freescale
Latest
Wireless charging for tablets is finally coming next year
We're still waiting for the Rezence standard to bring wireless charging to laptops, but Freescale is taking a big step towards making that a reality. It just announced a new wireless product that's powerful enough to recharge tablets, portable medical devices, and other large gadgets. The 15-watt system, which should hit the market early next year, offers three times as much electrical power as Freescale's phone charging solution. It also plays nicely with other standards like the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi technology, VentureBeat reports. (Unfortunately, existing 5-watt devices won't get any upgrade from the 15-watt setup, FreeScale tells us.) If you've ever used a USB battery pack to recharge your gadgets, you've probably noticed that tablets typically need to be plugged into higher wattage USB ports to get juiced up. The same basic idea applies here. Increased power could also mean that tossing your phone on a wireless charger before you run out the door could actually be useful. After all, when charging your phone over a USB cable is three times faster, the minor convenience of wireless is a lot less compelling. [Photo: A Lumia phone on a Nokia wireless charging pad.]
AMD's new CEO has a background in mobile technology
It feels like just yesterday that AMD brought in Rory Read to turn around its ailing fortunes, but today there's another changing of the guard. The chip designer has announced that chief operating officer Lisa Su is its new CEO, effective immediately; Read will stick around as an advisor until the end of the year. The company isn't going into detail about the reasons behind the shift, but it does say that Read has been planning a succession with the board of directors. It's an "ideal time" for Su to take the reins, the board's Bruce Clafin says.
Freescale makes the world's smallest ARM controller chip even tinier
Apparently, Freescale didn't think the diminutive Kinetis KL02 was tiny enough -- it just unveiled the KL03, the new world's smallest ARM microcontroller. At 1.6mm by 2mm, the Cortex-M0+ chip is 15 percent smaller than its ancestor. That's miniscule enough to comfortably fit inside the dimple of a golf ball, folks. Despite the shrunken profile, it's both easier to program and more energy-efficient. The size isn't just for bragging rights, of course. Freescale sees the KL03 helping out the internet of things, where a fraction of a millimeter can make a big difference. Companies can't start using the chip in earnest until it enters full production this June, but it may lead to very compact smart appliances and wearables once it arrives.
Meet Utilite, a $99 quad-core ARM-based PC running Ubuntu
That box you see above? It's a quad-core ARM-based PC running Ubuntu called Utilite. The desktop system, made by Compulab, will be available next month starting at $99. While there are plenty of Android dongles built on ARM SoCs out there, few (if any) can truly offer a PC-like experience. The company -- best known for its Trim Slice, Fit-PC and MintBox products -- wants to change this. Utilite packs a single-, dual- or quad-core Freescale i.MX6 Cortex-A9 MPCore processor (up to 1.2 GHz), up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM (1066MHz), an mSATA SSD (up to 512GB), WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI and DVI-D outputs, two Gigabit Ethernet sockets, four USB 2.0 ports, one micro-USB OTG connector, audio jacks (analog and S/PDIF), a micro-SD XD slot and two ultra-mini RS232 interfaces -- phew! Rounding things up is support for OpenGL ES, OpenVG and OpenCL EP plus multi-stream 1080p H.264 on-chip decoding. All this fits in a chassis mesuring just 5.3 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches (135 x 100 x 21mm) and only consumes 3-8W using a 10-16V supply (unregulated). Those are impressive specs for the price, and the system sure looks positioned to compete favorably with some of the x86 boxes out there.
Freescale fashions world's smallest ARM-powered microcontroller
If you're looking for an exceedingly tiny ARM-based microcontroller, Freescale says it's just cooked up the world's smallest. Dubbed the Kinetis KL02, the piece of kit is 25 precent smaller than the previous record-holder and measures up at a 1.9 x 2.00 x 0.56 millimeters. Having trouble visualizing exactly how small that is? Just take a gander at the photo above. A 48 MHz ARM Cortex-M0+ processor has made it onto the wafer-level chip-scale package and it's paired with 32KB of flash memory and 4KB of RAM. The outfit reckons it'll be a good match for 'internet of things' devices that are tight on space, and says it beats its older L Series kin in power efficiency. Manufacturer sampling for the KL02 is slated for March, while wide availability is penciled in for July, and it'll set buyers back 75 cents a piece when purchased in 100,000-unit loads. Hit the jump for more details in the press release.
