Google chip-maker partnership is more about control than manufacturing

It was only a week ago that we learned Google is in talks to partner with chip manufacturers on future processors. As this was most directly tied to the Pixel division, speculation was that Google was looking to build their own chips for their own hardware. While this may still be true, it is only a small part of the story.

As it turns out, Google may be looking to do more than just put processors in their Pixel hardware, they are looking to take some control of the entire Android device market.

Controlling the hardware

When it comes to taking control of Android hardware, decisions are mostly left in the hands of the manufacturers. Google creates the software, but your favorite brand of phone maker puts it into some metal, glass and plastic and off to the store it goes.

In contrast, Apple takes nearly full control of their hardware. The ability to control almost all aspects of a device allows Apple to better control the overall experience of products, like the iPhone and iPad.

You don’t have to build it, just implement standards

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Google has been diversifying its technologies across things like phones, tablets, laptops, watches, smart glasses, VR gear, drones, self driving cars and so much more. When it comes to Android phones and tablets, however, they have had little to do with the hardware behind the majority of devices on the market.

With efforts like the Nexus program, Android One and the old Google Play edition phones, Google was able to team with manufacturers and/or set standards for the development of hardware. The result enabled a fairly satisfactory control of the experience, but left manufacturers mostly at the mercy of Google for approval of products.

With this new information, Google is partnering with chip makers to build standards, more than chips. The idea is simple, Google knows what it has in the pipeline for future tech and desired capabilities of Android devices, more importantly, they have a clear picture of what Android should look and feel like on a phone or tablet.

Google simply needs to establish chip designs, not make them, then manufacturers can build a device around the processor standard.

What can the new chips do?

Chips may be diverse in design based on their application as well. For example, a smartphone chip may need to include several high powered cores to handle strenuous tasks, several low power cores for behind the scenes, low priority or screen-off functionality. In addition, a very low power core or two can handle full time voice recognition, syncing tasks, location services and more.

On the other hand, an Android tablet may require fewer cores, eliminating dedicated processing for the non-existent cellular connectivity or perhaps gesture recognition. The same holds true of virtual reality gear, with next to no stand-by activities, aside from updates, a VR processor can focus on handling the active user experience, but otherwise using as little energy as possible when not on a user’s head.

While this may not be the best news for manufacturers, especially those like Samsung or Huawei that build their own processing units, it could be a great thing for the end user.

With this all said and done, we have yet to see what Google and the chip manufacturers come up with. From there, we’ll have to see if device manufacturers conform to the new standards, or if this venture proves as successful as Android One. While manufacturers of Android One devices are sticking to the guidelines, the end result is a phone that is now outdated, or otherwise being undersold by heated competition in the inexpensive phone space.

We like the idea of Google taking efforts to improve the end-user experience, as we like our Nexus devices, but we also worry that competition will cry foul. Terms like ‘monopoly’ are already applied to Google’s business, putting strict controls on the processors of future Android devices may prove too much for the governing bodies to allow. But that is another battle for another day.

What do you think, can Google improve your Android experience by leading the way in future processor design?

Beware of cheap USB Type-C cables, warns Google engineer

The introduction of USB Type-C cables and devices is ushering in a new age of convenience, but it seems that not all cables are created equal. While it might be tempting to purchase a cheaper adapter cable to connect up your new gadgets, Google Engineer Benson Leung has been testing a few of them and has found that many aren’t actually suitable for use with his Chromebook Pixel laptop.

One of the important features with USB Type-C and 3.1 is support for 3A charging currents and this is where a number of budget cables are failing to match the standard’s specifications. Worryingly, this can be quite dangerous to hardware, as legacy devices may not be able to handle the charging currents when using adapter cables.

For example, when connecting up to an older USB 2.0 Micro-B charger with a Type-C adapter, the cable is supposed to provide a 56kΩ pull up resistor to the Vbus connector pin so that the host device correctly identifies the connected charger as a legacy device to lower the charging current to 1.5A or 2.4A. If you are using the USB cable for charging, the missing resistor could result in devices drawing more current from older chargers or hubs than they can handle, which clearly isn’t good.

Leung has found that a number of cables supplied on Amazon are missing this resistor or using 10kΩ instead, and therefore can’t charge up his Pixel laptop correctly. He has posted a series of reviews on a number of cables and also has instructions to help Pixel owners test their own cables.

If you’re concerned about this, your best bet is probably to stick with cables from reputable retailers. Adapters from FREiEQ, Belkin and iOrange all pass the test, or you can always use cables provided by your device manufacturer to ensure the correct support.

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