Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s secrecy around their products is famous, paranoiac, and frequently infuriating. Some of it makes sense: they stop leaks to maximize the surprise potential of new product announcements. But some of it doesn’t make as much sense, for instance refusing to release basic details about the capabilities of their existing products.

For instance, take the iPad. The iPad has an “Apple 1Ghz” processor in it, and it’s running iPhone OS 3.2. The iPhone OS, at least up until now, has been written for ARM processors; Samsung makes the one in the iPhone 3GS. So the iPad also has an ARM, right? Right?

ARM executives interviewed today at Mobile World Congress not only wouldn’t confirm that there’s an ARM processor in the iPad, they wouldn’t even confirm that Apple is an ARM licensee, or that Apple acquisition PA Semi was.

The reason the iPad’s processor architecture is important is because it directly impacts performance. Apple quotes it as a “1 Ghz” processor. But 1 Ghz ARM11, Cortex-A8 or Cortex-A9 processors would be very different speeds – and we’re not even talking about the graphics hardware yet.

I guess we’ll just have to wait until the teardown firms get iPads and tear them apart with an electron microscope. Of course, things could be much worse. Unlike the Reuters investigative reporter checking out Apple’s suppliers, I wasn’t actually assaulted by any guards.

Texas Instruments has just made its OMAP 4 system-on-chip official, and garnished the announcement with the first development platform for it, aggressively titled Blaze. We already caught a glimpse of it in prototype form earlier this month, and the thing is quite a whopper — you can see it on video after the break and we doubt you’ll accuse TI of placing form before function with this one. The company’s focus will be on promoting innovative new modes of interaction, with touchless gesturing (or “in the air” gesture recognition) figuring strongly in its vision of the future. Looking at the SOC diagram (available after the break), you’ll find that its grunt will be provided by the same ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore class of CPU that powers the iPad, though TI claims it will be the only mobile platform capable of outputting stereoscopic 720p video at 30fps per channel. Perhaps its uniqueness will come from the fact that nobody else cares for the overkill that is 3D-HD on a mobile phone, whether it requires glasses or not. It’ll still be fascinating to see if anybody picks up the chunky Blaze idea and tries to produce a viable mobile device out of it — we could be convinced we need multiple displays while on the move, we’re just not particularly hot on the 90s style bezel overflow.

Continue reading Texas Instruments introduces ARM-based OMAP 4 SOC, Blaze development platform

Texas Instruments introduces ARM-based OMAP 4 SOC, Blaze development platform originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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 planning three new Cortex CPUs, Eagle headed for smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think netbooks are on their way out? Not according to ARM CEO Warren East, who said in a recent interview with PC Pro that while netbooks now only represent 10% or so of the PC market, he believes that “over the next several years that could completely change around and that could be 90% of the PC market.” Obviously, he also thinks that would be a huge boon to ARM, and notes that while the main CPU in most netbooks may not be an ARM processor, there are probably at least two or three ARM chips of some sort in each netbook sold. In fairness, we assume that East means netbooks will evolve significantly from their present state over those next several years — but, still, ninety percent?

Update: In the company’s earnings call preceding the interview, Warren East also dropped a few tidbits about ARM’s roadmap, noting that, “Cortex-A9 will comfortably run at those sorts of frequencies (1GHz) and, indeed, with physical IP optimization, we demonstrated can scale up to 2 gigahertz today.” East further added that the “other Cortex-A9 has a lot more headroom to go, it’s a multi-processor design, so you can have quad-core — or up to quad-core implementation.”

ARM CEO says netbooks could eventually grab 90 percent of PC market originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, Hivision — always up for making us chuckle. Just weeks after we spotted the outfit’s $149 netbook with a lackluster Cortex A9 processor, along comes this: the PWS700CA. Reportedly, the company is still scouting distributors in order to get this thing out to the masses, but if all goes well, it could be sold to end users for right around a Benjamin. What makes this one marginally interesting, though, is the fact that Android is on board; yeah, it’s not like Google’s mobile OS is really cut out for netbook use, but it sure beats the browsing experience found in Windows CE. The device you’re peering at above will eventually ship with a 600MHz ARM926 processor, 128MB of RAM, a 7-inch display (800 x 480 resolution), 720p video playback support, WiFi, Ethernet and the usual complement of ports. Hop on past the break for a look at how it fared in testing, and feel free to ping Hivision directly if you’re feeling all distributor-y.

Continue reading Hivision’s Android-based PWS700CA netbook gets video review, may sport sub-$100 price tag

Hivision’s Android-based PWS700CA netbook gets video review, may sport sub-$100 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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