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The underlying chipset in a handheld device or phone has probably the biggest impact on major properties of the device like battery life, the (in)ability to use 3G and overall performance, particularly when it comes to graphics. Even users that don’t know much of of the hardware of these devices know that, for example, at least in the Windows Mobile world (as opposed to Symbian devices), TI OMAP almost exclusively means very good battery life but reduced performance and lack of hardware acceleration of, for example, 3D or video decoding. In this installment of my MWC series, I explain and evaluate most of the remaining, announced new chipsets.

In Part I of my CPU/chipset-related MWC series, I’ve elaborated on the brand new and really-really cool MWC announcement of Samsung. I’ve also introduced the latest technology from Imagination Technologies and have also touched on Qualcomm. Let’s start with the latter.

Qualcomm

In the previous article, I’ve promised I would fill you in on their latest chipset, the QST1x0x (QST1000, QST1100 and QST1105). I’ve already linked to the official announcement in a later, generic article. Now, let me elaborate on the new chipsets a bit more thoroughly.

The new chipset, as you can check it online too, has three submodels: the cheapest and non-connected QST1000, which promises some additional niceties compared to the current MSM7200(A) chipset many Windows Mobile devices are currently based on; for example,

”It’s based on the 65 nm process technology for enhanced battery life and bill-of-materials savings” - as opposed to the 90 nm of the previous generation. 65 nm represents the highest-end technology today with all major chipset manufacturers. (Of course, the lower the number, the better). In this regard, all other major manufacturers are already using (or, have just announced switching to) the same technology: remember the just-announced / released Samsung S3C6410/ S3C6430 from the previous chipset report? They’re both 65nm, as opposed to the previous-generation, 90nm S3C6400. And, the case is the same with the semi-new TI OMAP 3 platform, which I’ll elaborate on later.

”Seventh-generation gpsOne engine with support for Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes, as well as gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology delivering enhanced Standalone-GPS performance.” - This, hopefully, also means that its performance and sensitivity will be on par with (or even better than) the, currently, most powerful SiRFstar III consumer chipset.

”Rich multimedia features, including camera, video playback at up to VGA resolution, and TV-out.” – Let’s start with the latter. Unfortunately, the pure mention of “TV-out” may show it (still) won’t support digital (VGA) output (only a subpar analogue one), let alone outputting at higher resolutions (which, incidentally, wouldn’t be of much use as analogue output is next to unreadable even at VGA, that is, 640*480 resolutions, let alone higher ones). I’ve already shown some real examples of the downsides of this approach in my i-mate article.

Also, as far as the rest of the statement is concerned, the description completely lacks a list of what video decoders are supported in hardware. (There’s another sentence in the press release, “A comprehensive range of popular audio and video codecs”, but it only refers to software en/decoding, which isn’t of much use as they can’t be accelerated.) As has been pointed out in several of my articles (see for example the H.264 Bible), hardware-accelerated video decoding may dramatically increase performance and battery life. (More on this in the next installment of my MWC device report, when I report on the Nokia N96’s built-in hardware support for video decoding supported by both the operating system and the built-in media player (both out-of-the-box), which is pretty much unmatched in the mobile world. For example, on Windows Mobile, the built-in Windows Media Player doesn’t use the video acceleration features at all on devices that do have hardware video acceleration features – for example, the 2700G-equipped Dell Axim x50v / x51v or the GoForce 5500-based models. On these devices, you can call yourself lucky if you do find a player that makes use of these features: on the Axims, there is (TCPMP / CorePlayer), but on the 5500-based models, there isn’t such an app.)

”Support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and FM radio.” - Of this, it’s mostly the FM radio that interests me the most. Currently, very few Qualcomm-based WinMo handhelds have an FM radio. Actually, if you recall, I’ve emphasized in my i-mate article that it’s only the Intel Xscale PXA270-based 6150 and 8150 that have an FM radio, not the Qualcomm-based 8502 / 9502. The situation is pretty similar with HTC’s models. Now, with the arrival of an “official” FM radio, it’ll hopefully much easier for WinMo ODM’s/OEM’s to include FM radio in their handsets.

Note the lack of the GSM / 3G support in the QST1000, which isn’t by mistake: it’s meant for, for example, phone-less navigators, multimedia devices (if and only if the QST1000 is indeed has decent video decoding support) and classic (non-phone) PDA’s. It’s the QST1100 that adds wireless WAN connectivity for voice calls and data capabilities.

Finally, the QST1105 also has a hardware-accelerated 2D/3D graphics core capable of performing up to 2.8 million triangles per second for compelling user interfaces and gaming applications. They didn’t really have a demo showing this; the gaming section of their booth,

didn’t have any 3D demo; not even a reference design (demo) device.

These three chipsets, as with Samsung’s current (S3C6400) and just-announced (S3C6410/ S3C6430) chipsets, are pin-compatible, which mean (comparatively) easy switchability. (No need to redesign the “motherboard” of the handheld when a manufacturer want to up/downgrade to another chipset.) However, it’s not known whether it’s pin compatible with the MSM7200 (I bet it isn’t) – again, unlike with the case of the (previous generation) Samsung S3C6400 -> (new generation) S3C6410/ S3C6430 upgrade.

NVIDIA

If you’re a desktop PC gamer, you must know what NVIDIA is famous for: the 3D accelerated GeForce video card series. You may also have heard of their GoForce 5500 integrated in (very few) Windows Mobile devices.

(their booth)

(some of the mostly feature phones using Nvidia’s products)

They have, so far, had limited success on the Windows Mobile platform as vendors of stand-alone, additional 2D / 3D chips simply because the platform has been deemed a productivity and not an entertainment / gaming one. Their GoForce 5500 (and its predecessor, which completely lacked 3D acceleration) was only included in few and not very successful devices (the pretty much lackluster, buggy and not any more supported O2 XDA Flame and, now, the two new i-mate Intel Xscale-based models, the 6150 and the 8150) and had even less third-party software support than the Intel 2700G (the other, notable 2D / 3D accelerator ever used in Windows Mobile devices). For example, as has also been explained in my i-mate article, it’s (currently) only two games (!) that make use of its 3D capabilities and absolutely no video player programs. Again, unlike with the 2700G, which has considerably better support.

Their newly-announced APX 2500 (see more info & official homepage HERE), however, seems to be really groundbreaking. No, not only because its 3D and hardware video decoding acceleration capabilities, not in the least.

(their APX 2500 reference design decoding a 720p video)

Not that they would be bad – just not supported by third-party developers, and not NVIDIA themselves, who refuse to open the API to some of the devs like the CorePlayer folks.