RSSNvidia prototype handset can display high-definition video, graphics
By Tim Conneally | Published February 15, 2008, 2:40 PM
Nvidia has announced its APX 2500 processor, taking the multimedia handset processor into its second generation, and in a game-changing prototype design.
The effort began more than a year ago with Texas Instruments' introduction of the OMAP3430 mobile architecture. Then, Broadcom answered by showing off its VideoCore III multimedia processor. They promised sophisticated graphical processing with low power consumption.
At the Mobile World conference in Barcelona, Nvidia is exhibiting a show-stopping prototype handset equipped with the APX 2500 low-power multimedia processor. Like most mobile phones, the processor is made by ARM -- Apple's iPhone runs an ARM11 processor, the ARM1176JZF, for example -- an MPCore, 16/32-bit LP DDR with support for NOR and NAND flash memory.
The graphics unit is an ultra low power GeForce core, OpenGL ES 2.0, Microsoft Direct3D mobile compliant, with Coverage Sample Antialiasing (CSAA) support and programmable pixel shading, vertex and lighting. With the low power demand, Nvidia claims the unit can deliver 10 hours of 720p HD playback, or 100 hours of MP3 audio.
The APX 2500 offers true dual display support, 1280 x 720 resolution with HDMI 1.2, SXGA (1280 x 1024) LCD and CRT Support, with composite and S-Video outs to TV.
With such attention paid to graphical processing, the touchscreen prototype unit offers a visually impressive UI, and the ability to handle graphically intensive games.
Nvidia says it has worked closely with Microsoft and anticipates that phones based upon the APX 2500 will offer a Windows Mobile package specially designed to exploit its abilities. But the prototype is not only eye candy, it also offers 7.2 Mbps HSPA, quad-band GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and the ability for a 12-megapixel camera (though it's not equipped with one.)
lol can i get one?
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|I would want one if it can go for 1125p
720p is like normal DVD quality....
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|What are you talking about? DVD is 480p, HDTV is 720p & 1080i, and HD DVD is 1080p.
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|1125p???
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|1125p is another way to say 1080p.
sorry for not enough explanation.
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|Dear nVidia,
I would one day like to be able to buy a laptop with one of your graphics chips in it that has a max battery life in excess of two hours. Please consider leveraging some of this work on chipsets for laptop PCs.
Thanks!
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|I entirely back DigitAI56K. Now nvidia... do this for laptops!
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|Awesome. Definitely would like to have one of these!
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|Is That Cool or What !
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|Wow.
Can it go over 720p?
I'd actually buy one of these if it were under $500.
...and this coming from someone who has yet to buy into any of the Cell-phone BS. Grab a movie, bring it to a friends house, plug it into their TV, and enjoy.
Nice portable HD player.
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|Porn on the go! One step closer to the Utopian goal of all geekdom.
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|This just looks really nice and the specs are amazing. I hope this comes out for AT&T because it could be an Iphone killer. This looks like it would be good for hand held gaming too, maybe MS will make a PSP and DS killer from this?
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|There is a difference between high def display and hi-def games. You can watch pac-man at 1080i, but the graphics themselves are not 1080i
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|yea im sure they are dieing to release a device to kill the iphone as its sole carrier in the united states... makes sense.
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|Mhh, I hope some real competition against iPhone, but with Microsoft putting their poison there, I seriously doubt it... Windows mobile is a pain in the neck. The reduced mac os included in the iphone with less than a year is WAY better and easier to use than WM that has more than 5 years on the market...
Now, Microsoft already has a good OS (and GUI) to copy, lets see how the next version of WM do it.
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|A reduced Mac OS you cannot install any programs on and that developers cannot develop anything but web-apps for.
Yeah, sure beats the hell out of Windows Mobile, which has *tons* of software support and is capable of so much more than the crippled iPhone MacOS could ever do.
Gotta love the fanboys...
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|Actually, without the SDK available there are hundreds of native applications for iphone/ipod touch already released.
You could tittle me as Microsoft hater if you desperate need to label me, but I am not an Apple fanboy at all.
By the way, I do not like Steve Jobs arrogance and sometimes Apple release underpowered "fashion" products. Iphone does not fall in this category, it is a GREAT product with a great price that put any WM product to shame.
In contrast, you actually fall into MS fanboy category arguing anything trying to defend MS utter garbage...
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|it is a GREAT product with a great price that put any WM product to shame.
trying to defend MS utter garbage...
...words of the fanboy.
Keep trying. I do not blindly defend Microsoft. WM has its flaws. Nothing compared to the "Reduced" MacOS, of course. If you knew anything about what you were talking about, you'd know I don't always defend MSFT. Their marketing, VM offerings and the issues with Vista Networking to name a few.
Still boils down to the fact that WM is far more capable and has far more opportunity than the "reduced" MacOS on the iPhone. Wider support, more developers, and a better platform upon which to build.
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|iPhone Mac OS has a solid bsd base behind, and it is easy to add command line tools compiled for the device. I tested a nice nmap port scanner. Accessing through SSH (or SMB if you need to) give you a universe of choices that you do not have with windows mobile... Certainly Microsoft OS is crippled.
Even the iphone weak point (iTunes) do a better job than MS Active sync... I had to give support to a couple of computers to deal with ActiveSync erratic problems and is increible prone to return unpredictable run time errors with codes that could be caused by 15 different problems. iTunes-Outlook sync work flawlessly every time.
UI is another no-go for WM as Mac OS is very intuitive, even when the OS had been around for less than a year.
You have a point about the developers available and better plataform. Actually, the iphone SDK has not beem released, let hold this discussion for a time and lets see what happen. If apple just release a good SDK now...
I just hope Nvidia has other plans apart from WM (no mather which one) because that would cripple its capabilities...
Enough for today...
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|If apple just release a good SDK now...
..which is pretty much my point here. Apple has a *lot* of catch-up to do here, and it isn't going to happen overnight.
To even think that somehow a device such as Nvidia's would be more limited than the iPhone is blatantly ridiculous. Hell, if it was released *right now* it would be far more functional. (Not that I'd use the cellular functionality)
(Not even going to comment on the anecdotal support issues or supposed UI intuitiveness, which is *highly* subjective.)
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|Hi-Def on a tiny screen? Isnt that like Fat guy in a little coat ?
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|Ahh...but remember the miro-DVI and HDMI ports?
Plug it into a 47" and it's suddenly portable Media-Center.
I want one, and I normally hate these things. :p
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