Menneisyys
03-01-2008, 05:54 PM
The underlying chipset in a handheld device or phone has probably the biggest impact on major properties of the device like battery life, the (in)ability to use 3G and overall performance, particularly when it comes to graphics. Even users that don’t know much of of the hardware of these devices know that, for example, at least in the Windows Mobile world (as opposed to Symbian devices), TI OMAP almost exclusively means very good battery life but reduced performance and lack of hardware acceleration of, for example, 3D or video decoding. In this installment of my MWC series, I explain and evaluate most of the remaining, announced new chipsets.
In Part I of my CPU/chipset-related MWC series (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2493&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), I’ve elaborated on the brand new and really-really cool MWC announcement of Samsung. I’ve also introduced the latest technology from Imagination Technologies and have also touched on Qualcomm. Let’s start with the latter.
Qualcomm
In the previous article, I’ve promised I would fill you in on their latest chipset, the QST1x0x (QST1000, QST1100 and QST1105). I’ve already linked to the official announcement (http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2008/080211_QST_series.html) in a later, generic article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2498&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Now, let me elaborate on the new chipsets a bit more thoroughly.
The new chipset, as you can check it online (http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2008/080211_QST_series.html) too, has three submodels: the cheapest and non-connected QST1000, which promises some additional niceties compared to the current MSM7200(A) chipset many Windows Mobile devices are currently based on; for example,
”It’s based on the 65 nm process technology for enhanced battery life and bill-of-materials savings” - as opposed to the 90 nm of the previous generation. 65 nm represents the highest-end technology today with all major chipset manufacturers. (Of course, the lower the number, the better). In this regard, all other major manufacturers are already using (or, have just announced switching to) the same technology: remember the just-announced / released Samsung S3C6410/ S3C6430 from the previous chipset report? They’re both 65nm, as opposed to the previous-generation, 90nm S3C6400. And, the case is the same with the semi-new TI OMAP 3 platform, which I’ll elaborate on later.
”Seventh-generation gpsOne engine with support for Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes, as well as gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology delivering enhanced Standalone-GPS performance.” - This, hopefully, also means that its performance and sensitivity will be on par with (or even better than) the, currently, most powerful SiRFstar III (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SiRFstar_III) consumer chipset.
”Rich multimedia features, including camera, video playback at up to VGA resolution, and TV-out.” – Let’s start with the latter. Unfortunately, the pure mention of “TV-out” may show it (still) won’t support digital (VGA) output (only a subpar analogue one), let alone outputting at higher resolutions (which, incidentally, wouldn’t be of much use as analogue output is next to unreadable even at VGA, that is, 640*480 resolutions, let alone higher ones). I’ve already shown some real examples of the downsides of this approach in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
Also, as far as the rest of the statement is concerned, the description completely lacks a list of what video decoders are supported in hardware. (There’s another sentence in the press release, “A comprehensive range of popular audio and video codecs”, but it only refers to software en/decoding, which isn’t of much use as they can’t be accelerated.) As has been pointed out in several of my articles (see for example the H.264 Bible (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2373&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)), hardware-accelerated video decoding may dramatically increase performance and battery life. (More on this in the next installment of my MWC device report, when I report on the Nokia N96’s built-in hardware support for video decoding supported by both the operating system and the built-in media player (both out-of-the-box), which is pretty much unmatched in the mobile world. For example, on Windows Mobile, the built-in Windows Media Player doesn’t use the video acceleration features at all on devices that do have hardware video acceleration features – for example, the 2700G-equipped Dell Axim x50v / x51v or the GoForce 5500-based models. On these devices, you can call yourself lucky if you do find a player that makes use of these features: on the Axims, there is (TCPMP / CorePlayer), but on the 5500-based models, there isn’t such an app.)
”Support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and FM radio.” - Of this, it’s mostly the FM radio that interests me the most. Currently, very few Qualcomm-based WinMo handhelds have an FM radio. Actually, if you recall, I’ve emphasized in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) that it’s only the Intel Xscale PXA270-based 6150 and 8150 that have an FM radio, not the Qualcomm-based 8502 / 9502. The situation is pretty similar with HTC’s models. Now, with the arrival of an “official” FM radio, it’ll hopefully much easier for WinMo ODM’s/OEM’s to include FM radio in their handsets.
Note the lack of the GSM / 3G support in the QST1000, which isn’t by mistake: it’s meant for, for example, phone-less navigators, multimedia devices (if and only if the QST1000 is indeed has decent video decoding support) and classic (non-phone) PDA’s. It’s the QST1100 that adds wireless WAN connectivity for voice calls and data capabilities.
