officially begun and they’re wooing the crowd with two new 10-inch tablet PCs. First is the WindPad 100 that runs Windows 7 OS on an Intel processor. Intel’s Atom Z530 CPU is the heart of the device and includes features like a webcam, USB and an HDMI port. The tablet was also running a customized UI which is known as Wind Touch UI. Remaining specs are unknown at the moment but will reach the market later this year for price of around $499.

Next up is the WindPad 110 tablet. Though MSI didn’t give it an official acknowledgement, the tablet was showcased during the press conference. The only things known about this tablet is that will run Android OS and sport a Tegra 2 processor.

[Via Engadget]