Ca-Fi Dashlinq upsizes in-car Android infotainment, arrives in January
There may be a size war brewing among Android-based infotainment system builders. Ca-Fi thought it was sitting pretty with its 6.2-inch unit earlier this year, but we're starting to think it was rankled by similarly-sized devices like Parrot's Asteroid Smart -- that would help explain its upcoming, 7-inch Dashlinq. Along with one-upping a nemesis, the double-DIN system brings multitouch zoom to a heavily customized (if slightly creaky) Android 2.3 interface. Otherwise, we're looking at a familiar, if fairly sophisticated approach: there's a dedicated media DSP, GPS navigation, an SD card slot for local content and internet access through 3G or WiFi. Ca-Fi expects the Dashlinq to arrive in January for €499 ($657), at which point we hope there's at least a momentary truce in the battle for the car's center stack.
Hands-on with Kobo's Glo and Mini e-readers (video)
Earlier today we had a nice sit-down with Kobo, where we got some quality hands-on time with the company's Arc Android tablet. As you can imagine, that was the marquee product on display, but we also had the chance to handle the outfit's newest e-readers: the Glo ComfortLight, which has built-in frontlighting, and the Mini, which is exactly what it sounds like. Both will be available October 1st, with the 6-inch Glo going for $129 and the 5-inch Mini priced at $79. Neither will have ads, which might be one of the biggest differentiators between these and some of Amazon's offerings. If you're short on time, we've got some hands-on photos below, but if you've got a few minutes to spare, a walk-through video awaits after the break.
Freescale's new industrial touchscreen tech even works in the rain
Freescale is announcing a new industrial touch sensing technology that'll even sense your swipes and prods through a film of water. Xtrinsic 3.0 is designed to be used in industrial, medical and in-car systems, with pre-built user interfaces ready to be added to any device its jammed inside. In addition to being able to work through water, it can withstand noise, detect electrical interference and reduce false touches. It's being demonstrated at the company's technology forum in India from today, presumably ready to be licensed by passing equipment manufacturers in short order.
Rambus planning appeal after losing ITC patent case against LSI and STMicroelectronics
Rambus has lost the ITC dispute it filed with most of the electronics industry back in the day. Only LSI and STMicroelectronics remained as respondents after the company negotiated settlements with Freescale, Broadcom, MediaTek and NVIDIA. In its decision, the court found that some of the patents were unenforceable, while others ceased to be under the "clean hands" doctrine because Rambus had allegedly destroyed relevant documents. Company general counsel, Thomas Lavelle, has said in a statement that its next move might be to make an appeal to the Federal Circuit -- where it's hoping for better luck.
VIA makes its first ARM-based Pico-ITX board, adds dual graphics for your in-car pleasure
VIA has only ever really had a dalliance with ARM; the VAB-800 might be a sign that it's willing to go steady for awhile. As the company's first Pico-ITX board with an ARM chip, the 800 stuffs up to a 1GHz, Freescale-made ARM Cortex-A8 and 1GB of RAM into a tiny, 3.9 x 2.8-inch board. Somehow, it still fits up to four USB 2.0 ports, mini HDMI, VGA and as much as 64GB of storage. The board's real tricks are its dual integrated graphics processors: the VAB-800 can independently steer two displays, just in case your in-car infotainment system can't be contained by merely one screen. You'll likely have to be a car designer or an industrial device maker to make an order, although the 5W power draw and support for Android, Ubuntu Linux and Windows Embedded Compact 7 should soon see the VAB-800 crammed into logic-defying spaces everywhere.
Kinetis L Series MCUs use ARM Cortex-MO+ to sip least power, cost 49 cents each per 10K order
Freescale aims to drag 8- and 16-bit manufacturing into the modern era with a 32-bit MCU that's cheaper than a cup o' Joe. The ARM Cortex-MO+ based Kinesis L series MCU is now available in alpha to interested parties, it's capable of sipping a scant 50 µA/MHz of power and will cost just $0.49 when you buy 'em in lots of 10,000. While the cheap chips will no doubt go on to help power the internet of things, the associated debut of a $12.95 development board coming in August will also be a boon to developers and hobbyists. The platform will allow "quick application prototyping and demonstration" according to the company, and provide a GUI tool for generating start-up code and device drivers. So, if you've gotta have that new beer dispenser mock-up running at a full 32-bits, check the PR after the break.