Finally, the QST1105 also has a hardware-accelerated 2D/3D graphics core capable of performing up to 2.8 million triangles per second for compelling user interfaces and gaming applications. They didn’t really have a demo showing this; the gaming section of their booth,
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_1567.JPG
didn’t have any 3D demo; not even a reference design (demo) device.
These three chipsets, as with Samsung’s current (S3C6400) and just-announced (S3C6410/ S3C6430) chipsets, are pin-compatible, which mean (comparatively) easy switchability. (No need to redesign the “motherboard” of the handheld when a manufacturer want to up/downgrade to another chipset.) However, it’s not known whether it’s pin compatible with the MSM7200 (I bet it isn’t) – again, unlike with the case of the (previous generation) Samsung S3C6400 -> (new generation) S3C6410/ S3C6430 upgrade.
NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com)
If you’re a desktop PC gamer, you must know what NVIDIA is famous for: the 3D accelerated GeForce video card series. You may also have heard of their GoForce 5500 integrated in (very few) Windows Mobile devices.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2139.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2139.JPG)
(their booth)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2150.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2150.JPG)
(some of the mostly feature phones using Nvidia’s products)
They have, so far, had limited success on the Windows Mobile platform as vendors of stand-alone, additional 2D / 3D chips simply because the platform has been deemed a productivity and not an entertainment / gaming one. Their GoForce 5500 (and its predecessor, which completely lacked 3D acceleration) was only included in few and not very successful devices (the pretty much lackluster, buggy and not any more supported O2 XDA Flame and, now, the two new i-mate Intel Xscale-based models, the 6150 and the 8150) and had even less third-party software support than the Intel 2700G (the other, notable 2D / 3D accelerator ever used in Windows Mobile devices). For example, as has also been explained in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), it’s (currently) only two games (!) that make use of its 3D capabilities and absolutely no video player programs. Again, unlike with the 2700G, which has considerably better support.
Their newly-announced APX 2500 (see more info & official homepage HERE (http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html)), however, seems to be really groundbreaking. No, not only because its 3D and hardware video decoding acceleration capabilities, not in the least.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2142.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2142.JPG)
(their APX 2500 reference design decoding a 720p video)
Not that they would be bad – just not supported by third-party developers, and not NVIDIA themselves, who refuse to open the API to some of the devs like the CorePlayer folks.
They also demoed Quake on with the new chipset, which ran really good. None of the other 3D accelerator folks did the same (they should have done – it’s much more interesting than just some demos). In this respect, Samsung, who, otherwise, has the best-specced chipset announcement, only demoed the 3D capabilities of the S3C6410 with a simple, almost texture-less 3D GPS simulation (which can clearly be seen in the following shot I’ve taken of their tech demo:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2045.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2045.JPG)
; this demo is also visible in the picture (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2051.JPG) you may have already seen). Samsung really should demo their stuff with 3D accelerated games like demos, not just plain GPS navigaton simulation, which, frankly, doesn’t look much better than, say, the 13+-year-old 3D Super FX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX) chipset in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1939&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). At least Imagination Technologies (see PowerVR) used tech demos run on in-production, current (Nokia) models to show the difference between software and hardware acceleration, which was indeed very instructive. In my opinion, NVIDIA’s going for demoing Quake running on their processor in their high-resolution demo device was a nice move. Pretty well, I should add – the animation wasn’t at all jerky.
They have also demoed 720p video playback on both the same device and an external, HD TV:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2157.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2157.JPG)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2160.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2160.JPG)
I couldn’t help noticing the picture being sometimes jerky; however, it was still WAY better than any solely software-based decoding and the occasional stutters in the video weren’t annoying at all.
I can only hope the NVIDIA folks come up with a much more open approach to opening their API and/or making it 100% compatible with, say existing Intel 2700g code (a lot of games, emulators and TCPMP / CorePlayer) so that third-party apps can make use of these features.
Here’re two shots of their reference design device:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2143.JPG
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2146.JPG
Sorry for their being so blurry (hence the lack of a high-res version); check out Engadget’s related article (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/13/hands-on-with-nvidias-apx-2500-and-yeah-it-plays-quake/) for more shots of it if this is a problem.
Of course, it’s just reference design; real-world devices will be much leaner / prettier; therefore, you won’t really be interested in just a reference design. More in real-world devices if and when they do get released.
