HTC looking to NVIDIA's Tegra platform for high-performance phones?

We've been waiting patiently since Tegra's announcement half a year ago for some seriously awesome Tegra-powered hardware (well, any hardware) to get unveiled, but so far, you could hear a pin drop -- we've gotten nothing. That should hopefully change in a big way in 2009, and at least one analyst is predicting that HTC will play a role in getting that mobile NVIDIA silicon into pockets around the world. There's no question that HTC's supposed leaked lineup contains devices that would fit well into Tegra's high-function, multimedia-heavy aspirations, but on the flipside, we've also got rumors that the company moving toward Ericsson chipsets. Tegra's definitely flashier than anything in Ericsson's stable, and HTC's big enough to pursue multiple chipset strategies at the same time -- they have with software platforms, after all -- so let's hope this high drama all resolves itself by MWC next month, eh?

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

[superhobo @ Jan 16th 2009 8:13AM]

Yes, please!
Dual recessed analog sticks, ok? Thanks.

[KR3 @ Jan 16th 2009 10:31AM]

it'll never happen ... they need to improve battery life before they go anywhere near upgrading the hardware... my diamond barely gets 2 hours out of it when browsing :-( wtf

[superhobo @ Jan 16th 2009 10:33AM]

Hopefully WinMo 7 will be as light and power-savering as Windows 7 is.

Or it could have a dedicated gaming OS, where the rest of the OS is shut down.

[superhobo @ Jan 16th 2009 10:48AM]

Aero on WinMo would be...kind of good, I guess....

[Ruben @ Jan 16th 2009 11:44AM]

"All-day media processing, for 130 hours audio, 30 hours HD video playback"

[Jinx @ Jan 16th 2009 12:57PM]

If battery life is such a problem you would think all these major corporations would have made something better.

[mscofield @ Jan 16th 2009 8:17AM]

A Tegra based phone at last, I hope so!
The video's of Tegra look very nice!

[ZSX @ Jan 16th 2009 8:21AM]

As the original article says, it is hard for phones to get 'better' without better processors. We already have WVGA sceens and 3.5G connections. Tegra is a significant jump up in terms of power for these handheld devices, but as usual it is battery life, cost and the OS which make the difference. I'm hoping Windows Mobile 7 lives up to its expectations.

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 16th 2009 8:26AM]

Articles on Tegra accelerate my HD.

And I'm not talking about high definition.

[VeganFreak @ Jan 16th 2009 8:41AM]

Hard drive? I'm most curious as to how that would increase the spindle speed.

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 16th 2009 8:42AM]

Oh, it's hard alright.

[Like_A_Glove @ Jan 16th 2009 9:06AM]

and D is for your reprodu.....

[Icchansan @ Jan 16th 2009 8:27AM]

when gonna be released this tegra phone? 2009? maybe july? XD

[Sheila @ Jan 16th 2009 8:47AM]

I'm waiting for a HTC Touch HD with Tegra to come to Sprint!

[T_Utech @ Jan 16th 2009 8:47AM]

Here's Hoping!

[Like_A_Glove @ Jan 16th 2009 9:09AM]

....... the year 209 turns out better than 208.

- Bush

[carnero @ Jan 16th 2009 8:47AM]

And what about drivers? GoForce 5500 has the same problems with drivers as Imageon in MSM7200-series by Qualcomm. Will be Tegra really implemented in high-performance devices?

[Ruben @ Jan 16th 2009 11:42AM]

They are not going to f**k around with this release.

Considering nVIDIA is hurting on their bread and butter, if they can get millions of Tegra chipsets sold, they can make up for the declining discrete market.

HTC as well. They could have gotten many more application writers to make games and apps with a lot of eye candy if all HTC phones had 3D acceleration, thus selling many more phones than they did (and they did very well. Imagine if they had handsets that could actually run killer apps). That didn't happen, which is why you only see a handful of good 3D apps on WinMo.

[conor @ Jan 16th 2009 8:48AM]

Nice! Nice! Very Nice!

[Mariano @ Jan 16th 2009 8:50AM]

You showed us the Asus G50 prototype with the Tegra based secondary computer that looked really amazing

[silver @ Jan 16th 2009 9:16AM]

It'll be awesome. Cant wait to stream HD movies off my tegra to a near by TV either by cable or Wifi (to xbox!?!). And the UI will be awesome too. Yay.

