Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 310 Hardcore Showcase
Chen Xuebing casually pointed to a chubby boy with a cheerful appearance and gave him the precious opportunity.

A hostess dressed in a blue and white cheongsam handed over a metallic-looking mobile phone.

This phone has undergone multiple weight reductions, weighing 160 grams and measuring 9.3mm thick. Moreover, thanks to Spreadtrum's micro-antenna technology, it has effectively solved the metal Faraday cage problem that the first-generation iPhone could not solve, and saved space for the mobile antenna, measuring only 97mm in length and 59mm in width.

It felt heavy in the chubby boy's hand. His fingers trembled slightly as he pressed the only button. When the clear screen lit up in front of him, he swallowed hard and, mimicking the action on the screen, swiped to unlock it.

The crisp unlocking sound was much more impressive than when it was played through the speakers earlier, and everyone around was standing with their eyes glued to the screen.

"What's your name?" Chen Xuebing asked with a smile.

"I"

The chubby boy was a little nervous, and the people around him gave him quiet encouragement.

"Don't be nervous, speak."

"Tell us the name of our forum!"

"Uh," the chubby boy raised his head and said, "I'm the deputy moderator of the Tianya Forum's Netizen Tribe community! My ID is Yida!"

Extra was the first sugar-free chewing gum launched by Wrigley in the United States in 1984.

"Oh," Chen Xuebing recalled an advertisement, a hint of amusement welling up inside him. He picked up his phone, opened the chat interface of his friend "Test 016" on the Starlink app, pressed the screen, and said in as standard a tone as possible:
Hey—Extra!

At this moment, the people below the stage were watching Chen Xuebing's actions and could also see the operation of the mobile phone through the screen. As the "Press to Talk" button at the bottom of the screen was pressed, an icon resembling a walkie-talkie appeared on the display screen.

There seemed to be a two-second delay between the screen display and Chen Xuebing's actions, but this was considered normal by everyone.

In reality, the image on the screen had nothing to do with the phone in Chen Xuebing's hand—it was just a delay in the director's playback.

But the signal in the hall was real; a 3G test signal station was currently only providing service to two mobile phones.

Very fast.

Within five seconds, a notification appeared on Yida's phone.

"A voice message from 'Test 007'."

Yida paused for a moment, and didn't click on it until the prompt disappeared.

The hostess next to him immediately gave him a hint, guiding him to turn on StarLink and handing him a microphone, placing it next to the phone's speaker.

Yida's finger touched the short voice bar.

When the voice message "Hey—Extra" rang out from the audience, Xiaotong, a college student next to her, suddenly covered her mouth.

Last week, she spent half a month's living expenses to buy a mobile phone for her grandmother in the countryside. At this moment, she seemed to see her grandmother's wrinkled face smiling in front of the screen.

She recalled many moments.

"This function..." Her heart trembled slightly. "I need to teach Grandma how to use it."

A small group of programmers erupted in commotion.

"Voice transmission? That's too fast!"

The most striking figure was Wang Jianguo, the veteran reporter, sitting in the corner.

This veteran journalist, who has covered communications technology for thirty years, was utterly amazed by this feature. He slowly took off his reading glasses to wipe the lenses and sighed deeply to the young man beside him:
"Back in 1992, I reported on the first mobile phone, which cost 28,000 yuan. Today's mobile phone represents a new era, and I think it deserves the price of that mobile phone back then."

Chen Xuebing's laughter rang out:

"This is a communication software we created. It can transmit voice messages. This function is easy to operate and can be used by people of all ages. It allows the Starlink user on the other end to hear your voice - and it also saves a lot of data."

Three seconds of silence followed.

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Chen Xuebing raised his hand and added, "This voice message can also be saved on your phone, so that everyone can permanently remember the sound and feelings when chatting with family and friends. Although it takes up a bit of memory, we provide affordable memory sticks for everyone. Photos and voice messages can be saved in it."

The applause continued.

