Waiting to catch a flight a few days back I noticed three smart youngsters having fun clicking random phone shots of travelers in the airport lounge. I walked up to them and asked, ‘I write articles that make technology less complex to those who don’t understand it well. You guys seemed to be fairly comfortable with your smartphone so I thought I’ll ask a couple of question. May I?’
‘Yes, of course, please go ahead,’ said one.
‘Who do you think is a smart smartphone user today?’ I asked, and then added, ‘one reason from each of you.’
They were silent for a while and then the first spoke, ‘I guess a smart user today knows that besides voice calling the only other feature he is going to use is the camera. So he would buy one that has a good camera.’
The other two nodded and one mentioned speed and the last was in favour of dual SIM slots and 4G capability.
I thanked them and went my way to board my flight that had already announced boarding. The short discussion revealed to me that most users had only actionable features in mind and never the source that gave them all the advantages they looked for. The truth is that all features are a result of the brainy stuff that goes on inside the processor.
The phone brain makes all the difference
The processor is the central nervous system inside a smartphone making it do all the smart things that we want it to do. The first thing that users need to understand is that different phones have different processors and they have names like Helio, Bionic, Snapdragon, and Exynos. These names obviously come with strange number trails that show how evolved they are, for instance, the Helio A22. The two most known companies making processors are Media Tek and Qualcomm.
As an informed user and buyer of smart technology, one must understand that functional prowess and costing interact to give the best technology at a specified price point. For instance, the RedMi 6A has the Media Tek Helio A22, 2.0Ghz Quad core processor giving it enviable features that consumers want in smartphones that cost between five to six thousand INR. This makes perfect sense to me. The obvious question now will be: What exactly does this Media Tek Helio A22 do?
The processor makes a smartphone smarter_Media Tek Helio A22
Xiaomi_Redmi_6A_01 – A smartphone powered by Media Tek Helio A22
What does the A22 do?
Believe me, the Helio A22 from Media Tek does far more than you will care to imagine. The Helio A22 is a smart processor that brings large dual-camera systems like the 13+8MP or a 21MP super camera hardware compatibility to smartphones that do not cost a bomb. This brainy A22 pulls in bokeh effect or depth of field advantage to a phone making it as good as any other available. Imagine the joy to a user of a low-end phone when he is able to click pictures with minimised aliasing, graining, with defect/distortion correction, reasonable low-light performance, less multi-frame noise, and clear image zooming.
If this isn’t magic then what is? The magic is all because of the innovative research that goes into making the processor better… and the Helio A22 does more than just bring the charms of good photography to the cost-conscious buyer.
Knowing a processor is vital. The experts say that if you know a processor you know the phone. This is exactly what being a smart smartphone user means.
When other smartphone users talk about AI-infused benefits, phone security, smart photo gallery, speed of operations, power-performance optimization during gaming, extensive browsing, connectivity to the newest that ISPs talk about, call quality of VoLTE and ViLTE, the head turner called battery performance and power management, it is easy to assume that a phone that is in the sub-10k isn’t going to have any of it. But wait, as a smart user what you need to know is that a good processor is going to give all this to you because good processors like the Media Tek Helio A22 move with the times.
Why must buyers know all this?
Come on, a new-age buyer must know and understand what he is paying for. An aware buyer won’t simply listen to any bullshit that sellers want to impress them with and the best way is to begin by knowing what the processors are up to. Buyers need to know the kind of innovations the processors have added to be future-ready. Once this homework is done, all they need to do is to look through the specifications of a smartphone and the moment the name Media Tek Helio A22 is sighted they know what the phone is actually capable of.
Obviously then, if a low cost high performance smartphone is what someone needs, then it is worth knowing that the RedMi 6A is powered by Media Tek Helio A22 chip and it isn’t surprising to find a smartphone in the 5k-6k price band that comes with advanced features that are traditionally found in expensive variants. For instance, AI face unlock, a 5.45 in HD+ display, and a 13MP HD camera obviously function seamlessly because of the 2 GHz high performance processor. One must understand that a powerful processor makes a lot of hardware inclusions also easier, for instance a 2+1 card slot and a high capacity 3000mAh battery would sputter and waver if the processor doesn’t have the required strength. As an added bonus, the phone also has a thin, curved design that gives it all the charm that smartphone users today are looking for.
Knowing a processor is vital. The experts say that if you know a processor you know the phone. This is exactly what being a smart smartphone user means. So yes, the chip changes everything.
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Powered by Media Tek Helio A22_Xiaomi_Redmi_6A
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Arvind Passey
10 October 2018