3D and hardware video decoding acceleration aside, they seem to enter the mobile business too: their new chipset does much more than “plain” multimedia / gaming acceleration. It contains full support for communications. Again, check out the official specs (http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html) for more info - its’ certainly worth it. I can only hope their entering the mobile scene as a real mobile chipset manufacturer makes for example Qualcomm spend more time on bringing out better and better products and helping their customers (like HTC) to easily (!) develop drivers that use all of their features. They have even created a VERY nice, 3D phone interface, which is much prettier than that of iPhone. (YouTube demo links below.)
Finally, you may want to check out THIS (http://www.cellphonenews2.com/search.php?type=tags&q=Nvidia) cellphonenews link collection linking to some other NVIDIA-related articles. Of course, there’re several other resources worth checking out; for example, you will DEFINITELY want to see THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNsK2wucG0) and THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dEa4j5PIhM) YouTube videos on their ‘iPhone buster’ user interface. THIS (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58408) PPCT thread may be also of interest, particularly my comments in there.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments, of course, concentrated on showcasing their new OMAP 3 platform. What’s so special about it? you may ask.
Well, if you’ve ever seen a, say, Nokia N93(i), Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB or Nokia N82 running a 3D game, you already know the answer. TI’s CPU’s aren’t as bad as most Windows Mobile users (even geeks!) think. Not in the least. It’s just that HTC is still using the oldest CPU generations (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdamaster&posted=1&cpu=a850) (for example, the 130 nm and, therefore, indeed pretty old TI OMAP 850 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12000&contentId=4679)) in their handhelds (other WinMo manufacturers have, in some of their models, have already switched to the 2420 – see the Motorola MOTO Q9h (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=860), the Samsung SGH-i617 BlackJack II / Jack (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=978), and the Samsung SGH-i616 (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=914)). The second-generation (OMAP 2; all these CPU’s start with ‘2’ as in the 2420 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=11990&contentId=4671) chipset used in most of the N-series Nokia models released in 2007) TI OMAP CPU’s are really-really capable. Their new, OMAP 3 platform and its (then) flagship chipset, the OMAP3430, which was announced just a year ago (http://www.dspdesignline.com/products/197005880), is really worth paying attention to. It has specs that are way better than even Qualcomm’s just-announced QST1105. (Note that there’s also a OMAP3440 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12796&contentId=36505), but I did’t really notice any difference between it and the OMAP3430, so, I don't know in what it's better).
The OMAP3430 is promised to deliver 720p high-definition video playback for mobile phones, while the QST1000 / QST1100 most surely can’t go over VGA resolution. I bet the latter doesn’t support H.264 hardware decoding either. The OMAP3 platform also supports both analog (TV) and digital video output; the latter up to XGA resolution. In contrast to the analog & VGA resolution-only QST1x0x. And the list continues: for example, upon browsing the product data sheet, I realized the OMAP 2/3 series (but, of course, not the OMAP 850 deployed in many Windows Mobile models) are also able to interface with TI’s own digital TV receiver, the Hollywood Solution DTV1000/1001 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12595&contentId=4662), which is either DVB-H (most of the world) / ISDB-T (Japan) compatible. No such feature is known about the new Qualcomm chipset. (I'll elaborate on digital TV issues & questions in my next article.)
The flagship model, the OMAP3430 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12643&contentId=14649), is rumored to go into production first half of this year. Hope at least Nokia puts it in the then-to-be-announced models (N97? N98?) so that we can see what it’s capable of. Speaking of Nokia, interestingly, the Nokia N96 (and N78), that is, the two, just-announced MWC models are rumored to run either on the Freecell (as has been explained in one of the post-WMC All About Symbian podcasts) or the STMicroelectronics (more precisely, the Nomadik STn8815 (http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/134714/STMICROELECTRONICS/STN8815.html) rumoured HERE (http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35885&start=10)) platform - that is, most probably not on TI OMAP.
On the TI booth, several third-party companies building on their platforms were present; for example, Ingenient Technologies with their Low Power 3D PND. As their homepage (http://www.ingenient.com/index.html) (including their related press release (http://www.ingenient.com/news_20080211_MWC2008.html)) doesn’t contain almost anything on what their solution is really capable of (as was the case with Samsung’s latest-and-greatest, just-announced 6410 chipset), I ended up having to take a photo of their flyer:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2746.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2746.JPG)
Of course, it’s just an example of the several companies developing system-level support & drivers & API’s for TI.
