Fast Charge: New Snapdragon chip has me excited about phones again

Stance: I've recently become jaded about the latest smartphones. We've reached a point where our pocket-friendly portables are so fast and fully featured that I'm no longer craving upgrades like I used to.

Every twelvemonth, multiple companies brag about the performance upgrades of their latest phone, simply information technology doesn't really interest me.

My Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G features the now outdated Snapdragon 865 chip, and it's plenty fast enough for me to browse the web, watch videos or accept photos without whatever noticeable lag.

Of course, longer battery life is always welcome, simply my telephone's also capable of lasting the solar day without requiring a recharge. Battery life is always an important consideration when ownership a new phone, only I wouldn't rush out to upgrade my Galaxy S20 Fe if its successors somehow manage to double that stamina.

Thinking back over recent years, I tin can't remember many new smartphone announcements that accept really excited me.

Microsoft and Samsung have probably come the closest, with the Surface Duo and Milky way Z Fold 3 thank you to the dual-screen and foldable designs. Only extravagant price points and software teething bug rule out those phones from being a realistic option.

So when I was invited to Hawaii for Qualcomm'southward launch of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphone chip, my expectations weren't sky-high. Every bit expected, Qualcomm appear that its new chip will run into 20% faster CPU speeds compared to the previous generation, and a xxx% faster GPU. At that place accept also been improvements made to the power savings, potentially extending the battery life for hereafter phones.

Qualcomm has as well additional the peak download speeds for 5G connectivity to 10Gbps, but with the UK still lacking coverage for mmWave, we, unfortunately, tin't hit those speeds.

There's no doubt that these are impressive improvements for the next generation of smartphones, but they're not quite substantial plenty to make me eager to upgrade my current phone.

However, post-obit the declaration, Qualcomm invited me to various demos to check out new features that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flake is capable of thanks to artificial intelligence and other clever upgrades.

The first demo showcased how AI is able to block out background racket during voice calls. A Qualcomm employee demonstrated this by crinkling a well-baked packet and banging on the table as he spoke into the phone. He then played back the recording, and like magic, all I could hear was his voice with no distractions. It was remarkable.

I'g also impressed with the new 'e'er-on camera', which allows users to log into their phone via face recognition without needing to touch or printing annihilation beforehand. A Qualcomm employee explained that this feature will also allow yous to browse QR codes without having to wake the phone first. That should brand the procedure of loading up a digital menu at a restaurant far easier.

The photographic camera seems to have benefited from AI the most this generation, as the new Snapdragon viii Gen one flake allows you to record video with a bokeh consequence. A Qualcomm employee showed me this feature in action, and I was impressed by how easy it was to activate. Simply press a button in the photographic camera app, and the phone automatically blurs the background of your recording with a more than intense focus of the person in shot.

Photos volition generally look ameliorate with the new Snapdragon fleck, with improvements made to night mode, the outburst adequacy and auto confront detection. Phones with the Snapdragon bit will be able to record video in 8K HDR too.

And then in that location'southward lossless audio over Bluetooth, ensuring that y'all can go CD-quality sound when using wireless headphones. You, unfortunately, accept to purchase headphones that back up the new Snapdragon Sound Technology in social club to benefit from this feature, but I'1000 confident that the technology will starting time popping up in plenty of Bluetooth headphones in the near hereafter.

Of course, specific phones do need to support the to a higher place features and that's non always a guarantee.

So every bit you can see, the Snapdragon viii Gen 1 unlocks a lot of new features for future smartphones. Admittedly, there isn't really a single killer office hither that makes me desperate to upgrade my telephone in 2022, but I reckon the accumulation of all of these features results in a smartphone scrap that truly does feel like a significant upgrade on its predecessors.

Merely how does Qualcomm become this message over to people? Information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to understand that a new chip is faster than previous iterations, merely information technology'south far trickier to explain how artificial intelligence will better your phone. I posed this question to Jeff Gehlhaar, who leads Qualcomm's AI software team.

"The value to the terminate user, I think, is a more immersive, magical, natural experience," he said. "These things [new features] are existence deployed considering of devices similar Snapdragon 8, and people just take it for granted. They don't fifty-fifty realise it's happening."

I think that's a very good summary of artificial intelligence. Information technology allows users to benfit from advanced features, such as noise suppression and video bokeh furnishings, past but borer a button. And all of these features result in a more than seamless experience for the user – similar Gehlhaar says, information technology works like magic.

I'm impressed by how many new features the Snapdragon eight Gen 1 brings to the table, and I'chiliad excited past the prospect of discovering even more than AI-based tricks that Qualcomm has up its sleeve. I may not personally need a faster phone, but I could definitely benefit from AI turning my amateur vacation snaps into something I can proudly publish on Instagram.

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