AMD preps new Imageon, video chips for smartphones

AMD today rolled out a set of upgrades to its Imageon graphics and processor chips that it says should help drive newer handhelds, especially advanced devices such as smartphones or personal navigators. The company's new Z460 is one of the few phone-sized graphics chipsets to include the same kind of visual technology as the Xbox 360; the device is capable of handling custom visual shaders and should produce graphics more closely resembling what has been seen on game consoles in the past, AMD touts. A simpler chipset, the Z180, will also be available for 2D video and the vector graphics often found in GPS systems.

Three processors will also handle other tasks often needed by mobile devices. The Imageon A250 helps process image and video decoding or encoding, including for cameras and large displays; the M210 will provide audio processing efficient enough to play music for 100 hours; and the D160 will provide a TV tuner for Europe's DVB-H (handheld) and DVB-T (terrestrial) over-the-air digital TV standards both in handhelds as well as external adapters for notebooks.

AMD plans for all of the Imageon chipsets to be available in finished phones by late 2008 or early 2009.

Imageon chip

Concept Imageon handheld