The audience couldn't help but admire how ingenious the design was!
Perhaps only Mr. Wang in the audience was not entirely satisfied with this feature, but when Chen Xuebing first mentioned it, he easily convinced him with just one sentence:

"If we can make internet access available to all senior citizens, will we still have to worry about user numbers?"

This is the gateway to the mobile internet.

He's now interested and wants to add this feature to his own communication software, but it's too difficult for China Mobile to popularize it. Currently, it can only be used with the Kunlun system and certain hardware support.

But in the eyes of the audience, this presentation was fluid and beyond imagination!

They witnessed the future firsthand!
Next, Chen Xuebing asked if any users had high-definition camera phones to compare and experience the photo-taking and sending functions.

A university teacher stood up, holding this year's best camera phone, the Nokia N73, and volunteered to have a competition.

Singularity staff also brought out an N73 with a card slot.

A very simple experimental control group: the Kirin took a picture and transmitted it to the Kirin via Starlink; the N73 took a picture and transmitted it to the N73 via MMS; then several viewers came up to judge the viewing effect.

The result was obvious.

"The Qilin is much clearer."

"I choose the Qilin!"

"They're not even on the same level."

Even that confident university professor lost faith in Nokia, which he had cherished for six years: "The screen sizes are too different, and the difference in viewing experience is too great."

"The dual cameras we use have 80 pixels on the front and only 200 million pixels on the back. The total cost is probably less than half of the cost of the Zeiss lens on the N73. This cost will eventually be passed on to consumers, so the N73 is priced at 4750 yuan."

Chen Xuebing continued, "This is what I mean by the performance overflow resulting from competition among major manufacturers. This portion of shooting performance can only be demonstrated for computer archiving, printing, or social sharing, not for viewing on a mobile phone screen. Therefore, we chose a solution that saves users money. We will upgrade the camera specifications when the screen resolution is higher and can display higher-pixel photos well."

Upon hearing this, everyone began to notice the price issue.

How much does that Qilin cost?
The production team controlled the pace and switched to a chip introduction interface.

"However, the money that needs to be spent still needs to be spent."

"We used a 65nm chip specially designed by Marvell, a 90nm baseband supplied by Spreadtrum, as well as DSP, sensors, touch chips, etc. The system-on-a-chip integration cost more than 1200 yuan."

"Regarding the screen, we used a Corning Gorilla Glass outer screen and an LG inner screen integration, both of which are of extremely high specifications. In addition, the 4.2-inch area is not economical to cut, so the overall price is also over a thousand."

"I can say frankly that these two costs alone exceed the manufacturing costs of 99% of mobile phones on the market."

"If we exclude luxury phones produced on non-standard production lines that are purely handmade, then this number would reach 99.9%."

This is the first time a Chinese manufacturer has publicly disclosed the true cost of a core mobile phone component.

Sighs rose from the audience.

I knew it wouldn't be cheap.

But looking at it now, there is also understanding in the sigh.

Of course, a phone made like this won't be cheap!

Chen Xuebing continued to raise the threshold.

"In addition, there are some functional modules, such as a dual-axis gyroscope we used. The manufacturer doesn't allow us to disclose the cost price, but it's a few hundred yuan anyway."

After a light laugh, Chen Xuebing continued demonstrating the features.

A dual-axis gyroscope can sense angles by using pitch and roll motions, but unlike a three-axis gyroscope, it cannot detect horizontal movement.

The screen automatically rotates and opens, re-entering the movie playback interface.

With a simple rotation of the phone, the landscape playback interface miraculously turned to face-up.

This feature has once again caused a stir.

"View movies in landscape mode, read books in portrait mode, and of course, there are more functions than just these."

"You can play motion-sensing games, such as racing and flying."

"It can compensate for hand shakiness on the X/Y axis during shooting and enhance GPS inertial navigation."

"Of course, better games, better shooting software, and a truly intelligent navigation software are all things we need to leave to the vast number of market developers."

"And we've invested heavily in creating a platform for developers."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights dimmed in a very ceremonial manner, and the words "Kunlun System" appeared on the screen.

