TI Unveils Multimedia Phone Chips

Texas Instruments is expected to announce the newest generation of its OMAP processors at the 3GSM World Congress, with improvements in the quality of still images and video on cell phones, the company said.

The OMAP2410 and 2420 processors are based on a new architecture that blends aspects of the earlier OMAP generation with new features to enhance multimedia applications, said Richard Kerslake, director of OMAP processors for TI.

An OMAP processor consists of a processor core that handles the operating system tasks and a digital signal processor that works on the audio and video applications. The Dallas company kept the C55x DSP from the earlier OMAP generation, but added additional features such as a dedicated hardware engine for three-dimensional images, Kerslake said.

TI built the new chips on its 90-nanometer process technology, which allows chip makers to increase the number of transistors and features on a single chip while keeping power consumption steady. The company uses an analog power management chip in conjunction with OMAP processors to manage power in accordance with the demands of phone manufacturers for smaller and more powerful phones, Kerslake said.

Picture the Future

The OMAP2420 comes with a video accelerator that will allow users to play more advanced video games and take up to 4-megapixel digital pictures. The image quality on most camera phones is quite poor, but newer phones based on this chip will be able to take pictures as well as many low-end stand-alone digital cameras.

Most camera phones sold in Europe and the United States are only capable of taking 1-megapixel pictures, said Alex Slawsby, an analyst with IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. Japanese customers are willing to pay more for 2-megapixel cameras, but the demand hasn't been there yet in the rest of the world, he said.

With the new chip, TI should be able to offer phone vendors the opportunity to improve the image quality without having to charge a prohibitive amount, Slawsby said.

Users will also be able to link their cell phones to their televisions if they're using the 2420, Kerslake said. The chip has support for TV-out links, so videos or still images captured on the phone can be played back on a much larger screen.

Shifting Market

The chips can be used with any 2.5G or 3G modem chip, and with all major cell phone operating systems including Windows, Symbian, Linux, and Palm OS, Kerslake said.

TI will ship samples of both chips to its partners in the first half of this year, and phones with the chips aren't expected until the first half of next year. Pricing was not disclosed.

As the annual 3GSM World Conference gets underway in Cannes, 3G networks have still not advanced to anywhere near the saturation that many industry vendors had thought five years ago. As a result, chip makers and phone builders are looking to improve their phones with features that are not bandwidth-intensive, such as digital cameras, video playback, and gaming, Slawsby said.

The new chips are a reflection of that trend toward processor-intensive features that can run on the 2.5G networks of today, Slawsby said.