Toshiba mystifies tablet-buying world with LT170 'budget' 7-incher
We'll be the first to admit that we don't understand Toshiba's tablet intentions. There are plenty of tantalizing prototypes and an abundance of confusingly branded models, but there's no overarching reason to pay much attention. The LT170 is a case in point: it's nominally a budget Android device, with a Freescale 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM and 8GB internal storage, but by now the €299 ($400) asking price could pick up something far, far nicer, like the heavily discounted 16GB HTC Flyer or 32GB BlackBerry PlayBook. Anyway, there it is. Bewilderment.
Freescale Home Health Hub wants to usher in the era of connected medical devices
Freescale has its little silicon hands in all sorts of things: e-readers, smartphones, tablets, even refrigerators. Now the manufacturer is looking to make a dent in the healthcare industry with a connected platform called Home Health Hub (HHH). The i.MX28-based HHH isn't an actual product, but a reference platform for others to build on. The ARM9 processor is connected to a host of networking interfaces, including WiFi, Bluetooth (as well as its low-power implementation), Zigbee, sub-1GHz and Ethernet. The Hub is supposed to be just that, a central point for connecting various medical devices like blood pressure monitors or glucometers that then feeds data to a tablet. Developers and other interested parties can get their hands on the reference platform from Digi International as the iDigi Telehealth Application Kit for $499. Check out the full PR after the break.
Freescale joins ARM A5 and M4 cores at the hip for performance and power savings
You may have noticed a trend recently -- pairing slightly less powerful cores that sip power, with more robust ones that can chug through demanding applications. NVIDIA's Tegra 3 will be packing an underclocked fifth core, while ARM's big.LITTLE initiative matches a highly efficient 28nm A7 with the beefy A15. Now Freescale is planning to use the same trick, but you won't find its asymmetrical CPUs in your next tablet or smartphone. Its platform, which marries a Cortex M4 to a Cortex A5, isn't meant to compete with the latest Snapdragon. These chips will find homes in factories and in-dash infotainment systems which have increasingly sophisticated UIs, but don't need to push thousands of polygons. Software development tools will land before this quarter is out and the first batch of silicon will be announced in Q1 of 2012. Looks like the era of "dual-core" meaning two identical cores has officially come to an end.
Freescale expands its family of i.MX50 chips, goes beyond e-readers this time
We had a feeling that Freescale was onto something when it debuted the i.MX508, a system-on-a-chip that carried the promise of $150 e-readers (and the reality of $129 ones). Given that, we can see where the execs at Freescale would be feeling a bit heady, and might wonder where else they could help push down prices. That's exactly what we have here: the outfit is trotting out three new i.MX50 processors and, as you can see in that handy chart up there, they all sit even lower in the lineup than the low-cost i.MX508. Like the i.MX508, they all pack an 800HMz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, among other similar specs. The new i.MX507, in particular, resembles the i.MX508 in that it's designed to work with E Ink displays, though it lacks graphics acceleration, and Freescale imagines it'll instead find a home in outdoor signs and smart labels. Moving on down the line, the i.MX502 and the i.MX503 were both intended for devices with LCD -- not electronic paper -- displays, with the latter offering OpenVG graphics acceleration. If Freescale's predictions are on the money, you'll find the lower-end i.MX502 in DECT phones and vending machine displays, and the i.MX503 in personal navigators and medical monitoring tablets, among other use cases. For now, companies are sampling the chips, but they'll start shipping later this quarter for a song -- less than $10 for the i.MX502 at volume cost. Full PR after the break, and lots more technical details at the source link.
iriver Story HD e-reader preview (video)
Our trailer was just visited by an iriver rep bearing his company's Kindle killer in waiting, the Story HD. This 6-inch e-reader touts a bodacious 1024 x 768 resolution, which contributes to an even better contrast ratio than on Amazon's E Ink slate, while software optimizations between now and release are expected to make the Story HD the fastest-refreshing device of its kind. The display itself is built by LG Display and is accompanied by a Freescale Cortex A8 CPU, 2GB of onboard storage, and an SDHC card-reading slot. Sun rays are, as expected, absolutely no problem and we have to admit that on first sight we thought the device had a sticker affixed to its front -- its that good at reproducing printed materials. Physically, it seems to have been constructed with the third-gen Kindle as its dimensional blueprint, albeit with quite a different control scheme. The hand-built proto unit we played with wasn't really ready to have its ergonomics judged properly, but iriver has plenty of time until the expected May launch to iron out any kinks. Content distribution partnerships have already been sewn up for the US, so now it's just a matter of patience until we get our e-reading on in gorgeous XGA resolution. Video hands-on after the break. %Gallery-113350% %Gallery-113351%
Freescale announces i.MX 6 processor series, wants quad cores in your smartphone
Power. We need more. More for streaming video, more for playing games, and more just so that we can say we have it. Freescale hears us, and it's delivering the i.MX 6 series of mobile processors offering up to four ARM Cortex A9 cores at 1.2GHz each. That's plenty for 3D rendering on your car infotainment system, music-making on your smartphone, maybe a little SETI action on your next smart refrigerator. Even 1080p30 video encoding is a said to be within these chips' reach. i.MX 6 processors will be available in one, two, or four core configurations with up to 1MB of L2 cache. HDMI 1.4 support is onboard, along with gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0, but sadly not 3.0. It seems there's always something to look forward to in the next revision, but that could be quite a wait with i.MX 6 sampling not set to begin until "later this year."
