Is it possible to program GPU for Android

Question

I am now programming on Android and I wonder whether we can use GPGPU for Android now? I once heard that Renderscript can potentially execute on GPGPU in the future. But I w

Answer 1

As of Android 4.2, Renderscript can involve GPU in computations (in certain cases). More information here: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2013/01/evolution-of-renderscript-performance.html

As I understand, ScriptIntrinsic subclasses are well-optimized to run on GPU on compatible hardware (for example, Nexus10 with Mali T604). Documentation: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/renderscript/ScriptIntrinsic.html

Of course you can decide to use OpenCL, but Renderscript is guaranteed (by Google, being a part of Android itself) to be running even on hardware which doesn't support GPGPU computation and will use any other available acceleration means supported by hardware it is running on.