Phones based on chipsets MediaTek of the 8xxx series continue to be produced, and the difference between tablet and mobile SoC has not yet been indicated. Let's figure it out.
First of all, let's confirm the thesis that the MT8321 and 8735 chipsets were originally created for installation in tablets, information about this can be found on the official website of the company. However, they continue to appear in new smartphones with enviable regularity. Isn't it time to drive them out in comparative tests, draw up fresh tables and try to find differences with their smartphone counterparts? There are two smartphones of the same manufacturer with these chipsets on board, these are Alcatel 3C 5026D (МТ8321) and Alcatel 3V 5099D (МТ8735), and judging by the positive reviews in electronic stores, their can be considered reference, practically free from manufacturer errors. Their performance (including price) will become the criterion for selecting competitors in the second part of the article.
Content
- CPU and GPU
- Communication
- Comparison of the winner with modern competitors
- Conclusions and recommendations
CPU and GPU
The MT8735 chipset (and other MTs) has several modifications that differ in both the graphics part and the processor frequency. The smartphone Alcatel 3V 5099D has a chipset that outputs at 1.45 GHz peak, and this clearly indicates the use of the MT8735 version 'on steroids' – MT8735A. On this basis, a similar mobile brother – MT6737T – was chosen as a rival. The company does not indicate the year of release of individual modifications of the chipset, but it seems that at first a certain basic model appears (МТ6737 and 8321), and then the production process changes to please the demand. Let's take a look at the snap-in of our chipsets:
The processor part raises no questions, both pairs demonstrate almost identical coincidences in the type of cores and operating frequency. The same can be said about the graphics. However, in MT8735 we see something that is not in the younger tablet version and in all mobile counterparts, namely, hardware support for decoding HEVC video. This is worth paying attention to if watching movies and YouTube on a smartphone is not the last place in the user's life. As you probably know, YouTube is a site and a remote server that uploads regular video files in various formats. HEVC is a state-of-the-art video compression method, and its share of content will only grow over time.
Vintage MPEG 4 will finally leave the scene, and the user will increasingly see the verdict on the smartphone screen. Many questions are raised by the fact that the old MT6735 had support for HEVC, but at the next stage of development, in the MT6737 chipset, it was abandoned. There is no evidence, but, most likely, we are again dealing with the factor of a limited crystal area and 28 nm technical process, which does not allow placing all modern technologies in one place.
Communication
The MT6580 / 82 series chipsets (with and without the M letter) do not have an LTE modem integrated. Yes, there are new items with LTE support on sale, for example, DOOGEE X70 based on MediaTek MT6580, but the LTE modem itself is placed on the system board as a separate device, which means MediaTek for he is not responsible. Exactly the same situation looms with the tablet MT8321, in the basic configuration the user can only count on 3G. This simple fact throws these chipsets out of the mainstream of 2018, because LTE will have to pay with increased battery consumption, all other things being equal.
Such associations are caused by a smartphone without LTE in 2018
And about the senior pair is worth mentioning separately. Both chipsets support LTE Cat-4, which in theory allows you to achieve download speeds of 150 Mb / s and upload speeds of up to 50 Mb / s. But having come home and connected to a Wi-Fi network, the user of the device on the tablet MT8735 gets an advantage. Both chipsets support the a / b / g / n standard, but only the MT8735 supports the 5GHz grid with its high data rates.
If we consider a mobile device as a global navigator, then it is worth paying attention to the support of the GLONASS system due to complete obsolescence and low positioning accuracy when using GPS satellites. And here again the strange love of the company MediaTek for users of cheap tablets can be seen. The MT6580 / 82 chipsets cannot boast of a corresponding built-in receiver, whereas their tablet peer MT8321 does.
Comparison of the winner with modern competitors
There is no doubt that the MT8735 tablet chipset in any modifications, except for the MT8735M (support for screens only up to 1024×600 pixels), is head and shoulders above any peer mobile relative with 4 cores. This means that it should be thrown at the mercy of modern competitors. Competitors in 2018 were selected on the basis of '4 cores', Android OS 7+, availability and comparable price (therefore Samsung and HiSilicon will not be).
CPU
In terms of pure performance, the tablet three-year-old MT8735 (1.45 GHz) is not inferior to the hit of the budget segment Snapdragon 425, is on a par with its more modern counterpart MT6739.
GPU
The Mali-T720 MP2 graphics in the MT8735 still allow you to play whatever you want at low to medium settings.
Communication
In the budget segment, the old MT8735 is in no way inferior to modern counterparts, and in some places (Wi-Fi) it can give a head start.
Conclusions and recommendations
It has been three years since the introduction of the tablet chipset MediaTek MT8735. After these years, we can draw conclusions about its superiority over any 4-core chipset “not Qualcomm” in the price group “smartphones up to 7,000 rubles”. If at the time of publication of the article a smartphone based on Helio A22 appears for comparable money, then the situation will change. So using a relatively old chipset in a budget smartphone (pictured below) Alcatel 3V 5099D is quite appropriate.
Tablet chipset MT8321, which sometimes gets into smartphones, will not be able to please the user with anything.
The above question 'what is the difference between mobile and tablet chipsets in reading MediaTek' should be answered like this:
With the same process technology, Cortex version and year of release, tablet chipsets MediaTek outperform smartphone chipsets MediaTek in every way.
All those who disagree and agree, please express your opinion in the comments.