Texas Instruments intros the OMAP 4 mobile platform
Texas Instruments has today detailed its fourth generation OMAP platform which is set on powering next-generation smartphones and MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). Claimed to bring a change in the way we watch and interact with mobile devices, OMAP 4 is expected to enable the manufacturing and release of the first-ever "touchless gesture-recognition" and "3D-HD" (three-dimensional, high definition) handhelds.
OMAP 4 comes with multiple display support, can do 720p 30fps stereoscopic 3D video record and playback, includes the M-Shield mobile security technology, SmartReflex 2 power saving features, and makes use of the new 45nm-built OMAP4430 and OMAP4440 applications processors boasting dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 chips clocked at up to 720 MHz and 1+ GHz, respectively. The SoCs also have a POWERVR SGX540 graphics core providing support for OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenVG 1.1 and EGL 1.3.
"TI envisions a near-term mobile future that will be vastly different than today's mobile environment," said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of TI's OMAP Platform Business Unit. "Similar to how the touchscreen changed the way we interact with our devices, touchless gesturing and 3D-HD mobile capabilities will take experiences to the next level and radically change how we connect to our devices and the things around us. TI is excited to play a key role with our customers in this revolution."
The OMAP 4 platform is currently sampling and should become available in actual devices within the next 12 months.
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Microsoft reveals Windows Phone 7 Series
After Symbian, it's time for Microsoft's mobile platform to be revamped too, and that will happen with the Windows Phone 7 Series announced today in Barcelona (at the Mobile World Congress). Microsoft's new mobile solution leaps ahead of its predecessors thanks to a reworked interface that features Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and a design philosophy that's aimed for 'life in motion'.
"Today, I'm proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people's lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences."
Windows Phone 7 Series devices come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, which enables quick access to search, maps, and pretty much everyone online, and presents the user with several hubs that bring together personally-relevant content from web, services, and applications. The hubs included by Microsoft are the following:
- People - from thus hub the user can check out live feeds from social networks and photos, and can access his/her online profiles to post updates.
- Pictures - from here you can share pictures and video to a social network in one step.
- Games - this hub gives access to the games loaded and enables people to log into their Xbox LIVE account.
- Music + Video - here you can access the FM radio, video player, music player, online music services, and Zune Social.
- Marketplace - search and install (buy) apps and games.
- Office - access Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place so you can easily read, edit and share documents.
Microsoft has announced Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm as hardware partners for Windows Phone 7 Series and said that the first phones to make use of the new platform will be released in time for the holiday season.
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Symbian^3 unveiled, beating Windows Phone 7 to the market
The open saucy Symbian Foundation has today officially announced the Symbian^3 mobile platform, making the relatively long-awaited rebirth of the (still) popular OS. Set to be feature complete by the end of this quarter, S^3 comes with a heap of updates, from a revamped interface, to a new 2D and 3D graphics architecture, faster networking, improved efficient memory management, HDMI, multi-touch gesture support, music store integration, simultaneously-running apps, and more.
"S^3 is another huge milestone in the evolution of our platform. Now that it is fully open source, the door is open to individual contributors, device creators and third-party developer companies, as well as other organizations, to create more compelling products and services than ever before," said Lee M. Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. "We have enjoyed significant momentum since we completed S^2, with companies including Sun, Nokia, Ixonos, Comarch and Accenture, among others, contributing to S^3. We are now looking to build on this momentum and remain on course to complete S^4 later this year."
Symbian^3 adoption is expected to be pretty fast, with the first phones to feature it expected to arrive as soon as Q3.
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Samsung brings LTE-supporting netbook to MWC 2010
Samsung is one of the busiest bees at the Mobile World Congress, having phones, chips, and more netbooks to show of for our delight. One of the highlight of the South Korean company's stay in Barcelona is the demonstration of the N150, the first netbook to feature a built-in LTE (Long Term Evolution) modem, enabling high transfer speed over the air in zones the the standard is 'live'.
In addition to LTE support, the 1.24kg N150 features a 10.1-inch (1024x600) LED-backlit screen, a 1.66 GHz Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB/250GB hard drive, GMA 3150 graphics, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 3-in-1 card reader.
Samsung's netbook has a battery life of up to 8.5 hours and will be able to run Windows XP, Windows 7 Starter or Windows 7 Home Basic. The N150 is expected to start selling with an LTE modem "according to service schedule and market demand."
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Nokia's latest Ovi Maps version passes 3 million downloads
Free walk and drive navigation is certainly something that people all around the world want and proof of that comes from Nokia which revealed that its Ovi Maps software has surpassed 3 million downloads. Introduced less than a month ago, the 'new' Ovi Maps provides navigation in 74 countries and 46 languages, enabling mobile users to quickly and easily find their way around.
