New power management chip in newer Nexus7's?

[kenyee]

Android 4.1.2 Rolling Out to Nexus 7 - BriefMobile

If so, that's probably the real fix for the low wifi signal screen flicker issues though the one I have no has minimal amounts of this...

 

[KitN]

Now if there's a new CHIP I'll be pissed and will exchange mine -- it already has a bunch of defects that I can claim an RMA on anyway. :banghead:

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jpash549]

Your reference says that new Nexus7 units will be equipped with a new power management chip that will only work with the update not that power management will be helped on existing devices. It does say that rotation will be implemented for the home screen.What else?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[Johnly]

what? Mine is fine...not interested.

 

[anon(847090)]

Android 4.1.2 Rolling Out to Nexus 7 - BriefMobile

If so, that's probably the real fix for the low wifi signal screen flicker issues though the one I have no has minimal amounts of this...

I dont think so. Google released updated drivers for nexus devices 2 weeks ago and a xda user made a zip of the updated drivers and flashed it and found it had better wifi, screen responsiveness, better bluetooth etc [CWM] JRO03R Binary Drivers - xda-developers

This update 4.1.2 will include those drivers and will fix those issues with the Nexus 7

 

[anon(847090)]

Jean-Baptiste Queru replied to a question about the new chip when he posted the news about AOSP
this is what he said https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/android-building/2rkEoKMnhzU

"The new chip is functionally identical to the old one, but requires
some bootloader and driver tweaks. You don't gain anything from it (if
anything, you lose the ability to run 4.1.1)."

 

[kenyee]

Jean-Baptiste Queru replied to a question about the new chip when he posted the news about AOSP
this is what he said https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/android-building/2rkEoKMnhzU

That's a weird thing to do...same functionality, but needs different firmware? Why bother changing it then?

 

[MalachyNG]

That's a weird thing to do...same functionality, but needs different firmware? Why bother changing it then?

Some supplier probably updated the chip they were shipping to asus in some minor way that was ever so slightly changed to require a new driver. Sort of like if you got an RMA replacement keyboard that had changed very slightly since you got the original and had to download a different driver when you plugged the new one into your PC.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[kenyee]

Some supplier probably updated the chip they were shipping to asus in some minor way that was ever so slightly changed to require a new driver.

Chips aren't the same as subassemblies. You have to design it in, then firmware has to be updated for it. I'm an engineer on my day job. You'd try as hard as possible to minimize any firmware changes and look for pin-compatible chips if you even do something like this.
Like I said, weird thing to do....I wouldn't do it unless there were something major the new power chip brought to the table or it was needed for a fix that you couldn't work around...

 

[a1kemist]

This is just pure speculation, but perhaps something for the rumored $99 model? I can see that device having completely different specs for that pricing.

 

[ChromeJob]

I'm a little confused, some are talking like the "new power chip" is already out there ... is it? is there a serial number or part number that would indicate this "new power chip?"

 

[natehoy]

I'm a little confused, some are talking like the "new power chip" is already out there ... is it? is there a serial number or part number that would indicate this "new power chip?"

According to the Google Groups link earlier in this thread, the new power management chip will be used for "future variants" of the Nexus 7. They probably changed the chip out for the 32GB models and/or future iterations of the 16GB models. It's possible they needed a larger-capacity control chip to handle the 32GB variant, or they found a cheaper chip and re-did the assembly of future models to use that chip to save money (or perhaps both).

In any case, this was a warning to people who build out Android ROMs. The driver for the new chip appears to be backward-compatible with the current chip, but it sounds like you'd have to backport the driver from 4.1.2 if you wanted to use 4.1.1 as a basis for building out a ROM that might end up on one of the devices that use the new chip. Chances are, there's no user-visible difference in functionality between the two chips.