Product category: Reference Designs
News Release from: Freescale Semiconductor | Subject: i.Smart smartphone reference design
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 14 February 2003
Low parts count
for innovative smartphone design
Mobile handset manufacturers seeking to meet the growing demand for consumer smartphones can now take a faster path to market with a fully integrated design solution from Motorola
The i.Smart smartphone reference design uses the Motorola's Innovative Convergence GSM/GPRS platform to help get OEMs' design concepts up and running on a 2.5G network in as few as 90 days. The i.Smart reference design supports open operating systems and offers fully integrated hardware, software and support services allowing manufacturers to concentrate on product differentiation and accelerate time to market.
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The i.Smart reference design is engineered to meet the demands created by the growing convergence of voice and data functionality.
It is based on Motorola's i.250 Innovative Convergence platform and the i.MX media extension applications processor.
The integrated platform has the lowest part count in its class to help manufacture smaller, portable, cost effective and low-power systems and is designed to allow advanced voice, image, video and data capability on a single platform with an open standards interface.
It is capable of supporting leading open operating systems such as symbian OS, Microsoft WindowsCE, eLinux and PalmOS.
Therefore, manufacturers can expect to offer critical consumer applications such as messaging, Internet browsing, digital image capture, as well as audio/video encode in the near future.
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"Scalability and flexibility are key success factors in the constantly evolving smartphone segment, and consumer-conscious designs offer the best prospects for expanding market opportunity beyond traditional buyers", said John Jackson, analyst with Yankee Group.
"Comprehensive reference designs and robust support services such as Motorola's i.Smart platform offer manufacturers a competitive advantage, enabling fast time-to-market and low price points while enhancing advanced features and functionality".
"Motorola's i.Smart design sets another industry standard", said Pete Shinyeda, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Motorola's Wireless and Broadband Systems Group.
"Now manufacturers can tap into the power of the Semiconductor Product Sector's wireless portfolio with one comprehensive design package and get to market faster than ever".
In addition to the benefits for manufacturers, the i.Smart is a win for consumers, service providers, and carriers.
Service providers and carriers obtain value-add voice and data services to expand their markets and sustain their revenue growth.
Consumers, perhaps the biggest winners of all, increase their product choices and gain access to information from an infinite variety of sources, along with a comprehensive array of services like personal productivity and entertainment.
All of this can be accessed at any time - from one single, handy device.
The i.Smart smartphone solution has built-in flexibility that can be migrated to existing mobile standards ranging from 2G to 3G, and is designed to easily adapt as future standards emerge.
Distinctive benefits to smartphone developers include: a high-performance/low-power-consumption applications processor; an open architecture for hosting a wide range of compelling applications; power efficiency, with exceptional battery life and superb performance; high-level system-on-chip integration; best-in-class development tools and environment; multi-OS and multisystem availability; Bluetooth wireless technology; and seamless integration and one-stop-shopping for key components.
The i.Smart chipset and integrated GSM/GPRS field-proven software is designed to provide a total modem solution for GSM/DCS or GSM850/PCS dual-band mobile devices and is also engineered to upgrade to support quad-band.
The iMX1 applications processor, based on the ARM9 architecture, provides wireless connectivity protocol, operating system, application and media processing functionality.
It features high-level on-chip integration with uncompromised performance over a low-power system.
Rich peripheral support enables full-colour LCD display, Smartcard, USB, Bluetooth wireless technology and expansion over high-speed multimedia cards (MMC), secure digital (SD), and other emerging storage standards.
The imaging subsystem includes a fully integrated high-performance CMOS image sensor with features such as integrated timing, control and analogue signal processing for digital imaging applications.
It also includes a monolithic image capture and processing engine, making it a true "camera on a chip".
The Bluetooth V1.1-compliant wireless data transceiver integrates the low-power transceiver with the applications processor to achieve a comprehensive Bluetooth solution.
Transceiver features maximise coexistence and noise rejection with 2.4GHz ISM-band interference.
In addition to a standard reference platform, there are comprehensive tools and professional support services designed to help OEMs get to market rapidly and efficiently.
The tools and pieces of the solution are organised into three major development environments: integrated development environment (IDE), where the GSM/GPRS chipset, handset reference design, and GSM software engine are integrated with the user interface toolkit; radio test environment (RTE), which includes tools for configuring features, testing and fine-tuning radio performance; and manufacturing test environment (MTE) that provides software and manufacturing adaptation tools and services.
The i.Smart smartphone reference design is expected to be available for demonstration next week at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes.
Product is expected to be available during the second half of 2003.
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