It's been a
long while since we've seen anything from NVIDIA on the cellphone front, but the company has changed that in a fairly big way today, with it showing off its first major cellphone applications processor: the APX 2500. As CNET points out, that chip is largely the result of NVIDIA's
acquisition of PortalPlayer back in 2006, and represents the company's first attempt at building a true computing processor for cellphones. From the looks of it, they sure look to have gotten off to a decent start, with the chip itself (based on an ARM11 core) able to run at speeds up to 750MHz, and encode and decode 720p high-definition video, opening up the possibility of some pretty capable cellphone / video camera hybrids. Of course, this being NVIDIA, they also squeezed in some of their GeForce graphics technology designed especially for low-power devices, which they say is to allow for 3D interfaces, but we're sure could also be put to some other uses as well. No exact details as to when and where we can expect to chip just yet, but it'll apparently start to make its way into phones sometime next year, with Windows Mobile in particular able to exploit the technology in the chip -- no surprise there, given Microsoft's hand in the chip's development. Follow the break for a shot of NVIDIA's totally trippy demonstration interface that's in use on the APX2500's reference platform.
posted Feb 11th 2008 11:48AM
I always wondered why these couldn't be added to a UMPC as well.
they cant be use in UMPC because the architecture of the processor is different (ARM vs. x86).
hmmmmmm, i bet this will play Doom.
I wanted to say "Finally, something not meant to be used to play Doom, actually being able to play doom" but k3nt beat me to posting a cliche.
Impressive!
High clock speed for a mobile chip and the inclusion of some GeForce graphics technology is especially welcome.
Anything that helps keep the user interface nice and snappy and the frame rates high on my mobile device is a very good thing :)
I wonder how much juice this sucks...
Good last point. I hope their cards' power needs are not also ported over.
I'm still waiting for an affordable pda phone with GPU and VGA screen
But you're John Titor. You should know this stuff. :D
720p video would be nice.... but 1080p is better....
Of course, there is not even a consumer camera that does actual 1080p yet, just one that de-interlaces.
or a smartphone display to show the content :)
yea but will it play doom?
Burri, Kill Helicopter!!!
just some information for those worried about battery consumption, this chip is actually going to increase battery life. it takes the strain off the regular processor from having to do tasks it is not efficient at.
read this: http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/12810/13834/Nvidia-demos-APX2500-graphics-chip.phtml