[Oli D @ Jan 16th 2009 11:09AM]

If they include a battery holder and sell this thing barebones then it will be a good buy, if its under £200.

Pico ITX was cute, but had no real power, it lacked certain things that were crucial for it ever taking off as a mobile unit.

[CLShortFuse @ Jan 16th 2009 11:15AM]

I hope HTC does. I'm sick and tired of this Qualcomm garbage. It's so slow on 2D and I don't think HTC is to blame with the drivers. Kaiser and HTC Touch Pro performance is laughable compared to 4 year old 200mhz PocketPCs

[Nadool @ Jan 16th 2009 7:35PM]

HTC does have some weak drivers for their devices. These devices should be able to process video a lot better than they do. They should also be able to support 3D apps better too. Those people that want to start a class-action against HTC for their lack of updated drivers have done some development and proved that more can be done with these devices. The difference in performance is quite staggering. Qualcomm knows what they're doing with the hardware. HTC needs to be schooled on how to implement it properly.

[aaron @ Jan 19th 2009 7:20PM]

Doesn't matter how good the hardware is underneath...if HTC doesn't support it with drivers these nvidia powered phones will suck just as bad as their qualcomm powered phones.

I've been less than happy with HTC for their total lack of support for the phone I bought. Not a single software update offered up, and it's not because the phone is perfect. I don't think I'll be buying another HTC product anytime soon.

I've got a nokia now that I'm pretty happy with. The quality is top notch. I'm happy with s60. I like it better than winmo anyway.

I think the phone of the future for me will be something running Android, not made by HTC.

[Karn Eggie @ Jan 16th 2009 11:17AM]

Engadget, I know you're a blog but you must, MUST learn how to read more carefully, the chipset from SE are RADIO related, for the actual PHONE aspect of these devices. Its more of a motherboard for the phone per se, and the terga processor is for the rest of the functionality of the phone.

in conclusion, they can be used jointly in a single device.

-- i need a job and can read and write good. seriously.

[Chris Ziegler @ Jan 16th 2009 11:29AM]

EMP is an ARM licensee and offers end-to-end solutions with application processors, not just the radio circuitry.

[zellbz @ Jan 16th 2009 11:38AM]

Hopefully the new HTC HD Pro dat iz supposed to come later this year might use these low powered high performance processors

[Karn Eggie @ Jan 16th 2009 11:32AM]

I stand corrected, my apologies.

[Lifo @ Jan 16th 2009 11:36AM]

Battery life on Tegra is very good. Much better than anything out there

[zelnuts @ Jan 16th 2009 11:58AM]

I so hyped about this but here iz a video of wat this chipset allows devices to put out........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKzKtRlcT4

[MikeWard1701 @ Jan 16th 2009 12:29PM]

Been hearing about this for so long, wondering when it would actually get implemented.
Can't Wait!

[keland444 @ Jan 16th 2009 3:55PM]

i really hope this is a go i would love to see something like this in my next htc phone along with some ultra capacity battery technology so we can have faster recharge times i don't think the whole batter problems would be a big issue if we could recharge complete in less then 30 minutes also implementing wireless charge would be a nice bonus while keeping the device at a reasonable size

dream big never know it could happen :-D

[snowglyder @ Jan 16th 2009 4:09PM]

ugh... Thank you Engadget. I had my heart set on the Pre, and now this. 2009 will be the year of the blue balls.

[neodorian @ Jan 16th 2009 6:20PM]

The phone code named "Whitestone" on the leaked HTC sheet looks just like the Tegra phone. I agree with snowglyder about the blue balls. I had given up on this thing after not seeing anything at CES. Still, it seems like lots of this next-gen mobile hardware is on the way between the OMAP chip in the Pre and this Tegra chipset. I assume Apple will put something similar in their later iPhone versions so maybe they will finally be able to handle multitasking and other full smartphone features.

This fall is a great time for me to be finishing a contract but it's gonna be tough to choose. A lot of it will end up coming down to software/OS.

[TareX @ Jan 16th 2009 8:23PM]

Tegra O Tegra, where art thou. THE MOST FREAKIN POWERFUL MOBILE THING EVER.

My guess is it will launch with Windows Mobile 7.

[SaltyDawg @ Jan 17th 2009 3:15AM]

I really hope the new HTC devices are running this Tegra system. It looks way too awesome in every imaginable way.

[Justin @ Jan 17th 2009 10:13AM]

that would be fucking amazing, i hope this happens