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ARM: 'Eagle' to follow Cortex-A9, will support Google TV
ARM kicked off the long list of Computex press conferences this morning, and though most of the time was spent giving us a history of mobile computing, ARM president Tudor Brown did shed a bit of light on future plans. When showing off the current family of ARM processors, we couldn't help but notice the next generation "Eagle" above the current Cortex-A9 platform. While Brown didn't share any specifics on the ARM v7-based chip, he did say that it will provide improved performance, and would be fully announced at "a later date." Also, when asked about supporting Google TV, Brown noted that it's in the works; he also said that with the company's recent Flash and Chrome browser support, they plan to optimize for the TV-based operating system. That's all we've got for now, but as you'd expect, the outfit brought along a load of ARM-based devices for showcasing, all of which you'll find in the gallery below. %Gallery-93929%
ST-Ericsson's U8500 brings dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 to the Android world
Can't get enough of hearing about implementations of ARM's Cortex-A9 MPCore processors? Good. ST-Ericsson's powerhouse U8500 system-on-chip has come a major step closer to appearing in mainstream devices with today's newly announced support for the Android operating system. Having optimized the OS to take advantage of Symmetric Multi Processing -- a method for extending battery life by sharing the load between the two processing cores and underclocking when necessary -- the partner company is now ready to start dropping these 1.2GHz dual-core beasts inside the next generation of smartphones. The claim is that you'll get all that additional power while sacrificing nothing, as devices based on the U8500 would maintain "the cost and power consumption characteristics of a traditional feature phone." We're promised built-in HDMI-out support, 1080p video recording, and 120 hours of audio playback or 12 hours of Full HD video off a 1,000mAh battery -- pledges we'd very much like to see fulfilled.
ARM planning three new Cortex CPUs, Eagle headed for smartphones
As if the Cortex-A9 isn't stirring up enough emotion all by itself, ARM revealed the roadmap for an even faster iteration of its Cortex-A series of chips during its earnings call a few days ago. Codenamed Eagle, the new processor is slated for a production run of 3 billion units annually, but alas this slide shares no more information on it beyond the intended market of smartphones, mobile computing, and digital TV products. (We've definitely heard that it'll be a 28nm multi-core part destined to ship around 2012, however.) There's also word of a pair of embedded chips, dubbed Heron and Merlin, which will find roles to perform in automotive and audio processing environments. Unsurprising that ARM isn't standing still, but we could've done with a little less mystery and a few more specs. [Thanks, Kamal]
ARM demos the Cortex-A9's web browsing skills on video
We've been hearing reports of the ARM Cortex-A9 holding its own with the ever-present 1.6GHz Atom processor for quite a while now, but ARM is now taking advantage of CES to do a bit more up-front boasting -- like this recently-posted video demoing the processor's browsing performance against an average netbook. While it's obviously not entirely scientific, the Cortex-A9 does seem to lag only slightly behind -- which is all the more impressive considering that the ARM is running at just 500MHz compared to the Atom's 1.6GHz. Equally impressive: ARM's fine taste in websites. Head on past the break for the video.
Direct Insight debuts SODIMM-sized, ARM-based computer-on-a-module
Well, it may not exactly be the computer everyone's been pining for, but those that have dreamed of an ARM Cortex-A8-based computer on a SODIMM module now finally one to call their own. That comes in the form of Direct Insight's new TRITON-TX51, which outdoes the Nokia N900 with an 800MHz Cortex-A8 processor, along with Freescale's i.MX515 system-on-a-chip, 128MB DDR400 RAM, 128MB of NAND flash, and a touchscreen controller that can drive screens at resolutions up to 1,280 x 768. You'll also get some other things nice to have on a computer like a 10/100 ethernet controller and a USB 2.0 interface, and even a reasonably capable PowerVR graphics engine that can do OpenGL ES 2.0 and hardware 720p decoding for MPEG-4/H264 video. Look for this one to land sometime next month for €150 (or just over $220).
