The term Graphics Processing Unit (or GPU) is often spoken in the same breath as gaming applications. A powerful GPU is directly responsible for smooth gameplay, high frame rates, and enhanced scenes with jaw-dropping effects. While the Adreno 225, the GPU component found in the Snapdragon S4 processor, is designed to render the most complex scenes in any given game, it also lends itself to some pretty impressive technologies and use cases that can be executed with an S4-equipped device.
Augmented Reality
Qualcomm’s Augmented Reality SDK is already being used by countless developers to integrate virtual content with real content, such as images captured from a Smartphone’s camera. Supporting both iOS and Android environments, this cross-platform SDK has found its way into apps like Wordlens, which translates foreign language signs in real-time, and Panasonic’s Viera Setup Simulator, which visualizes how one of its Viera HDTVs will fit in your home. Playing its part, of course, is the Adreno GPU, which renders advanced visualizations such as film negative effect and background enhancements of high-resolution scenes. Because it’s a Qualcomm-developed SDK, many optimizations are written specifically for Snapdragon processors so that you can really see an AR app come to life.
2D to 3D Conversion
3DTVs are selling at an alarming rate and 3D movies are popping up in every local theater, but finding 3D content for your living room may not always be readily available. Taking a 2D video or game and converting it to depth-defying stereoscopic 3D is as simple as hitting a check-box (in Android’s general settings) in your S4-equipped device. And with support for the HDMI v1.4 interface, this same device can carry a stereoscopic 3D signal to a 3D-capable display.
WiFi Display
An HDMI cable tethering a mobile device to an HDTV is just awkward looking and a hassle if you want to stream gaming and video content. WiFi Display is designed to eliminate those pesky cables by leveraging both the WiFi and Adreno 225 components in your S4-equipped device to stream content, wirelessly. A separate receiver is tethered to the HDTV, handling the wireless stream and essentially eliminating the need for an access point. With WiFi Display, you have the ability to wirelessly stream or mirror whatever is on your Smartphone’s display, whether it’s a 1080p HD video, 3D game, or a tune from your music library.