The Finnish company said that the Nokia 5800 XM is the most popular device loaded up with Ovi Maps, while the top countries by usage are (in order) China, Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain. If the current download rate continues than the 4 million mark will be reached next week so, congrats to Nokia.
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Samsung to use Mali graphics for upcoming CE chips
Samsung Electronics has proudly announced today that it has licensed the ARM Mali graphics processor architecture and will utilize it for future system-on-chip (SoC) ICs that will find their way into phones, other types of consumer electronics, and in-car navigation systems.
"We are happy to extend our ongoing partnership with ARM. The close coupling of both the mobile computing and the graphics processor technologies will provide optimized system performance throughout our vast line-up of popular semiconductor solutions," said Chinhyun Kim, vice president, System LSI SOC Development, Samsung Electronics. "
"The ARM Mali architecture will bring greater opportunities to the mobile market segment especially as advanced graphics solutions are expected to be in high demand for the high-performance multimedia and visual experience."
Samsung is planning to start sampling its first Mali GPU-based SoC solutions for mobile devices in Q3.
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Kingston rolls out Class 10 16GB microSDHC card
For those who need both speed and high capacity from their microSD card, Kingston Digital has developed a microSD boasting 16GB of space, that's capable of transfer speed of at least 10 MB/s. The new Class 10 card is compliant with the SD Specification v3.0, can operate at -13أ‚آ°F to 185أ‚آ°F (-25أ‚آ°C to 85أ‚آ°C), is FAT32-formatted, and is backed by a lifetime warranty.
"With the new speed class, host devices such as high-definition cameras or the latest smartphones are being designed to optimize their write performance to take advantage of the more responsive memory card speeds," said Wendy Lecot, Flash card business manager, Kingston.
Kingston's 16GB microSDHC Class 10 card is sold on its own for أ‚آ£74.86, or bundled with SD/SD+miniSD adapters for أ‚آ£74.99/أ‚آ£75.40 (prices are without VAT).
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Moblin and Maemo unite and form the MeeGo platform
Microprocessor heavyweight Intel and mobile phone titan Nokia have taken the stage at the Mobile World Congress to announce the union between the Moblin and Maemo platforms and the birth of MeeGo, a new, open software platform that's set to run on a heap of devices, including netbooks, tablets, smartphones, connected TVs, and even in-vehicle infotainment systems.
MeeGo, which is set to be hosted by the Linux Foundation, will combine the Moblin core OS with the Qt application development environment, and will make use of both the Nokia Ovi Store and the Intel AppUp Center for app distribution.
"Our vision for seamlessly communicating between computing devices from the home, auto, office or your pocket is taking a big step forward today with the introduction of MeeGo," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. "This is a foundational step in our evolving relationship with Nokia. The merging of these two important assets into an open source platform is critical toward providing a terrific experience across a variety of devices and gaining cross- industry support."
The first MeeGo release is expected for Q2, with devices powered by it set to debut later this year.
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Mobile network operators to make an open platform for app delivery
Apple's App Store may be getting some real competition, eventually, as no less than 24 network operators have joined hands and formed Wholesale Applications Community, an alliance which will work on developing an open platform for the distribution of applications to mobile phone users.
Backed by the GSMA (GSM Association), as well as three phone makers (Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson), WAC hopes to provide a simple solution that can be adopted by anyone and help developers get their mobile apps to the widest possible base of customers. The companies that make up WAC cater to over 3 billion people worldwide so the potential base of the upcoming platform is certainly large.
WAC is planning to come up with a standard working on common mobile platforms within the next 12 months so hopefully next year things can kick off and we'll see the new app solution going live.
The WAC member list includes Amأƒآ©rica Mأƒآ³vil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, mobilkom austria group, MTN Group, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Softbank Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefأƒآ³nica, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, VimpelCom, Vodafone and Wind.
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LiMo Foundation welcomes Adobe to its ranks
Adobe has now officially become a member of the LiMo Foundation, the global consortium which aims to offer an open Linux-based mobile platform for use on a wide range of mobile devices. Now that Adobe is onboard, the Limo platform can look forward to getting Flash support, something that Apple is yet to provide.
"Bringing the Flash Platform to LiMo opens up a significant opportunity for Adobe to further its goals of open standards and multi-screen interoperability of rich mobile content," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Flash Platform Business at Adobe. "Following the goals of the Open Screen Project, the openness of Linux and the Flash Platform represent a common vision to enable consumers to engage with rich Internet experiences seamlessly across any device, anywhere."
To help with the quick adoption of Flash, Adobe will be offering developers and designers the option of using Adobe Creative Suite and other Adobe authoring tools to create applications that run on the LiMo platform.
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