Rambus files ITC complaint against just about everyone, wants to stop sale of just about everything
Rambus, which modestly describes itself as "one of the world's premier technology licensing companies," has meekly asked the International Trade Commission to block import and sale of an amazing array of products from companies including Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek, NVIDIA, and STMicroelectronics -- the latter of which was sued by Caltech only yesterday. But wait, there's more! Rambus also indicates that other "companies whose products incorporate the accused semiconductor products" have also been named, selling things like "personal computers, workstations, servers, routers, mobile phones and other handheld devices, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, motherboards, plug-in cards, hard drives and modems." That should just about cover 95% of what's available at your local electronics store, and certainly puts our holiday wish lists in legal limbo.This is a follow-up to earlier disputes involving the company, particularly with NVIDIA, which will continue via patent infringement lawsuits filed in US District Court against those corporate entities mentioned above. Beyond that, Rambus is hoping that the ITC stops import and sale of any and all infringing products post-haste. That seems awfully drastic, but for its part Rambus indicates it has been trying with all its might to negotiate licenses with these supposedly dirty dealers and that it was told "the only way they would get serious is if we sued them." So, place your bets because here we go.[Thanks, Antonio]
Infinity I-Kitchen sports Linux-based touch screen computer, kitchen sink still not included
We've seen ridiculous fridge concepts from Electrolux before and covered Linux running on all types of gadgets, so it's only natural that the OS has found its way into an icebox developed by Electrolux's Brazilian subsidiary in partnership with ProFusion Embedded Systems. Dubbed the Infinity I-Kitchen, it sports a Linux-based 800 x 480 touchscreen computer built around a 400Mhz Freescale i.MX25 SoC -- which itself is based on 400MHz ARM926EJ-S core and already used in some automotive systems. The touch UI was developed by the open source organization Enlightenment Foundation Libraries and allows users to control a variety of fridge functions like internal temperature in addition to running apps for notes, calendars, contacts, photos, and recipes. All of the particular open source code modifications developed for the fridge have also been shared back with the community in Tux-approved fashion and will soon be posted to Electrolux's site too. Unfortunately, there's no mention however of features like internet connectivity (WiFi or otherwise), USB ports, or SD Card slots being on the appliance. Likewise, details on pricing or availability are also unknown, so your iPhone can hold off on making those the jealousy-fueled fat jokes for now.
Lumigon T1 with ICEpower amplifiers officially unveiled, to arrive 'by the very end of this year'
Just as promised, Denmark-based Lumigon has finally lifted the curtains over its much hyped T1 Android handset. Specs include an 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 chipset with an optional Qualcomm HSDPA modem, along with a 3.5-inch 480 x 800 capacitive touchscreen LCD, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, A-GPS, Bluetooth and FM radio. What the Scandinavian company's really selling here, though, is the phone's multimedia features: not only does it have a FM transmitter, a HDMI dock and Bang & Olufsen's renowned ICEpower audio amplifiers, but it also doubles up as an "innovative" universal remote control for your various AV devices -- pretty unique for an Android device, we'll give you that. Interestingly, the press release omits any mention of Froyo, so here's a glimmer of hope that Lumigon will manage to skin whatever the latest version of Android will be in time for the launch -- a few lucky outlets will receive the phones "by the very end of this year," just in time for your Christmas refunds. Oh, and remember the sister handset S1? We're now told that this T9 slider won't be out until Q3 2011. Sometimes it's better to take one step at a time, eh?%Gallery-105684%