What next?
Yes, I know you've all been waiting for my article on further MWC devices. Most of the article has already been written, I will publish it tomorrow, along with a thorough explanation of digital (terrestrial / handheld) TV.
In Part I of my CPU/chipset-related MWC series (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2493&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), I’ve elaborated on the brand new and really-really cool MWC announcement of Samsung. I’ve also introduced the latest technology from Imagination Technologies and have also touched on Qualcomm. Let’s start with the latter.
Qualcomm
In the previous article, I’ve promised I would fill you in on their latest chipset, the QST1x0x (QST1000, QST1100 and QST1105). I’ve already linked to the official announcement (http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2008/080211_QST_series.html) in a later, generic article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2498&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). Now, let me elaborate on the new chipsets a bit more thoroughly.
The new chipset, as you can check it online (http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2008/080211_QST_series.html) too, has three submodels: the cheapest and non-connected QST1000, which promises some additional niceties compared to the current MSM7200(A) chipset many Windows Mobile devices are currently based on; for example,
”It’s based on the 65 nm process technology for enhanced battery life and bill-of-materials savings” - as opposed to the 90 nm of the previous generation. 65 nm represents the highest-end technology today with all major chipset manufacturers. (Of course, the lower the number, the better). In this regard, all other major manufacturers are already using (or, have just announced switching to) the same technology: remember the just-announced / released Samsung S3C6410/ S3C6430 from the previous chipset report? They’re both 65nm, as opposed to the previous-generation, 90nm S3C6400. And, the case is the same with the semi-new TI OMAP 3 platform, which I’ll elaborate on later.
”Seventh-generation gpsOne engine with support for Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes, as well as gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology delivering enhanced Standalone-GPS performance.” - This, hopefully, also means that its performance and sensitivity will be on par with (or even better than) the, currently, most powerful SiRFstar III (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SiRFstar_III) consumer chipset.
”Rich multimedia features, including camera, video playback at up to VGA resolution, and TV-out.” – Let’s start with the latter. Unfortunately, the pure mention of “TV-out” may show it (still) won’t support digital (VGA) output (only a subpar analogue one), let alone outputting at higher resolutions (which, incidentally, wouldn’t be of much use as analogue output is next to unreadable even at VGA, that is, 640*480 resolutions, let alone higher ones). I’ve already shown some real examples of the downsides of this approach in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1).
Also, as far as the rest of the statement is concerned, the description completely lacks a list of what video decoders are supported in hardware. (There’s another sentence in the press release, “A comprehensive range of popular audio and video codecs”, but it only refers to software en/decoding, which isn’t of much use as they can’t be accelerated.) As has been pointed out in several of my articles (see for example the H.264 Bible (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2373&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)), hardware-accelerated video decoding may dramatically increase performance and battery life. (More on this in the next installment of my MWC device report, when I report on the Nokia N96’s built-in hardware support for video decoding supported by both the operating system and the built-in media player (both out-of-the-box), which is pretty much unmatched in the mobile world. For example, on Windows Mobile, the built-in Windows Media Player doesn’t use the video acceleration features at all on devices that do have hardware video acceleration features – for example, the 2700G-equipped Dell Axim x50v / x51v or the GoForce 5500-based models. On these devices, you can call yourself lucky if you do find a player that makes use of these features: on the Axims, there is (TCPMP / CorePlayer), but on the 5500-based models, there isn’t such an app.)
”Support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and FM radio.” - Of this, it’s mostly the FM radio that interests me the most. Currently, very few Qualcomm-based WinMo handhelds have an FM radio. Actually, if you recall, I’ve emphasized in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) that it’s only the Intel Xscale PXA270-based 6150 and 8150 that have an FM radio, not the Qualcomm-based 8502 / 9502. The situation is pretty similar with HTC’s models. Now, with the arrival of an “official” FM radio, it’ll hopefully much easier for WinMo ODM’s/OEM’s to include FM radio in their handsets.
Note the lack of the GSM / 3G support in the QST1000, which isn’t by mistake: it’s meant for, for example, phone-less navigators, multimedia devices (if and only if the QST1000 is indeed has decent video decoding support) and classic (non-phone) PDA’s. It’s the QST1100 that adds wireless WAN connectivity for voice calls and data capabilities.
Finally, the QST1105 also has a hardware-accelerated 2D/3D graphics core capable of performing up to 2.8 million triangles per second for compelling user interfaces and gaming applications. They didn’t really have a demo showing this; the gaming section of their booth,
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_1567.JPG
didn’t have any 3D demo; not even a reference design (demo) device.
