[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General] Ralph Smeets:
Do not erase Qualcomm out of the equation. They provide the MSM7200 and normally, since no mobile phone manufacturer would settle for less, they also provide a reference platform design, all the drivers and well, basically everything that is needed to build a mobile phone with the MSM7200. The only thing HTC, or LG, or whoever that uses the MSM7200, has to do, is to put it all together.

In order to differentiate from the competition HTC and others need a variety of different designs. This is costly, not only for HTC, but also for the supplier of the used chipset. And especially the later will steer towards a pollution that consists of a minimum set of chips (PCB can be smaller, thus less cost). This has been Qualcomm done with the MSM7200. This chipset is highly integrated and by providing the right drivers, some of it functionality will be enabled. In fact, this is almost the same as if you would buy a pc. You'll need to buy Windows and Office with it to be able to do any office work with it (or you could put Linux on it ; ). It's the software that enables wordprocessing for example, even if the hardware is more than able to do it.

So this is the businessmodel of HTC, Qualcomm, Nokia, ST, TI and everybody else in the microelectronics business.

So where is the problem: Well, HTC should never have stated in press releases that due to the 3D-capabilities of the MSM7200-chipset the Kaiser would have blazing performance. But HTC couldn't deliver.

LG didn't promise 3D-capabilities, but included the drivers. However, given the GAPI-problems and the performance of these drivers you can't really call it very stable.

Given all this, I'm convinced that the source of the problem is Qualcomm. They provided the chipset, but where unable to provide stable drivers for the graphical architecture. HTC realized this and had no other option then to use generic non-accelerated drivers.

So where does that bring us. Well, I have a LG KS20, so I for my part would like to have a stable driver (GAPI working). Most of you have a Kaiser, so you would like to have speedier graphics. So lets focus on better drivers and how to obtain them.

The MSM7200 has two ARM-cores. One runs at 400MHz and is called the applications processor. The other runs at somewhere around 250MHz and is called the communications processor. The later is basically a dsp that runs all modem software (GPRS, 3G, GSM, etc.). The software is normally called the radio rom. Besides the basic modem functions, the dsp also takes care of WiFi and Bluetooth. The other processor is the applications processor and that's the one that runs Windows Mobile 6. It's the processor that controls everything and will ask the communication processor to open one or more communication channel(s).

From several experiments conducted here on XDA, it seems that the 3D-drivers of the LG KS20 don't communicate with ATi-ip inside the MSM7200 directly, but by using the communication processor. This doesn't make a lot of sense at first glance, however licensing wise it makes. Modifying a Windows Mobile 6 installation is not that difficult, hey, that's what this site is all about. However, modifying the radio-rom is something else. So if you make sure as a manufacturer of mobile phone chipsets that all extra functionality is handled by the communication processor or at least has to go trough it, you can make sure that there is no easy way of enabling functionality for which the buyer didn't pay.

So the big question is, assuming my previous assumptions are right, has the Kaiser a radiorom with a 'gateway' to the ATi graphics core ip, or not? If we are facing with the later, a simple driver will be a lot more difficult to obtain since it will involve the uprgrade of the radio rom. I know for sure that there is at least one operator in Europe (Orange), that modifies the radio rom of their Orange branded phones to make it work better with their own network. So the number of players involved in getting 3D-functionality could be enormous.

Anyway, without the pressure of users and this community nothing will be done. And things are already moving. So let's continue our effort and kick some asses at HTC, LG and Qualcomm. Let's stick together and let them know we don't accept half working devices. And if, in the mean time, we can hack our own drivers together..... Well, you catch my drift ;)