New multi-core OMAP 4 applications platform from Texas Instruments ushers in a new era of mobile computing performance Future-proof, high-performance, low-power platform makes the vision of the mobile tomorrow a reality
Texas Instruments (TI) has announced OMAP 4, a mobile applications platform that delivers multimedia-rich user experiences such as 1080p video record and playback, 20 megapixel (MP) imaging and approximately a week of audio play time. The company claims that he platform provides significant improvements in performance and play time compared to today's most popular Smartphones, with 10x faster Web page loading times, more than 7x higher computing performance, 6x higher video resolution, 10x better graphics performance and 6x longer audio play time.
At the heart of the OMAP 4 platform is a system-on-chip that aims at balancing power efficiency and high performance across four main engines: a programmable multimedia engine based on TI's C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators; general-purpose processing based on the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore supporting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and capable of speeds of more than 1GHz per core; a high-performance programmable graphics engine; and an Image Signal Processor (ISP) for unparalleled video and imaging performance. The OMAP 4 platform also includes a software suite, power management technology and other supporting components, providing the foundation necessary to create devices with mobile computing performance at low power.
"For the past decade, TI has focused on providing an optimal balance of high performance and low power consumption in our OMAP product line to address our customers' needs to quickly and easily address new market trends," said TI's Greg Delagi. "The OMAP 4 platform will enable a new class of mobile devices that will redefine the boundaries of Smartphones and MIDs."
OMAP 4 platform highlights:
- Mobile computing performance and advanced multimedia. The combination of programmability and multicore performance provides flexibility to support new and emerging applications and standards. The first members of the family are the OMAP4430 and OMAP4440, with features including:
- Four powerful, high-performance processing engines: General-purpose processing leveraging the dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore, supporting SMP; Programmable multimedia engine based on TI's C64x DSP and power-efficient, multi-format hardware accelerators; POWERVX SGX540 graphics engine; Dedicated ISP
- Full 1080p multi-standard HD record and playback; Digital SLR-like performance with 20 MP imaging; 3D user interfaces supporting life-like graphics, intuitive touch screens, large local displays beyond WSXGA and HDMI compatible external displays.
- Power management technology, delivering multimedia performance while maximizing battery life: 10+ hours of 1080p HD video playback, 4+ hours of 1080p HD record; 140+ hours of CD quality audio playback
- Support for mobile operating systems, and a software suite that is tested for real world-uses cases, accelerating time to market. The OMAP 4 platform will support Linux variants such as the Android Mobile Platform and LiMo, as well as Symbian OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile. Additionally, software for the OMAP 4 platform is tested and validated up to the application level.
- Open platform.