These three chipsets, as with Samsung’s current (S3C6400) and just-announced (S3C6410/ S3C6430) chipsets, are pin-compatible, which mean (comparatively) easy switchability. (No need to redesign the “motherboard” of the handheld when a manufacturer want to up/downgrade to another chipset.) However, it’s not known whether it’s pin compatible with the MSM7200 (I bet it isn’t) – again, unlike with the case of the (previous generation) Samsung S3C6400 -> (new generation) S3C6410/ S3C6430 upgrade.
NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com)
If you’re a desktop PC gamer, you must know what NVIDIA is famous for: the 3D accelerated GeForce video card series. You may also have heard of their GoForce 5500 integrated in (very few) Windows Mobile devices.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2139.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2139.JPG)
(their booth)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2150.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2150.JPG)
(some of the mostly feature phones using Nvidia’s products)
They have, so far, had limited success on the Windows Mobile platform as vendors of stand-alone, additional 2D / 3D chips simply because the platform has been deemed a productivity and not an entertainment / gaming one. Their GoForce 5500 (and its predecessor, which completely lacked 3D acceleration) was only included in few and not very successful devices (the pretty much lackluster, buggy and not any more supported O2 XDA Flame and, now, the two new i-mate Intel Xscale-based models, the 6150 and the 8150) and had even less third-party software support than the Intel 2700G (the other, notable 2D / 3D accelerator ever used in Windows Mobile devices). For example, as has also been explained in my i-mate article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2504&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), it’s (currently) only two games (!) that make use of its 3D capabilities and absolutely no video player programs. Again, unlike with the 2700G, which has considerably better support.
Their newly-announced APX 2500 (see more info & official homepage HERE (http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html)), however, seems to be really groundbreaking. No, not only because its 3D and hardware video decoding acceleration capabilities, not in the least.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2142.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2142.JPG)
(their APX 2500 reference design decoding a 720p video)
Not that they would be bad – just not supported by third-party developers, and not NVIDIA themselves, who refuse to open the API to some of the devs like the CorePlayer folks.
They also demoed Quake on with the new chipset, which ran really good. None of the other 3D accelerator folks did the same (they should have done – it’s much more interesting than just some demos). In this respect, Samsung, who, otherwise, has the best-specced chipset announcement, only demoed the 3D capabilities of the S3C6410 with a simple, almost texture-less 3D GPS simulation (which can clearly be seen in the following shot I’ve taken of their tech demo:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2045.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2045.JPG)
; this demo is also visible in the picture (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2051.JPG) you may have already seen). Samsung really should demo their stuff with 3D accelerated games like demos, not just plain GPS navigaton simulation, which, frankly, doesn’t look much better than, say, the 13+-year-old 3D Super FX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX) chipset in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=1939&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1). At least Imagination Technologies (see PowerVR) used tech demos run on in-production, current (Nokia) models to show the difference between software and hardware acceleration, which was indeed very instructive. In my opinion, NVIDIA’s going for demoing Quake running on their processor in their high-resolution demo device was a nice move. Pretty well, I should add – the animation wasn’t at all jerky.
They have also demoed 720p video playback on both the same device and an external, HD TV:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2157.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2157.JPG)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2160.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2160.JPG)
I couldn’t help noticing the picture being sometimes jerky; however, it was still WAY better than any solely software-based decoding and the occasional stutters in the video weren’t annoying at all.
I can only hope the NVIDIA folks come up with a much more open approach to opening their API and/or making it 100% compatible with, say existing Intel 2700g code (a lot of games, emulators and TCPMP / CorePlayer) so that third-party apps can make use of these features.
Here’re two shots of their reference design device:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2143.JPG
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2146.JPG
Sorry for their being so blurry (hence the lack of a high-res version); check out Engadget’s related article (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/02/13/hands-on-with-nvidias-apx-2500-and-yeah-it-plays-quake/) for more shots of it if this is a problem.
Of course, it’s just reference design; real-world devices will be much leaner / prettier; therefore, you won’t really be interested in just a reference design. More in real-world devices if and when they do get released.
