Tegra to hit ‘media pads’ soon says company man Mike Rayfield

Mike Rayfield, the general manager of NVIDIA’s mobile unit, sat down for a lengthy — if somewhat restrained — chat with Hexus recently, and he had some fairly interesting things to say about his company’s Tegra strategy. The discussion mostly consists of generalities about the roadmap for the high-power, low-weight chipset, but it takes a more interesting turn when Rayfield goes into detail on the types of devices we can expect to see in the near future. At about two minutes into the conversation, there’s mention of a “media pad,” which prompts some further inquiry from the interviewer. Rayfield goes on to describe the device as a “3G capable touchpad” ranging in size from 7- to 13-inches. Now what’s notable about the mention is that back in April reports were flying hot and heavy that Apple was working on a “media pad” device in partnership with Verizon which would “define the damn category.” We don’t like to wildly speculate, but since Apple and NVIDIA have a healthy history of teaming up on special projects, and since the rumored focus of the mythical Apple tablet is media playback and gaming, we wouldn’t rule out a possible connection here. If you want to do your own sleuthing, check out the full video for yourself after the break — and we recommend a frame-by-frame look at 2:23.

Continue reading Tegra to hit ‘media pads’ soon says company man Mike Rayfield

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Tegra to hit ‘media pads’ soon says company man Mike Rayfield originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance

With an “NVIDIA chipset” (presumably, Tegra) underpinning the new YP-M1 media player, Samsung’s got plenty of horsepower to drive its customizable TouchWiz UI across that 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen sporting 480×272 pixels. It’s not ZuneHD-sexy but it’s not bad. Unfortunately, not bad’s not good enough in a waning market for dedicated media players lacking voice and data radios, WiFi, or a web browser. But if you run, run, as fast you can… after the break you’ll catch the Gingerbread Man.

Update: Mike Rayfield, the general manager of NVIDIA’s mobile business unit, confirms the M1 is Tegra-based.

Continue reading Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance

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Video: Samsung’s YP-M1 TouchWiz interface given a sideways glance originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zune HD getting previewed at select Best Buys this weekend

Now that NVIDIA is totally free to chat up its Tegra involvement in the Zune HD, it’s wasted little time in publishing a list of Zune HD preview locations where you can witness the magic for yourself this weekend. The tour is fairly limited to the big urban hubs, but peep the PDF and see if your friendly neighborhood Best Buy is represented.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Warning: PDF link]

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Zune HD getting previewed at select Best Buys this weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA confirms Tegra processor within Zune HD, details it real good

It’s no big secret that NVIDIA’s potent Tegra chip will be powering Microsoft’s forthcoming Zune HD, but up until now, the former company had been rather quiet about its involvement in the project. Just a few days after the OLED-equipped portable media player went up for pre-order around the web, NVIDIA has stepped in to affirm that its own Tegra processor will be “providing the multimedia muscle in Zune HD.” We’re told that no fewer than eight independent processors make up Tegra’s collective whole, with each one engineered for a specific class of tasks; among them are an HD video processor, an audio processor, a graphics processor and two ARM cores. Each of the chips can work together or independently to minimize power consumption, and the built-in nPower technology is said to optimize system power use and enable extended HD video / MP3 playback time. Sounds good in print, but we’ve got just under a month to find out how it performs for real.

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NVIDIA confirms Tegra processor within Zune HD, details it real good originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Confirms Zune HD Launch, Pricing

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Zune HD, the new touchscreen media player from Microsoft, will be in the hands of consumers starting Setpember 15.

Rumors around the upcoming Zune HD have flying fast in the last couple of weeks. And as expected Microsoft announced the price and launch date for Zune HD Wednesday.

A leak from Amazon.com Tuesday pegged the 16 GB Zune HD player at $220 and the 32 GB version at $290. Microsoft confirmed the pricing.

Zune HD has a 3.3-inch capacitive OLED screen with multi-touch functionality, Wi-Fi, HD radio and an internet browser. The device will also have HD video output capability. Much of the functionality has been provided by Nvidia’s Tegra system-on-a-chip.

Tegra includes an 800-MHz ARM CPU, a high-definition video processor, an imaging processor, an audio processor and an ultralow-power GeForce GPU in a single package. The different processors can be used together or independently while consuming very little power, said Nvidia. The company introduced the Tegra system in June and devices based on it, including media players, smartphones and netbooks, are expected be available to consumers by the end of the year.

(Updated 08/13 with Microsoft confirmation)

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Samsung’s AMOLED-packin’ YP-M1 PMP available in Korea, secret sauce still unknown

Surely we aren’t the only technophiles in attendance champing at the bit to find out if Samsung’s fresh YP-M1 has some of NVIDIA’s hotness inside, but it seems as if we’ll still have to wait a bit longer to find out. Right on cue, the AMOLED-equipped portable media player has launched over in South Korea, bringing with it a laundry list of supported file formats, a WQVGA panel, up to 32GB of inbuilt storage and even a DMB TV tuner. If anyone feels like sashaying over to Seoul in order to crack one open and find out what it’s really made of, then by all means, be our guest. Just try not to wander too close to that DMZ — we hear Bill Clinton’s rescue fees are through the roof.

