I’m heading to Barcelona today to attend Mobile World Congress where I expect to be bombarded with phone, smartphone, tablet, app, operating systems and telecom news but this year I’m going with a specific focus. I’ll be looking for more evidence of crossover from the traditional mobile world – platforms, operating systems and software – into the world of general computing.

Intel have kindly invited me along to take a look at their Android smartphone ecosystem (along with Appup and Ultrabook information) and I should be seeing devices close-up on Monday but that doesn’t mean I won’t be taking a look at the competition. I’ll be looking for next-generation platforms from the ARM ecosystem too. With ARM Cortex A15 designs and Qualcomm’s ARM V7-based Krait core we’ve reached a point where processing power per Mhz moves beyond what Intel Atom is currently offering. I’ll also be on the lookout for designs that take the mobile platform into the desktop space, modular designs too.  It will be interesting to see software that also does the job of bridging mobile and desktop usage. The Google Chrome Beta for Android ICS is one such example of software crossing over.

I’ll be looking closely at the Android OS too. It’s no longer exclusive to the ARM architecture so it will be interesting to get a feel for whether Intel’s work on optimizing the OS for their mobile platform has given it an advantage. I wonder if there’s an X86 optimised version of the app yet.

Finally ill be on the lookout for news from the Microsoft camp.

I’ll also be getting as much hands-on with tablets as I can during the show and as usual, bringing you news, video, images and information as it happens. Ben and the rest of the team are also tracking the news and will he bringing you information and round-ups on Carrypad.

Stay tuned to Carrypad and the Carrypad twitter channel and for some behind-the-scenes info you cam follow me, Chippy, on my twitter channel. Keep an eye on the database to because we’ll be updating it with new products during the show.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia has recently announced a major Tegra 2 win (Honeycomb) and a new project “extending the performance range of the ARM instruction-set architecture, enabling the ARM architecture to cover a larger portion of the computing space inch so it’s no surprise that the CEO is positive when he talks about ARM.

I had the chance to watch him being interviewed by All Things D mobile correspondent Ina Fried last week at CES and with Galaxy Tab in hand I was put to the test in noting quote after quote of amazing pro-ARM comments from Jen-Hsun.  How about some of these gems:

“2011 is likely to go down like 1995. We will realise that the personal computing industry was redefined inch. Jen-Hsun is referring to Windows 95, the operating system that changed the way consumers interacted with personal computers.

“The most important architecture going forward is likely to be ARM. inch

“Whatever expectation you have…are going to be fully met by mobile computing devices within the next 3 to 4 years. inch

“3D on phone is a foregone conclusion. This piece of glass is is likely the most accommodating piece of glass for 3D inch

Here’s a quick video I did of Jen-Hsun demonstrating the LG Optimus 2X. There’s a fuller video over at All Things D

In addition to Tegra 2, 3D and Honeycomb announcements, Nvidia have also taken a Cortex A15 license and have announced project Denver which appears to be looking to combine future ARM architecture (possibly Cortex A15, possibly a new license for ARMv7 or even ARMv8!) and running parallel with the Windows on ARM project. If Nvidia are chosen as the reference design for that, they are sitting pretty! An Nvidia blog post gives more info about Denver.

However, Nvidia talks about ARM like it’s the only low-power choice but we know that Intel are moving into this space too. In fact, as processing power requirements reach into the same 1W envelope, it’s the screens, radios, batteries and software need to be sorted out. An wild, uncontrolled third party app can negate a lot of potential hardware efficiencies.  Also, if Windows 8 is supporting ARM, I expected it to also be supporting the new power features of the Intel platforms that bring it right alongside ARM. Don’t forget that Android is running on Intel too!

Nvidia appear to have an excellent leader, strategist and spokesperson in Jen-Hsun and it’s unlike any other company playing in this mobile game. The brand is looking good, products are looking good, strategy and partnerships are going well and given one or two more major wins, Nvidia will rise to the top very quickly.