Core Values: The silicon behind Android
Core Values is our new monthly column from Anand Shimpi, Editor-in-chief of AnandTech. With over a decade of experience poring over the latest in chip developments, he's here to explain how things work and why our tech is the way it is. Remember this chart? It's interesting for a number of reasons, but I want to highlight that all present day Android phones use virtually the same Qualcomm application processor, all based on a sluggish 528MHz ARM11 core. Blech. I've got nothing against Qualcomm, but a big reason most Android phones feel slow is because they're running on slow hardware. The ARM11 core was first announced in 2003. It's old and creaky, and it's used so frequently because it's cheap. But the basic rules of chip design mean that things are about to change fast.
Archos Android Phone Tablet introduced on video
We'd heard that Archos had teased an Android-based phone when it launched the new Archos 5 Internet Tablet, and now we have video proof. We don't speak French well enough to translate what's being said here (or, really, translate anything other than "le singe conduit l'autobus") but that spec sheet isn't too hard to figure out: we're looking at a 1GHz ARM Cortex processor under a 4.3-inch 854 x 480 screen in 10mm thin titanium casing with what looks like a front-facing camera. Yeah, not too shabby at all, especially considering Archos has that interesting media layer running on top of Android already -- let's hope we find out even more soon. Video after the break.[Thanks, Fernando]
Samsung R&D goes bananas for mobile, intros 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera-on-a-chip, much more
In a Samsung-esque introduction, Samsung has unveiled a crazy stack of tech for mobile devices, most of it aimed at improving performance in high-end devices while reducing power consumption -- an initiative we can always get behind. Among the introductions are a pair of 1GHz ARM CORTEX A8 processors, one for phones and one for larger mobile devices, the former of which can be paired with Samsung's new 1Gb OneDRAM solution, and both of which can churn through 3D graphics while keeping power usage to a minimum. Other highlights include a 5 megapixel CMOS system on a chip camera, which can process 1080p at 30 fps, a 512Mb PRAM chip newly in production, and a mobile display driver with integrated capacitive touchscreen support. With samples of the processors out in December, and the camera trickling into the market Q1 of next year, we probably have a ways to wait for devices based on all this tech -- but boy are we prepped for it. Read - 1GHz low power application processors Read - 5 megapixel camera Read - PRAM starts production Read - Ramped up OneDRAM production Read - Display driver IC with embedded capacitive control
Nokia following Booklet 3G with ARM-based smartbook in mid-2010?
Those semiconductor semi-gossipers at DigiTimes want you to know that Nokia's not stopping with the Booklet 3G and in fact has an ARM-based smartbook set for mass consumption in the middle of 2010. According to its sources, Espoo's in the process of settling with ODMs now, and the speculation is that it'll go to either Compal or Foxconn (a.k.a. Hon Hai Precision Industry). If all of this sounds familiar, that's because it is: we've heard multiple reports this year that suggested a smartbook / MID with either a multicore ARM Cortex A9 Sparrow chip or Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor. We're not discounting it, especially considering that netbook bit panned out, but mid-2010 is quite a ways off -- no telling when we'll be hearing anything else on the matter.
ARM debuts Sparrow multicore netbook processor
We've had our eyes peeled for ARM Cortex-based netbook news, and now among the action this week at MWC '09 we're getting our first look at Sparrow, a Cortex A9 processor aimed squarely at netbook manufacturers. This is a multi-core update to the Cortex A8 (processor of choice for the Palm Pre and Pandora), and it's been speculated that this could be the processor for the next generation iPhone, with "at least triple the computing power of the ARM11 processors found in the [current] iPhone and T-Mobile G1." Toshiba, Pegatron and Wistron are all said to be showing demos of their ARM-powered netbooks at the conference this year, with a company spokesman saying that Ubuntu for ARM will go public in April, with Sparrow phones coming to market sometime in 2010. Additionally, companies like Adobe, On2, and Symbian are said to be "tuning their apps to run on the latest cores from ARM" as we speak.[Via Gadget Mix, Mac Rumors]
