| The latest and greatest Android tablet has arrived
This is the first of a 2-part article on the Asus Transformer Prime. Part 2 will look at some of the new silicon found inside, including a detailed look at the new Tegra 3 processor. Follow us on twitter @ChipworksGary, via RSS, or subscribe today.
The Android tablet that many have been salivating for has finally arrived. Just a tad too late for really good Christmas specials on the original Transformer, but probably with the right timing for Asus (and their retailers) margins. The Transformer Prime has upped the ante by not only competing on its nifty keypad docking feature but on an elegant design, and a powerhouse of specifications. It may be that the tablet market has finally matured to the point where, like the PC, what matters is how fast the processor is and how much memory it has. Many of the early generation devices are now choking on the latest games and the basic form factor is no longer evolving.
Combined, this is good news for companies like Asus, who are used to competing in an environment where application demands require routine upgrading. And this device is a clear demonstration of that. Asus appears to have spent the money where it matters the most because our very brief user testing revealed it to be a very solid contender. If you were an early adopter to Android tablets, then it may just be time to give the kids the ‘old’ tablet and upgrade yourself.
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| Peeking Inside Before we took it apart, we noted that it is a little thinner (8.3 vs 8.8 mm) than the iPad 2. With the back off, we see the usual large battery, but once you start pulling things apart you can see a main board and a number of subsidiary boards – the touch screen controller, some switches, and the camera flash LED are all on separate boards.The main circuit board has the components all on one side, and judging by the number of smaller ICs distributed amongst the passive components the power management functions are not as highly integrated as we would expect in a phone or that we have seen in some tablets. The larger board means less potential space for batteries, but with the docking station angle, maybe the absolute maximum battery life wasn’t what they were after. Besides, the battery is the same capacity as in the iPad (25 Wh), so depending on usage, battery life should be similar. In comparison, the iPad 2 board is half the size, but the chips are on both sides, presumably at a higher manufacturing cost. Given that thinner seems to be seen as better in the tablet arena, the cheaper single-sided board could be a smart choice without any real sacrifice.
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| Main Circuit Board The main circuit board shows off the major design wins (at the zoom level shown). Highlights include the fact that we are not seeing a PoP for the processor, but that the nVidia Tegra 3 processor and the 1-GB Elpida B8132B2MA memory are physically distinct. This is a departure from what we have been seeing lately. With the top off the nVidia chip, we can see that this is one big piece of silicon. nVidia has decided to not put any markings on the back of this device. We expect to be publishing more architectural details about this chip in the next day or two. The Atmel MXT768E touch screen controller is on a dedicated board, presumably sourced as a single touchscreen component. The device was launched at CES in 2011 and promotes an 80% power reduction versus competing solutions and support for up to 12″ screens. Also shown is the Winbond 25X408BV16 4Mb serial flash. |
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| The nVidia Tegra 3 While the device is still still in the labs undergoing delayering, there is still some interesting stuff to look at on the front side and in the x-ray. The device actually has 5 cores, with 4 dedicated to normal operation and one for a low power mode. And it is one serious piece of mobile silicon. When compared to the Tegra 2 that had a die size of 7.11 x 7.15 mm (50.3 mm2), the Tegra 3 is over 60% larger and measures 9.58 x 8.55 mm (81.91 mm2). For comparison, both are manufactured at 40 nm. For high resolution photos you’ll need to visit the Chipworks Store for that detail. |
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| Communications This is a WiFi only device and so there is less to talk about on the communications side than with a 3G tablet. The WiFi module is the AzureWave NH615. The device is not listed on their website, but we presume that it is also taking care of Bluetooth communication – it is going in for decapsulation. One of the interesting parts, and one that has caused a bit of a hiccup on the tablets release, is the Broadcom BCM4751 single-chip GPS receiver fabricated in 65 nm CMOS. Tablets are notoriously poor GPS performers when they don’t include the 3G functionality for aGPS. The issue is not with the chips, but with the form factor and how the antennae perform. WiFi only tablets typically need to rely on tethering to a gps-enabled phone for a good experience.
Asus isn’t to be blamed for this because even the market leading WiFi iPad2 doesn’t offer GPS as part of its listed functionality (despite some clever engineering described over at Anandtech to overcome issues). However, after pre-announcing this capability, and even designing-in a chip, Asus had to retract that feature from the published specification. We suppose that as long as the user and the tablet know approximately where they are, together they can figure out exactly where they are.
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| Other design wins noted include:
- Hynix H26M64002BNR 32 GB NAND Flash
- Invensense MPU3050 Three Axis Gyroscope - Kionix KXTF9 Accelerometer - Nuvoton NPCE795 Keyboard Controller (for docking station) - Fairchild FDMC4435BZ Power MOSFET
- Fairchild FPF2700 Power Switch
- International Rectifier IRFHS834PbF Power MOSFET
- Orise Technology OTC3106A LCD Driver
- Realtek ALC5631 Audio CODEC
- STMicroelectronics 428RP EEPROM
- Texas Instruments bq2475 Li-ion Management
- Texas Instruments TPB62361 DC-DC Converter
- Texas Instruments TPS61181A LED Driver
- Texas Instruments TPS62122 DC-DC Converter
- Texas Instruments TPS6591102 Power Management
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Reports referenced in this blog