3D and hardware video decoding acceleration aside, they seem to enter the mobile business too: their new chipset does much more than “plain” multimedia / gaming acceleration. It contains full support for communications. Again, check out the official specs (http://www.nvidia.com/object/apx_2500.html) for more info - its’ certainly worth it. I can only hope their entering the mobile scene as a real mobile chipset manufacturer makes for example Qualcomm spend more time on bringing out better and better products and helping their customers (like HTC) to easily (!) develop drivers that use all of their features. They have even created a VERY nice, 3D phone interface, which is much prettier than that of iPhone. (YouTube demo links below.)
Finally, you may want to check out THIS (http://www.cellphonenews2.com/search.php?type=tags&q=Nvidia) cellphonenews link collection linking to some other NVIDIA-related articles. Of course, there’re several other resources worth checking out; for example, you will DEFINITELY want to see THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNsK2wucG0) and THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dEa4j5PIhM) YouTube videos on their ‘iPhone buster’ user interface. THIS (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58408) PPCT thread may be also of interest, particularly my comments in there.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments, of course, concentrated on showcasing their new OMAP 3 platform. What’s so special about it? you may ask.
Well, if you’ve ever seen a, say, Nokia N93(i), Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB or Nokia N82 running a 3D game, you already know the answer. TI’s CPU’s aren’t as bad as most Windows Mobile users (even geeks!) think. Not in the least. It’s just that HTC is still using the oldest CPU generations (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdamaster&posted=1&cpu=a850) (for example, the 130 nm and, therefore, indeed pretty old TI OMAP 850 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12000&contentId=4679)) in their handhelds (other WinMo manufacturers have, in some of their models, have already switched to the 2420 – see the Motorola MOTO Q9h (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=860), the Samsung SGH-i617 BlackJack II / Jack (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=978), and the Samsung SGH-i616 (http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=914)). The second-generation (OMAP 2; all these CPU’s start with ‘2’ as in the 2420 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=11990&contentId=4671) chipset used in most of the N-series Nokia models released in 2007) TI OMAP CPU’s are really-really capable. Their new, OMAP 3 platform and its (then) flagship chipset, the OMAP3430, which was announced just a year ago (http://www.dspdesignline.com/products/197005880), is really worth paying attention to. It has specs that are way better than even Qualcomm’s just-announced QST1105. (Note that there’s also a OMAP3440 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12796&contentId=36505), but I did’t really notice any difference between it and the OMAP3430, so, I don't know in what it's better).
The OMAP3430 is promised to deliver 720p high-definition video playback for mobile phones, while the QST1000 / QST1100 most surely can’t go over VGA resolution. I bet the latter doesn’t support H.264 hardware decoding either. The OMAP3 platform also supports both analog (TV) and digital video output; the latter up to XGA resolution. In contrast to the analog & VGA resolution-only QST1x0x. And the list continues: for example, upon browsing the product data sheet, I realized the OMAP 2/3 series (but, of course, not the OMAP 850 deployed in many Windows Mobile models) are also able to interface with TI’s own digital TV receiver, the Hollywood Solution DTV1000/1001 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12595&contentId=4662), which is either DVB-H (most of the world) / ISDB-T (Japan) compatible. No such feature is known about the new Qualcomm chipset. (I'll elaborate on digital TV issues & questions in my next article.)
The flagship model, the OMAP3430 (http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12643&contentId=14649), is rumored to go into production first half of this year. Hope at least Nokia puts it in the then-to-be-announced models (N97? N98?) so that we can see what it’s capable of. Speaking of Nokia, interestingly, the Nokia N96 (and N78), that is, the two, just-announced MWC models are rumored to run either on the Freecell (as has been explained in one of the post-WMC All About Symbian podcasts) or the STMicroelectronics (more precisely, the Nomadik STn8815 (http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/134714/STMICROELECTRONICS/STN8815.html) rumoured HERE (http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35885&start=10)) platform - that is, most probably not on TI OMAP.
On the TI booth, several third-party companies building on their platforms were present; for example, Ingenient Technologies with their Low Power 3D PND. As their homepage (http://www.ingenient.com/index.html) (including their related press release (http://www.ingenient.com/news_20080211_MWC2008.html)) doesn’t contain almost anything on what their solution is really capable of (as was the case with Samsung’s latest-and-greatest, just-announced 6410 chipset), I ended up having to take a photo of their flyer:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/450/IMG_2746.JPG (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022008Barcelona/1024/IMG_2746.JPG)
Of course, it’s just an example of the several companies developing system-level support & drivers & API’s for TI.
What next?
Yes, I know you've all been waiting for my article on further MWC devices. Most of the article has already been written, I will publish it tomorrow, along with a thorough explanation of digital (terrestrial / handheld) TV.