Mobile Momentum

A first taste of Éclair on Droid

2009-10-28T19:56:00Z

As my colleague Brian Carlson touched on in his blog post, Motorola's Droid launch marks a huge milestone for the mobile industry. As the first device based on Android 2.0 (Éclair), Droid is a testament to how far the mobile market has progressed with open source solutions.

I've been using Motorola's Droid for a few weeks now and am impressed with the advancments in the mobile user experience. These enhancements - such as the social networking and sync integration - are due in large part to the new features available with the Android 2.0 release. More than any specific feature, however, the radical improvement in overall responsivness and performance of the platform has changed the way I use Android, and the OMAP^TM 3 processor benefit to Android is salient.

As a Marketplace addict, I am routinely keep between 10-15 service applications running to sync with facebook, twitter, and multiiple gmail and IM accounts to ensure that I am the first to know if one of my friends is compelled to share a random, but apparantly pressing, thought. This level of multitasking rendered previous Android phones nearly unusable. If you disagree, just try adding corporate mail via activesync into the mix. I'm running this same profile of applications and more on Droid without sacrificing core performance or limiting the range I roam from my wall charger.

Supporting capabilities like advanced media processing and next generation 3D graphics, the OMAP 3 processor is optimized to address Android 2.0's unique features and enhance its capabilities. The two work together as a tight-knit team to support the features that consumers crave most on mobile devices: High quality video from YouTube, multitasking social networking integration, a more intuitive and attractive user interface, enhanced quality imaging...the list goes on.

We're excited to be a part of Android's continued advancements in the market, and to lend our support to continued open source milestones. In your dreams of electronic sheep, what will Android do next with more processing power?

A big Texas “congrats” to Motorola on their Droid Launch!

2009-10-28T16:12:00Z

Our TI team would like to congratulate our friends at Motorola on today's official Droid launch. We're thrilled to be a part of this game-changing device, which BoyGeniusReport called "the most advanced Android device on the market as far as specifications go." Packed with top-notch technologies, Droid promises a new world of speed, performance and connections for the world's mobile consumers. We're especially proud of the TI chips helping Droid fulfill these promises:

OMAP3430 processor produces intense performance: As Engadget's Chris Ziegler highlighted, "Android 2.0 [Éclair] clips along at a nice pace thanks to an OMAP 3 core." And, Android 2.0 is not the only Droid component that benefits from our proven OMAP^TM architecture. The included OMAP3430 processor runs Droid's applications at lightening speed, supports multitasking capabilities and preserves battery power. Built with solid a solid ARM® Cortex^TM-A8 foundation, OMAP 3 processors stand out from the crowd of ARM-based processors by providing an optimal balance of CPU and multimedia performance along with extended battery life enabled by our SmartReflex^TM power and performance management technologies. These benefits shine on the Droid.
WiLink^TM 6.0 solution connects the dots: OMAP processing power pairs with connectivity support from our WiLink 6.0 solution to bring the Droid's interactive features to life. A single-chip mobile WLAN, Bluetooth® and FM solution, the WiLink 6.0 product makes quick connections, rich data transfers and other connected applications a snap to use on the Droid. What does this mean for consumers? Speedy new ways to stay in touch, update social media sites, share content and more. The WiLink solution's highly-sensitive coexist capabilities ensure robust connections that are best suited for each situation too, whether via Bluetooth or WLAN. Talk about smart!

Overall, the Droid is an impressive milestone that shows how industry leaders are not just dreaming up great new ideas - they're delivering them for consumers to enjoy first hand.

What makes you excited about this reality? Let us know what you think by posting a comment here, or connecting with us on Twitter: @TXInstruments.

ARM Techcon3 - Showcasing ARM and TI Success and Providing a Glimpse into the Mobile Future

2009-10-24T14:16:00Z

I always enjoy attending ARM’s annual technology conference (now called Techcon³) to meet with the community of key technology providers that drive today’s hottest new products and will help enable our mobile future.

The “cubed” in Techcon³ refers to focus in three key areas including “Energy Efficiency”, “Internet Everywhere" and “MCU and Tools”. Some of the key topics that really stood out during this conference were addressing the drive for higher, energy-efficient performance, emerging internet and web browsing technologies, the tremendous value and success of Cortex-M3 microcontrollers, innovations in user interfaces and more sophisticated development tools.

Glimpses of the mobile future included a drive to 28/32 nm process technologies, multi-core ARM / SMP, high-performance graphics, a future revolution in mobile memory technologies that bring tremendous bandwidth at manageable power levels, momentum of hypervisor solutions and the enabling of lower-tier handsets with the new Cortex-A5 core.

TI had a strong presence at this conference, announcing over 30 new ARM devices with the expansion of our Stellaris product line and introducing our new Sitara product line , presenting papers and product updates, participating in panels and showcasing the some of the latest products based on TI devices. Many of the ARM partners also showcased their technologies on TI platforms such as the very popular OMAP Beagleboard and EVMs – so TI products were very prominent reflecting our strong ecosystem support.