"Today, we are honored to have the China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance and Jim Zemlin, a board member of the Linux Foundation."

The guests on the left side of the audience nodded and smiled, and Jim even stood up in a friendly manner and waved to the back.

"The mobile operating system, which is deeply customized based on Linux 2.6, is the biggest part of our project in developing this phone. So what is its significance?" The screen changes.

I. Hardware Resource Management and Performance Optimization
II. A Paradigm Revolution in Human-Computer Interaction
III. Ecosystem Construction and Security Controllability
The longest speech has begun.

In terms of resource management, it coordinates the allocation of hardware resources such as the underlying core, processor, memory, and sensors, and deeply integrates the chip and imaging module.

In terms of interaction methods, it has evolved from command line → graphical interface → touch operation, and finally to the most natural language interaction.

In terms of development ecosystem, it enables one-time development and multi-terminal deployment, with a code reuse rate of 85% and kernel-level protection to ensure controllable data and permissions.

When introducing key technical parameters, he deliberately slows down his speech, enunciates each syllable clearly, and suddenly raises his voice by half an octave when he gets excited.

I also did a comparison of the current mainstream Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry OS.

There's really no comparison. This system isn't designed for phone keyboards. In terms of touch-based smart interaction, only the yet-to-be-released iOS can compare. Even in terms of the completeness of the underlying code, Linux is no weaker than them. After Chen Xuebing thoroughly refuted them, he only slightly mentioned that the richness of the phone's functional code still has room for improvement compared to other phone systems.

This time, no one in the audience spoke; everyone listened very attentively, and some enthusiasts were even taking notes.

Who wouldn't want to know how such an amazing phone was made?

After a 15-minute presentation, everyone suddenly realized: it's not something that can be done simply by piling on hardware!
To analyze this phone, the old-fashioned teardown methods used by tech enthusiasts simply won't work! You have to delve into the system layer!

After explaining these three points, Chen Xuebing concluded with great enthusiasm:
"Kunlun System is open source, and our proprietary UI should also embrace the spirit of openness and be promoted to most countries in the world, starting with Asia and Europe. We will fund the establishment of a global developer community to attract outstanding developers from all countries to jointly build the ecosystem. In the future, our mobile phones will have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of software applications. It will be an inevitable trend to truly reach or even surpass the software ecosystem of computers, because mobile phones are more convenient terminals than computers, and they also have more possibilities in terms of interaction methods. Mobile software will enter every aspect of our lives."

After he finished speaking, there was complete silence.

Everyone is still waiting for something, feeling unsatisfied.

Keep talking, keep going!
What software will be involved?

Chen Xuebing smiled slightly when he saw those expectant eyes.

The following content, of course, cannot be discussed further.

If we continue, it will become "Internet Plus".

He was just telling everyone that the future has arrived, but he had no intention of teaching people how to make money.

Some things are taught in public courses, while others are exclusive secrets.

Soon, the Spreadtrum employees realized what was happening and started clapping, and the other audience members realized that the topic had ended and began to applaud enthusiastically.

"The above are the costs of developing an internet-connected smartphone."

Are there any other costs?

"some."

With three sentences from Chen Xuebing, the final topic was revealed.

3G.

"Did anyone notice just now that our Starlink software sends voice messages incredibly fast?"

The audience nodded in agreement.

"This is certainly not some kind of cutting-edge technology," Chen Xuebing said with a smile, pointing to the ceiling. "It's because we have a 3G test base station on our rooftop, specifically for our press conference."

"We have to thank Huawei Communications for their help. Their 3G technology has built a bridge for us to showcase the future. Of course, we also have to thank the Ministry of Information Industry for the trial approval. We are honored to have Director Wen of the Ministry of Information Industry, Mr. Wang Jianzhou, President of China Mobile, and Mr. Ren Zhengfei, President of Huawei Communications, here with us today."

Chen Xuebing raised his hand towards the audience, and the three people sitting in the middle of the front row waved to him.

The audience in the middle were numb.

