TI Demos Windows RT UI Performance on OMAP 4470

by Brian Klug on 6/14/2012 2:52:00 PM
Posted in smartphones , Tablets , Windows RT , OMAP 4 , TI

Last week at Computex, TI showed Anand Windows RT running on one of their own reference tablets. While performance was good according to Anand, Microsoft has instructed partners to not show off anything but the start screen for Windows RT and not much more in the way of video. Today, at TI's Media day, I was given a video (in addition to shooting some of my own, which is the second one below) of Windows RT performance being demonstrated on one of Toshiba's upcoming Windows RT devices. This runs on an OMAP 4470 SoC (which consists of two ARM Cortex A9s and PowerVR SGX544MP1) at final clocks. I'm told that Windows RT will not utilize the 2D composition engine on OMAP 4470 at launch, but may at a later date.

The last I saw Windows RT running on OMAP 4 was on an OMAP4460 at MS Build, where the platform was emulating Direct3D 9_3. Today's implementation on OMAP4470 runs native Direct3D 9_3 on a PowerVR SGX544, and is obviously much, much smoother. There were a few capacitive touch calibration issues on the tablet I played with, but overall smoothness was impressive on the Start screen and browsing the AnandTech homepage. This is a definite positive departure from Microsoft's previous rules passed onto partners which forbade showing much beyond still photography of the home screen. 

I've uploaded my own video of the demonstration as well, which was on TI's own OMAP4470 development tablet.

Source: Texas Instruments

Print This Article 20 Comments View All Comments Post a Comment Seemed pretty smooth by prophet001 on Thursday, June 14, 2012 However, there did appear to bit a bit of lag as the last "tile" (I'm not sure what they're referred to as) was rendered. Definitely did a good job on the webpage though. prophet001 Reply Touch in a laptop by freedom4556 on Thursday, June 14, 2012 Unless the touch pad is atrocious, I can't ever see using the touchscreen on a traditional laptop. Just watching the TI guy do it reinforces how awkward it would be. Notice how he types the URL but then backs off and aims at the "go" button rather than a quick tap of "enter" without taking his hands off the keyboard. It's just slower and redundant.

Also, do I see the desktop tile on the lower left of that laptop supposedly running Windows RT? freedom4556 Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by Airwick on Thursday, June 14, 2012 As far as I know, Windows RT still gives access to the desktop app to run Office (which requires it). Airwick Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by notposting on Thursday, June 14, 2012 There is a decent use scenario I've found for it--laying on the couch it would work fine (sometimes I end up with hands coming in from the side, they would actually hit the screen easier than the touchpad). Overall though, any laptop style like this should be something that can go hybrid into slate mode, then into laptop mode. Of couse that will require beefy hinges. notposting Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by ImSpartacus on Thursday, June 14, 2012 I think that was Anand (both arm and voice), but I can't blame you for thinking it was a TI marketing video. ImSpartacus Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by ssj4Gogeta on Thursday, June 14, 2012 From the article:
"I was given a video of Windows RT performance"

The first video isn't Anand. ssj4Gogeta Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by ImSpartacus on Friday, June 15, 2012 Mmmmm, crow. ImSpartacus Reply RE: Touch in a laptop by This Guy on Friday, June 15, 2012 I would have agreed with you a year ago. But I won an Acer convertable and have started to prefer using a touch screen over a track pad. When I am not just using my laptop, it is a million times easier just to reach out and instantly click on something rather than taking the extra seconds to find the touch pad, find the pointer on the screen then move it to what I want to click.

Yes typing on them is a pain and so is right clicking. From my understanding the touch screen on my convertable is very low end and the new ultra books should provide a far better experience. This Guy Reply Only on WinRT though... by powerarmour on Thursday, June 14, 2012 Shame Cedar Trail (with a similar GPU, obviously not CPU) runs Windows 8 like an absolute dog! powerarmour Reply RE: Only on WinRT though... by ImSpartacus on Thursday, June 14, 2012 I'm sure Haswell will improve everything considerably.

MS knows a fair amount about how the hardware market will grow in a few years. If MS is releasing Win8 NOW, I can only imagine that the relevant hardware is about to mature. Whether it's by Intel with Haswell or someone else, I really don't care. ImSpartacus Reply Subject Comment Post Comment Please login or register to post a comment.
User Name Password Remember me? Login 1 2 Next » View All Comments Post a Comment Follow AnandTech
Latest from AnandTech Pipeline Submit News! Samsung's Galaxy S 3 US Marketing Focuses On Features New Windows Start Screen Demoed on Lumia 900 running Windows Phone 7.8 Microsoft Announces First Windows Phone 8 Hardware Partners, Qualcomm SoCs Inside [Update: MSM8960] Existing Windows Phone 7 devices will get updated to Windows Phone 7.8, not Windows 8 Windows Phone 8 Adds support for Multi Core SoCs, Higher Resolutions, microSD, and NFC Microsoft's Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco - We're There Acer’s Timeline Ultra M5: Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks with Kepler GPUs Hynix to Acquire Link A Media Devices (LAMD) Microsoft Surface - We Go Hands On [UPDATE: Detailed Impressions] iBuyPower's Valkyrie CZ-17 Rides In Nokia Announces PureView 808 Coming to USA for $699 Microsoft's Major Announcement in LA - We're There! DailyTech Lian Li Shows Off New EATX PC Case with Front-Mounted PSU Samsung Expects to Sell 10 Million Galaxy S III Smartphones in July Sony, Panasonic to Collaborate on Next Gen OLED Panels for TVs and Large Displays Report: RIM's Bank Advisers Suggest Sale of BlackBerry Handset Business Website "Funny Junk" Steals The Oatmeal's Work, Sues Charities MIT Builds All-Carbon Buckyball and Nanotube Solar Cell Louisiana Sex Offenders Must Make Their Crimes Visible on Social Networks 6/22/2012 Daily Hardware Reviews -- "Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition" Edition United States Accused of Using Flame to try to Cripple Iran's Economy Microsoft Surface Tablet to be Wi-Fi Only at Launch AMD's Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Earns "Tie" With GTX 680 Nintendo to Release Larger 3DS XL in Japan Next Month, U.S. in August for $199 Yesterday's Global Twitter Outage Caused by "Cascading Bug" SSDs Become More Attractive as Cost per Gigabyte Continues to Decrease Sony Announces Plan to Increase Production Capacity for Stacked CMOS Image Sensors TWC Prevents DVR Commercial Skipping with New Patent Quick Note: Ford Respond to JD Power MyFord Touch Criticism... Sort of Twitter Logging off :) @PenLlawen I started AT in 1997 when I was 14 :-P @scottwasson congrats man! 10 minute nap/sleep then off to the airport, but at least I don't need to carry any laptops/tablets with me this time. @Bindibadgi you know me too well :-P @Bindibadgi everything but the phone, have no plans of using it except to get around though :) I turn 30 on Tuesday, flying someplace relaxing for a couple of days. First vacation in nearly a decade. 2012 MBA and more when I get back. @tldtoday thank you :) One more review done, will post Monday morning (it's a short one, I promise) :) @mpanzarino thank you very much :)  

Copyright © 1997-2012 AnandTech, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms, Conditions and Privacy Information.
Click Here for Advertising Information