Did you know that TI is the leading ARM silicon partner, delivering over 5 billion chips ARM-based products out of a total 15 billion ARM shipments? This amazing fact helps drive home the power of the TI-ARM relationship and the connected community that helps us offer the broadest range of ARM-based products from $1 to over 1 GHz, along with an impressive list of TI first-to-market successes with ARM technologies.

If you didn’t attend the show, I recommend you check it out and consider for next year. It really provides a good perspective on where the industry is going with focus on the most pertinent topics that will help drive our mobile future. You also get to see and play with a broad range of the latest

ARM-based gadgets which is always fun!

ARM technologies: Resting at the heart of our favorite devices

2009-10-21T22:03:00Z

As consumers, you and I both realize that high-tech devices – from smartphones to heart monitors – continue to revitalize the way we interact with the world, share information, capture memories and experience life. With each technological milestone, engineers and manufacturers alike continue to push the innovation envelope to keep products unique and differentiated. ARM® technologies spur that innovation, and rest at the heart of so many devices that we rely on each day.

This is the focus of the ARM TechCon 3 event, happing this week in Santa Clara. If you are at the show, swing by Ballroom G tomorrow, October 22, at 2:00 PM Pacific to hear about how ARM technologies help designers achieve the scalability, software availability and product differentiation necessary to “wow” our senses and keep us fully connected. The below-listed panelists – Will, Jean, Gene and Tom – will examine how ARM technologies meet market needs today and provide a foundation for future support with high-performance, low-power solutions that drive various markets forward. They’ll answer questions after the session, and would also love to hear about how ARM technology-based solutions help you win. If you’re not at the show, we still want to hear from you. Comment here or send @TXInstruments a Tweet to let us know how ARM solutions help you succeed!

ARM TechCon 3 panel: “Meeting your goals and solving design challenges with ARM technologies”

Date/Time: October 22, 2009 @ 2:00 PM Pacific
Location: Ballroom G, Santa Clara Convention Center
Panelists:
Will Tu, embedded segment market manager with ARM
Jean Anne Booth, worldwide director, Stellaris® MCU marketing and customer-facing engineering with TI
Gene Frantz, TI futurist and principal fellow
Tom Starnes, chief analyst with Objective Analysis (moderator)

Posted by Missy Haddad, GolinHarris Dallas

Working towards easier, speedier mobile content delivery

2009-10-15T18:38:00Z

Yesterday, the WiFi Alliance introduced WiFi Direct™, the name for its peer-to-peer technology. Though the specification is nearing completion, we can begin to imagine how such an offering will impact consumers’ interactions with each other and with data. Imagine being able to easily share photos of your summer vacation with your friends – all via a direct WiFi connection on your mobile device. The industry is getting closer to making these real-life capabilities.

While WiFi Direct may still be in development, the excitement and promise for this technology continues to grow. TI continues to support the latest mobile wireless LAN specifications in our WiLink™ products and will have our WiLink™ 6.0 certified to the new specification when it is ready in mid 2010. We look forward to seeing the new and unique use cases that will emerge with the availability of this technology.

Modules - Driving Innovations and Mobile Momentum

2009-10-13T23:08:00Z

We recently blogged about how Dell enabled their Latitude ON "instant access" feature for laptops by leveraging the Texas Instruments OMAP3430 system-on-a-chip. The Dell approach was based on a "system on a system" modular approach to provide the ultra-low power, high-performance of the OMAP3430 mobile processor. You can see the Dell ON module featuring the TI OMAP device at 1:14 minutes into this video.

A modular design approach offers many advantages to product designers such as faster time-to-market, lower cost printed circuit board (PCB), lower cost manufacturing and ease of upgrades for customers. The complexity is managed by the module, and the product designer only has to focus on the external interfaces.

You can leverage OMAP modules from a several vendors to go to market quickly with OMAP 3 technology. These vendors offer a variety of sizes and features, so you can choose one that best fits your application.

One of recent OMAP modules that is notable for mobile designs that are space-constrained is the Logic OMAP35x Torpedo SOM. This dime-sized module could quite possibly be the smallest, most powerful computer in the world!

Links to some of the OMAP 3 modules available from other vendors is below. Various names are used to refer to these products such as "system-on-module" and "computer-on-module". Please comment if there are others, as this list will continue to grow along with the strong industry momentum of OMAP 3 processors.

Modules like these will enable many new, innovative products that will continue the mobile device momentum.

Direct Insight SwiftModule-OM

gumstix Overo Earth

Logic OMAP35x Torpedo SOM

Magniel OMAP-Mod

Variscite VAR-OM35xxSBC

NOTE: The product names used in this post are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Any web site you visit by a link from this site is solely the responsibility of the other party providing the site.

Thoughts from CTIA IT: Changing lives and upping the ante

2009-10-13T15:32:00Z

I had the pleasure of traveling to San Diego with TI’s Seshu Madhavapeddy for CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment last week, and it was quite a trip. We spent all of Thursday at the exhibit hall, exploring company booths, listening to key notes, and speaking with some of our great media and analyst friends – including RCR Wireless, iSuppli, Unstrung, IDC, CCS Insight, PC Mag, and more.

