Comments on: TI Joins the Portable Internet Device Race http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/ Tracking the Internet Evolution Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:29:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: Chip war breaks out among firms targeting mobile Internet devices » VentureBeat http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-880531 Chip war breaks out among firms targeting mobile Internet devices » VentureBeat Wed, 28 May 2008 12:00:22 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-880531 [...] will be interesting to see how the chip competition unfolds. Texas Instruments is also in the race. But here’s a clue from Yeh. He says that companies that offer a one-size-fits-all chip (i.e. [...] [...] will be interesting to see how the chip competition unfolds. Texas Instruments is also in the race. But here’s a clue from Yeh. He says that companies that offer a one-size-fits-all chip (i.e. [...]

]]> By: McGuire’s Law » Blog Archive » Enabling Technology: May 2008 Edition http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878966 McGuire’s Law » Blog Archive » Enabling Technology: May 2008 Edition Mon, 19 May 2008 11:18:03 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878966 [...] OMAP 3 [...] [...] OMAP 3 [...]

]]> By: Tony http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878384 Tony Wed, 14 May 2008 19:11:49 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878384 MID's....hmmm, well, considering the hype the large iPhone has had, and that the N810 isn't much bigger (with a 800x480 screen), I think some MID's could be successful, but not at anything close to cell phone levels. A normal (which means small) cell phone just doesn't have a big enough display. The only gadget I'm really interested in is the WiMax N810 (WiMax, GPS, slide out keyboard). As far as x86 vs ARM goes, I don't think x86 has much advantage -- very few people work at the assembly language level, and ARM has good C compilers. The success of open source (which is typicall cross platform) really helps ARM. I don't want to carry around a mini-PC - it doesn't translate to the mobile internet experience. Note that Apple agrees: the successful iPhone has a very different UI from OS-X, while MS's ho-hum WinCE is more similar to desktop Windows. TI has far broader aims for the OMAP 3 series - the original OMAP 3 (34xx) were for high volume OEM's only (TI had not dedicated the resources to support smaller developers). The OMAP 35xx series is for broad embedded use; their first attempt (OMAP 15xx) didn't do well, but the 35xx looks more promising. Anyway, embedded has its minuses (smaller volumes for each customer, high support costs) and pluses (many more customers (so less dependent on a few major customers), long life spans). I would never select an Intel, AMD, Nvidia, or Qualcomm chip for an embedded application - Qualcomm & Nvidia have no track record, and Intel and AMD have a record of abandoning their embedded efforts (and screwing the customers). The high end OMAP (e.g. 3530) have 3-D graphics and video acceleration (e.g. decode HD-720 at 30fps), so I'm not sure how much better the Intel Atom, Qualcom Snapdragon, or Nvidia will be. MID’s….hmmm, well, considering the hype the large iPhone has had, and that the N810 isn’t much bigger (with a 800×480 screen), I think some MID’s could be successful, but not at anything close to cell phone levels. A normal (which means small) cell phone just doesn’t have a big enough display. The only gadget I’m really interested in is the WiMax N810 (WiMax, GPS, slide out keyboard).

As far as x86 vs ARM goes, I don’t think x86 has much advantage — very few people work at the assembly language level, and ARM has good C compilers. The success of open source (which is typicall cross platform) really helps ARM.

I don’t want to carry around a mini-PC - it doesn’t translate to the mobile internet experience. Note that Apple agrees: the successful iPhone has a very different UI from OS-X, while MS’s ho-hum WinCE is more similar to desktop Windows.

TI has far broader aims for the OMAP 3 series - the original OMAP 3 (34xx) were for high volume OEM’s only (TI had not dedicated the resources to support smaller developers). The OMAP 35xx series is for broad embedded use; their first attempt (OMAP 15xx) didn’t do well, but the 35xx looks more promising.

Anyway, embedded has its minuses (smaller volumes for each customer, high support costs) and pluses (many more customers (so less dependent on a few major customers), long life spans). I would never select an Intel, AMD, Nvidia, or Qualcomm chip for an embedded application - Qualcomm & Nvidia have no track record, and Intel and AMD have a record of abandoning their embedded efforts (and screwing the customers).

The high end OMAP (e.g. 3530) have 3-D graphics and video acceleration (e.g. decode HD-720 at 30fps), so I’m not sure how much better the Intel Atom, Qualcom Snapdragon, or Nvidia will be.

]]> By: Stacey Higginbotham http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878330 Stacey Higginbotham Wed, 14 May 2008 13:19:53 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878330 @Wes, A post on the APX chipset is up now. They'll launch something for the MID market in that line very soon. I'm still not sold on the MID idea though. @Wes, A post on the APX chipset is up now. They’ll launch something for the MID market in that line very soon. I’m still not sold on the MID idea though.

]]> By: Mike Chapman http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878311 Mike Chapman Wed, 14 May 2008 11:51:47 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878311 This is really interesting information. Thank you for the update. This is really interesting information. Thank you for the update.

]]> By: Wes Felter http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878266 Wes Felter Wed, 14 May 2008 01:25:36 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878266 Don't forget the NVidia APX as well. A lot of chipmakers are competing for this unproven market. Don’t forget the NVidia APX as well. A lot of chipmakers are competing for this unproven market.

]]> By: Stacey Higginbotham http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878240 Stacey Higginbotham Tue, 13 May 2008 22:45:48 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878240 @Grey, sadly it was a typo. Otherwise I'd join you in your stock run and retire from blogging :) @Grey, sadly it was a typo. Otherwise I’d join you in your stock run and retire from blogging :)

]]> By: Paul http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878232 Paul Tue, 13 May 2008 22:38:07 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878232 Yes, nice post. But I need a third class of computing device like I need another hole in my head. Even if it were free (FREE!) I wouldn't want to carry it, keep track of whether it is charged (and where the power cord is), how it is configured and which apps it has on it.... Yeah, the cardinal sin of marketing is assuming that the rest of the world is just like you, but a few hundred million other people have already demonstrated similar sentiments when offered internet appliances for the kitchen (3Com), for the TV (Microsoft - Apple's TV box doesn't count), for games or just for walking around (Nokia, Sony) Yes, nice post.

But I need a third class of computing device like I need another hole in my head. Even if it were free (FREE!) I wouldn’t want to carry it, keep track of whether it is charged (and where the power cord is), how it is configured and which apps it has on it….

Yeah, the cardinal sin of marketing is assuming that the rest of the world is just like you, but a few hundred million other people have already demonstrated similar sentiments when offered internet appliances for the kitchen (3Com), for the TV (Microsoft - Apple’s TV box doesn’t count), for games or just for walking around (Nokia, Sony)

]]> By: Grey http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878231 Grey Tue, 13 May 2008 22:37:20 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878231 800 GHz is impressive for something that will only comsume 500mW to 750mW! And by impressive I mean life changing lol. You did mean 800 MHz right? I mean if that's not a typo, I'm going to go buy some TI stock! 800 GHz is impressive for something that will only comsume 500mW to 750mW! And by impressive I mean life changing lol.

You did mean 800 MHz right? I mean if that’s not a typo, I’m going to go buy some TI stock!

]]> By: Hip-Hop http://gigaom.com/2008/05/13/ti-soups-up-its-smartphone-chips-for-mids/#comment-878226 Hip-Hop Tue, 13 May 2008 22:20:16 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=13401#comment-878226 Great post stacy! Great post stacy!

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