Thanks to Ina Fried for (literally) last-minute access to All Things D at CES. Ina runs the Mobilized blog for All Things D and is on Twitter here.

Jen-Hsun Huang, the CEO of Nvidia has recently announced a major Tegra 2 win (Honeycomb) and a new project “extending the performance range of the ARM instruction-set architecture, enabling the ARM architecture to cover a larger portion of the computing space” so it’s no surprise that the CEO is positive when he talks about ARM.

I had the chance to watch him being interviewed by All Things D mobile correspondent Ina Fried last week at CES and with Galaxy Tab in hand I was put to the test in noting quote after quote of amazing pro-ARM comments from Jen-Hsun.  How about some of these gems:

“2011 is likely to go down like 1995. We will realise that the personal computing industry was redefined”. Jen-Hsun is referring to Windows 95, the operating system that changed the way consumers interacted with personal computers.

“The most important architecture going forward is likely to be ARM.”

“Whatever expectation you have…are going to be fully met by mobile computing devices within the next 3 to 4 years.”

“3D on phone is a foregone conclusion. This piece of glass is is likely the most accommodating piece of glass for 3D”

Here’s a quick video I did of Jen-Hsun demonstrating the LG Optimus 2X. There’s a fuller video over at All Things D

In addition to Tegra 2, 3D and Honeycomb announcements, Nvidia have also taken a Cortex A15 license and have announced project Denver which appears to be looking to combine future ARM architecture (possibly Cortex A15, possibly a new license for ARMv7 or even ARMv8!) and running parallel with the Windows on ARM project. If Nvidia are chosen as the reference design for that, they are sitting pretty! An Nvidia blog post gives more info about Denver.

However, Nvidia talks about ARM like it’s the only low-power choice but we know that Intel are moving into this space too. In fact, as processing power requirements reach into the same 1W envelope, it’s the screens, radios, batteries and software need to be sorted out. An wild, uncontrolled third party app can negate a lot of potential hardware efficiencies.  Also, if Windows 8 is supporting ARM, I expected it to also be supporting the new power features of the Intel platforms that bring it right alongside ARM. Don’t forget that Android is running on Intel too!

Nvidia appear to have an excellent leader, strategist and spokesperson in Jen-Hsun and it’s unlike any other company playing in this mobile game. The brand is looking good, products are looking good, strategy and partnerships are going well and given one or two more major wins, Nvidia will rise to the top very quickly.

Thanks to Ina Fried for (literally) last-minute access to All Things D at CES. Ina runs the Mobilized blog for All Things D and is on Twitter here.

Just one week before Intel’s IDF will detail more about their mobile CPU roadmap for 2011/2012, ARM have announced some details about their own 2012 high power mobile silicon. Cortex A15 (Codename: Eagle)

Based on a 28/32 nm process (ref: news about 28nm process here) this quad-core design will clock up to 2.5Ghz. That’s 4x cores and 2x clock compared to todays ‘best of.’ ARM say it will provide 5x computing performance. You’ll see it run up to 1.5Ghz in smartphones but I suspect there are some other ‘smart’ opportunities in the netbook space here.

‘Eagle’ Cortex A15 News release.

With the dual-core A9 already reaching up into Intel’s performance space, solutions based on this Cortex A15 will put it directly head-to-head with Intel’s 32nm Medfield platform.

Expect similar power and performance profiles for A15 and Medfield’s Atom core which means the choice of CPU wont be that important for customers any more. The choice lies with the software, designer and, increasingly, the marketing and customer-relations teams.

Intel and ARM have 2 years to get a suite of operating systems ready for these products that range from real-time, through mobile to desktop productivity. I see ARM having a lot of potential with Android but with a lack of productivity applications and a potential patent problem, Intel are in a good position with MeeGo. Having said that, MeeGo will run on ARM CPUs to so in my eyes, what we have here is simply a great range of platforms and operating systems lined up for an amazingly mobile 2012.

More detailed information available here.

Via Slashgear

Expect more details at ARM’s Techcon event in November.