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Samsung’s AMOLED-packin’ YP-M1 PMP available in Korea, secret sauce still unknown originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inventec Rainbow marries traditional good looks with a Tegra heart of gold

Unlike Mobinnova’s slightly “edgier” take on the “smartbook,” Inventec’s new Rainbow device is decidedly more netbook-ey in the looks department. Specs are nothing new, of course, with an NVIDIA Tegra 600 chip, 256MB of RAM, 256MB of flash memory, 10-inch 1024 x 576 screen and Windows CE 6.0 (which has been outfitted with Firefox for the occasion, along with other NVIDIA-prepped apps). We’re happy to see an edge to edge keyboard here, and despite the low-end specs, it’s still nice to know this little number will be capable of nabbing 3G data (HSPA or EV-DO), GPS and DTV. Rainbow can purportedly handle 6 hours of continuous 720p playback, stream video over 3G for 4 hours, and is rated at a rather silly 240 hours of “standby.” We’re not exactly sure when the Rainbow is supposed to start shipping, but if none of this is striking your fancy, there’s always Rainbow 2, which is supposed to hit in the first half of next year.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

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Inventec Rainbow marries traditional good looks with a Tegra heart of gold originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands-On With the Zune HD

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The upcoming Zune HD was the talk of the GDGT launch event in San Francisco last night, and we got a look at the device. First impressions: It’s compact, lightweight, good-looking and has a very slick interface.

Microsoft’s newest media player has a bright, crisp OLED display that the dark lighting of the nightclub showed off to very good effect. It’s fast and responsive: Video looked great on it. Its 480 x 272 pixels are a far cry from HD, but they present a 16:9 aspect ration and they’re bright and contrasty, with deep, rich blacks, so you won’t mind much. Also, we could zoom and swipe between photos with great speed; the screen never stuttered or paused no matter how quickly we zipped and zoomed the images around. The source of that visual oomph? The Nvidia Tegra chip inside. (”I know it’s not the Microsoft software,” quipped one bystander.)

The Zune team has given a lot of thought to the multitouch interface. Swiping gestures made it easy and even a bit fun to zip through menus of music or pictures, and there’s the familiar (and possibly patented) pinch gesture for zooming in and out of photos.

There’s also a dock, which includes an HDMI-out port (and a remote) so you can plug it into an HD television and watch HD videos at 720p. It appeared to be working just fine. The dock/remote combo will be sold as a separate accessory.

Why would you want to plug your Zune into a TV? The best the Microsoft rep could offer was this: Suppose you’re in a hotel room and you want to watch your movies or look at your photos on the big screen. Hm: What kind of movies and photos would that be?

Microsoft was not saying anything about what the Zune HD will cost or when it will be available. They also wouldn’t let us photograph the interface, apart from the HD radio screen shown above, stating that it was still a “work in progress.”

Photo: Dylan Tweney / Wired.com


Samsung M1 PMP to challenge Zune HD with some Tegra of its own?

Samsung’s launched a teaser page for its YP-M1 media player (look familiar?), and while a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen is impressive in its own right, it’s the mention of a NVIDIA chipset that has us most intrigued, especially given Samsung’s earlier promise that a Tegra-based device was in the works. There isn’t an indication that these are one in the same just yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised to find that CPU packed away somewhere inside. Other known details at this point include a DMB TV tuner, 8GB of storage (at least for the base model), Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, text-to-speech functionality, Bluetooth, and DivX support — not a bad spec list considering it’ll likely be up against the definitively Tegra-based Zune HD. Currently up in the air is any word of a price or release date (let along a release ’round here), although it seems Samsung could have more to say on August 13th.

[Via DAP Review]

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Samsung M1 PMP to challenge Zune HD with some Tegra of its own? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Snapdragon and Tegra smartbook rumors swirl before likely year end push

DigiTimes is reporting — in its usual sourceless, rumorific way — that a slew of Taiwanese manufacturers are set to deliver smartbooks based on the Snapdragon and Tegra chipsets by the fourth quarter of this year. Acer is leading the charge with an Android-sporting device, adding to its push of the Google mobile OS, while Mobinnova has confirmed US and European orders for its 8.9-inch élan, shipments of which might top half a million units in 2009. In the meantime, Inventec is expected to launch a 10-inch Tegra smartbook entitled Rainbow, which is probably set for a prompt rebadge. On the other hand, citing what it sees as weak demand, ASUS is holding back and won’t launch anything until November at the earliest. While none of these rumors are massively surprising, and given the source could be downright erroneous, they do hint at a wild, industry-wide synergy of smartbook rollout for the holiday period. And we all love synergy.

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Snapdragon and Tegra smartbook rumors swirl before likely year end push originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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