Texas Instruments has expanded its processor lineup to include a new ARM Cortex-A8 chip that can be purchased for as little as $5. The company claims to be the first to offer an A8 processor at such prices, compared to alternatives that cost more than $15 per chip. The Sitara AM335x SoC design is said to be geared for embedded devices such as navigation, handheld gaming, or home automation systems.
A teaser video (embedded below) for the forthcoming NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor has leaked out. Codenamed Kal-El, the system-on-a-chip runs a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, which is accompanied by a fifth Cortex A9 core clocked at 500MHz for running tasks such as web browsing and listening to music. The graphics performance delivered by the 12-core graphics engine helps the processor outperform even Intel’s older Core 2 Duo processors.
Archos has announced that it will unveil its Generation 9 tablets on June 23, at a special event to take place at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. The France-based company recently teased the ninth-generation devices, which will be based on Android 3.0 with customizations for HDD storage. All of the Gen 9 tablets are said to be the first to utilize a dual-core 1.6GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, besting the 1GHz offerings that currently dominate the field.
Hercules has introduced its eCafe EX HD and eCafe Slim HD 10.1-inch smartbooks that deliver long battery life as well as mobility. The pair differs from netbooks in that they run ARM Cortex A8 processors as well as a lightweight customization of the Linux OS. This combination helps the eCafe EX HD to deliver up to 13 hours of battery life and a near-instant boot time from standby of only 4 seconds.
After some users reeled at the $800 price of the Motorola Xoom Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) 10-inch tablet, Archos has introduced two very low-cost Android tablets in the Arnova 8 ($150) and Arnova 10 ($199). Initially, both tablets will ship with a ARM9 600MHz processor and with resistive touch screens. However, both are expected to be upgraded to ARM Cortex-A8 1Ghz chips (similar to the current iPad) and capacitive touch screens within the next two to three months, while the prices are expected to hold steady.
Microsoft is using its purchasing muscle to push Intel into developing a 16-core Atom chip for its server farms, according to a report. Microsoft is keen to reduce its power consumption in its huge data centers and believes that Intel’s Atom chips, with its low power consumption design and x86 compatibility will deliver the savings that it is looking for. Currently most of Microsoft’s server farms use Intel’s Xeon server-class chips, which while delivering processing grunt, are also relatively power hungry and generate a lot of heat. A 16-core Atom would deliver the necessary processing power, but would run significantly cooler and would be cheaper to deploy.
Ambarella has announced its new triple ARM Cortex-A9-based chip designed to power “a new class of Android-based smart cameras,” the iOne system-on-a-chip (SoC). The chip centers on a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU that is designed to run the Android OS, while a third 533MHz ARM-11 core handles real-time camera tasks and enables camera boot time of under one second. The iOne features a multi-stream encoding capability that allows devices using the SoC to support live video streaming, WiFi upload of video clips to sites such as YouTube.
Several days after the Meizu's M9 handset arrived on the market in China, the device has already been dissected to reveal its internal components. The teardown shows hardware very similar to the Samsung's Galaxy S-series handsets, which share the same 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 "Hummingbird" processor, despite earlier reports suggesting the M9 utilized a slower 800MHz chip.
Samsung has previewed a new chip, named Orion, based on ARM's Cortex-A9 architecture. The technology is based on the 45nm process, which is said to offer an improvement in power efficiency compared to A8-based chips. The previewed hardware, shown in an ARMdevices video, was paired with a quad-core Mali-400 GPU.
First announced by Archos at IFA back in August, the Archos 43 internet tablet with Android 2.2 (Froyo) is now shipping. The device centers on a 4.3-inch 854x480 display, has Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth connectivity as well as an HDMI output. It comes with 16GB of on-board storage, which can be expanded by utilizing its microSD card slot. Powering the device is an ARM Cortex A8 running at 1GHz with DSP and graphics support for 3D OpenGL ES 2.0.
Following the recent release of Apple’s revised, and ARM-based, Apple TV set top box (STB) ARM and Trident have joined forces to deliver next-gen STBs. The partnership aims to deliver Web 2.0 functionality, including Flash, to new STBs as they seek to better integrate the internet, internet TV, and broadcast TV in future products. The forthcoming system-on-a-chip design will be ARM Cortex-A9-based, and are broadly similar to the recently announced Samsung implementation of the ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core design of its new Orion chip, destined for the next generation of smartphones and tablets.
Samsung today unveiled its new 1GHz ARM Cortex A9-based dual core processor, codenamed Orion, for ‘advanced mobile applications’. Highlighting the generational leap in performance, Orion is capable of simultaneously supporting two on-device display screens, while driving a third external display such as a TV or monitor through an HDMI interface. Built on a 45nm process, each 1GHz core is equipped with a 32KB data cache and a 32KB instruction cache. Also integrated is 1MB of L2 cache, which is designed to optimize multitasking.