These days, most names and faces don't match up in the public's mind.

This introduction revealed that the front row was truly a gathering of stars.

Steve Jobs, the Ministry of Information Industry, China Mobile! Hall of Fame!
They can even build base stations for press conferences!

"And also, Mr. Wu Ping, Chairman of Spreadtrum Communications." Chen Xuebing dedicated a separate page to Wu Ping, clearly having something to say:
"As everyone knows, the 3G progress in our country and even the world is still relatively slow. In order to promote the rapid development of mobile Internet, we invested in Spreadtrum Communications, invested in 3G technology research and development, and jointly built 3G standards."

"I have another piece of good news to share. Last month, China Mobile confirmed that it will operate the TD-SCDMA standard and will soon build the first batch of trial networks in the host and co-host cities of the Olympics. In the near future, my country's 3G network will enter the trial operation stage."

"To ensure that Kirin users are among the first to experience 3G networks, we specifically chose Spreadtrum's TD standard baseband chip, which integrates high-end communication technologies from Spreadtrum and Huawei, ensuring the best transmission efficiency."

"As for what kind of transmission efficiency TD-SCDMA technology can achieve?"

"Next, I'd like to make an internet phone call."

"Let's use our communication software, Starlink."

A camera feed appeared on the screen.

Chen Xuebing walked to the podium, pointed his phone at the camera, and gave his first real-time demonstration.

First, open the "Network Speed" button in the settings interface.

"Everyone, please pay attention to the top left corner."

—The words "0KB/S" appeared there.

Then they started making video calls to "Test 008".

At this moment, Mr. Wang, who was sitting in the audience, had already received a Kirin phone and made a call.

Wang Jianzhou's face appeared on the screen. He looked at the screen, his smile gradually spreading, and he nodded.

The image in his eyes was fairly clear, and the facial features were presented relatively clearly.

The Kirin's resolution is QVGA. Under the display conditions of a 4.2-inch screen and 150 PPI, the threshold at which the human eye can clearly distinguish the difference between photos is actually between 12 and 24 pixels.

Chen Xuebing leaned against the edge of the table, chatting casually: "Mr. Wang, how's the video quality?"

"very good!"

How did you feel about this press conference?

"Great! Thank you for showing us the technology of the future!"

As you can see, the network speed at the top of the screen has jumped to 770kb.

The upload speed for user-side video must be at least 128kbps.

This speed is sufficient to fully cover the requirements and even allows for some precision compression of the video, improving the display quality.

"So, do you think the first batch of 3G network coverage will cover five cities or eight cities?"

Chen Xuebing smiled as he forced Chen Xuebing to resign on the spot.

"If you ask me, it's eight!" Wang Jianzhou said this ambiguous statement with a firm tone, but then gave a clear statement, "Our mobile 3G network will be deployed as soon as possible, and we will definitely not keep our users waiting! We will be bidding next month!"

The audience was stunned, and even the more than 1,000 prospective employees of Spreadtrum were astonished.

The press conference discussed base station bidding?

Since General Manager Wang personally expressed his opinion to General Manager Chen, Zhanxun should have some work to do now, right?
They also had the opportunity to go to the battlefield?

This time, applause erupted again, louder than ever before.

The users in the middle didn't even know what was going on, and could only applaud along.

Chen Xuebing hung up the video call and walked to the center of the stage.

"Everyone has seen our efforts."

The audience nodded in agreement.

"Pretty hardcore, right?" Chen Xuebing asked again.

"Hard! Too hard!" someone shouted.

So far, people have been unable to express their emotions because Chen Xuebing's speech was so dense, but they are already incredibly excited inside.

Chen Xuebing looked down and noticed that some audience members had red eyes. He felt a pang of sympathy, and his gaze drifted as if he were looking at the entire nation's audience.

"Now, there's one more thing we're hesitating about."

"That's the price of this phone."

A fleeting smile appeared at the corner of his eye.

"How about we discuss how much we should sell this phone for?"

(End of this chapter)