TI announces SMP ARM CPU

[Phynaz]

Read all about it.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Cool.
Now we just need better battery technology to take advantage of the processing power in the phones.

 

[superunknown98]

This is exciting and will create some great products, but handset makers need to provide 720p or higher displays on their phones. It does seem kind of silly to have 3.2 in display with 1280x720 pixels, but what is the point of the chip if you can't take advantage of it?

Netbooks would also be a natural home for this type of chip. Granted it wont run windows, but if it will run linux with H.264 support and a browser it would be pretty cool.

 

[Idontcare]

I thought this guy's take on TI's possible future made for an interesting read:

Finally, the design says something about TI's emerging fab-lite foundry strategy. This first OMAP-4 SoC is done in a 45 nm process and may or may not intended to be built within TI. Tolbert was quite non-directive about that. But he did say that the SoC will not even sample until the second half of this year, and won't be in production until the second half of 2010. This puts the chip well behind TI's previously-announced schedule for internal 45 nm production.

Also, by then, leading foundry customers who are also salivating over the smart-phone space may consider 45 nm to be a legacy process. The schedule also appears to rule out TSMC as a foundry partner, since TSMC is reportedly determined to move all its foundry business from 45 nm to the 40 nm half node before next year.

That raises a final question. No one can doubt TI's experience in the media-processing and mobile handset spaces, nor their ability to assemble a hardware, tool, and software infrastructure around an OMAP platform. Given the hints we have about the OMAP-4 power management, it appears that the company has done its homework in this area as well. But will the company stumble on one of its greatest traditional strengths?manufacturing--as it shifts from internal to external fabs in the teeth of a recession? It's a critical question

http://www.edn.com/blog/169000...l?nid=3351&rid=9361090

Sound like anyone else we know?

 

[Phynaz]

IDC, thanks for the link. I didn't know about EDN - bookmarked now.

 

[Idontcare]

More good news for TI shareholders:
http://www.semiconductor.net/article/CA6637904.html

 

[taltamir]

nice, faster cellphones FTW...
And someone has to give the atom a run for its money.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: superunknown98
This is exciting and will create some great products, but handset makers need to provide 720p or higher displays on their phones. It does seem kind of silly to have 3.2 in display with 1280x720 pixels, but what is the point of the chip if you can't take advantage of it?

Netbooks would also be a natural home for this type of chip. Granted it wont run windows, but if it will run linux with H.264 support and a browser it would be pretty cool.

That is beyond silly. The advantage of 720p on a phone or other handheld would be the ability to output high def video to an HDTV.

 

[magreen]

I don't honestly see any use in having hd playback on a handheld. The only thing that I see that matters is just speeding up the damn handhelds. I use my blackberry constantly and it's painfully slow when rendering, and multitasking is excrutiating. Anand has mentioned it.a few times in his Atom reviews -- the iphone just doesn't have the performance it needs.

So this is an exciting development in that regard -- bringing multicore to handhelds.

But hd content on a 2.5" screen? meh. You'd need a magnifying glass to notice.

 

[Rubycon]

Put a projector in it! :laugh:

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Put a projector in it! :laugh:

It's being worked on. Coming sooner than you might think.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Put a projector in it! :laugh:

Here you go: (had not realized they released them already)

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009...or-enabled-cell-phone/

 

[superunknown98]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Q]
That is beyond silly. The advantage of 720p on a phone or other handheld would be the ability to output high def video to an HDTV.

Well played sir. It would be really cool if your phone could become a HTPC. Maybe a bluetooth/wifi usb harddrive could stream to the phone and the phone output to the tv with hdmi or display port. While a projector would be cool, I think i would rather have a video out connection.

 

[senseamp]

Originally posted by: superunknown98

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Q]
That is beyond silly. The advantage of 720p on a phone or other handheld would be the ability to output high def video to an HDTV.

Well played sir. It would be really cool if your phone could become a HTPC. Maybe a bluetooth/wifi usb harddrive could stream to the phone and the phone output to the tv with hdmi or display port. While a projector would be cool, I think i would rather have a video out connection.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...droid-and-pumping-out/

 

[Jabbernyx]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
It's being worked on. Coming sooner than you might think.

Nice! Always thought DLP technology was wicked - MEMs structures are nuts to fab.