As mentioned in a previous post, Seshu also participated in a smartphone panel at the show (above picture), together with executives from IDC, Qualcomm, HTC, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung. I’m sure you can imagine just by this list that the discussion was extremely dynamic and chalk full of enlightening tid bits. Here are some key points – among others – that really got the panelists and audience going:

There isn’t an “all-in-one” answer for any mobile components – people want devices that fit their personal needs
Lines between smartphones and feature phones are blurred – today’s features will migrate to lower-tier markets, and tomorrow’s will lead the next iteration
A big ecosystem is important, and it’s the rich base of developers that keeps things ticking
Processing power is a key, but not without the “golden rule” – power
Industry needs to continue fueling a transparent Internet experience
“Mobile” is the business of bringing the wisdom of man – from knowledge to content to communication and beyond – right to the palm of your hand
People in emerging markets are experiencing life through a whole new lens, thanks to mobile phones
Going “green” is everyone’s job [Fun fact: Nokia now uses 12,000 less trucks to ship end products because of tighter packaging]

After listening to the executives exchange perspectives on these and other topics, I couldn’t help but reenter the main show hall with a different mindset – one in which I noticed more than ever how truly revolutionary our mobile world is. The show floor was full of professional consumers snacking on mobile content – checking calendars, snapping pictures, breezing through top news stories, typing another email. More importantly though, it was full of the people and companies that make the above-listed trends and topics come to life. As Dan Jones wrote in an Unstrung post, TI’s OMAP processors – combined with the company’s full arsenal of other semi components – play a huge part in this revolution, and “the next generation of chips will up the ante.” What a thrilling adventure to play a part in.

Were you at CTIA this year? If so, post a comment here and let us know what you thought!

Posted by Missy Haddad, GolinHarris

Flash 10 moves to the mobile environment

2009-10-08T22:06:00Z

This week we've seen a number of unique and exciting things relative to the evolving mobile user experience. Most notable is an announcement from Adobe making Flash 10 available in the mobile environment. This version for flash was initially released for the PC/x86 architecture, but now is available in the mobile environment. With this announcement, Flash 10 capabilities are available on a range of ARM processors, everything from ARM11 and beyond, including the ARM Cortex-A8.

TI has been supporting Flash technology for some time, delivering Flash 9 support on the Nokia N800 series. Earlier this year, TI announced plans to support Flash 10 and we are now delivering on this promise. In addition to enable Flash 10 on the OMAP platform, TI will also enable hardware acceleration of video and graphics.

Adobe demonstrated the first mobile Flash 10 experience on a Palm Pre running on an OMAP 3 processor, showing how the user experience will change when consumers have access to full Flash content. In addition, Adobe also demonstrated Flash 10 on the Nokia N900, which also uses the OMAP 3 processor. While the initial N900 products will support Flash 9.4, Flash 10 support will be available via software update in 2010.

We are very excited to see full Flash support entering the mobile environment. With this capability, the Flash experience on a PC will be identical to that of a mobile device. As an added benefit, these new devices not only get the full Flash experience, but they will also deliver the power advantages for which ARM is known!

Making your phone do more

2009-10-06T17:57:00Z

A good friend of mine used to work for a company who manufactures Hefty products. One night she asked, 'what would make our trash bags better?' While the conversation ended with each bag coming with a man who would take out the trash - a not so serious recommendation - the question was a serious one. What else do you want your product to do? At TI we are focused on bringing more capabilities to devices - whether its multimedia, connectivity, more performance or lower power - we have the solutions that are making our handsets even more of a life line than they were years ago.

We continue to pack these devices with consumer electronics quality features. Reiterating this trend, today we announced two new products to our OMAP-DM coprocessor product line, which now supports up to 20MP imaging and 720p camcorder capabilities. The imaging and video features are getting close to those that are available in standalone products today, and we believe this convergence will only increase in the future.

Seshu Madhavapeddy will comment on this trend and others during a CTIA IT & Entertainment panel later this week. The "Smartphone - The Impact of a Fully Functional Device" panel will be held on Thursday, October 8 at 1:00 PM Pacific and will include representatives from In-Stat, HTC, Nokia and Motorola. Seshu will discuss the importance of a system solution as handset manufacturers strive to do more with their mobile devices. Swing by if you're at the show - we'd love to see you.

Will my handset ever take out my trash? Probably not; but it does allow me to get trash pick-up times online.

A new Window of opportunity: Congrats, Microsoft!

2009-10-06T17:41:00Z

We at TI would like to congratulate Microsoft on the introduction of the new devices based on Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system (OS). We are excited by the capabilities of Windows Mobile 6.5 and how they will advance the user experience. With this latest version, consumers will have a dashboard-like experience with quick access to favorite applications, and an improved user interface for a better Smartphone experience. If you combine Windows Mobile 6.5 with our OMAP platform, the possibilities for sweet new application experiences only increase as OMAP capabilities are fully utilized on the latest OS iteration. TI is fully committed to supporting the Windows Mobile roadmap, including Windows Mobile 6.5, and we look forward to the new and innovative devices that will be built on this platform. Congratulations again!