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cellphone posts

Renesas aims to bring 1080p playback to your next cellphone

by Darren Murph posted Dec 1st 2008 at 7:35PM


Believe it or not, this is far from the first we've heard of bringing high-def video to cellphones, and it's not even the first application to dabble in mobile 1080p. Still, we'll take all the innovation we can get in this space, and when the real Touch HD ever arrives, we'll be ready and waiting with Full HD capabilities. Announced at ISSCC 2009 in San Francisco, Renesas Technology is showing off an application processor that enables handsets to process 1,920 x 1,080 resolution video at 30 frames-per-second; the processor's core has a maximum operating frequency of 500MHz and supports MPEG-4 AVC / H.264, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video formats. There's no telling when the 6.4- x 6.5-millimeter chip will be available en masse, but we need the HTCs of the world to get us a 1080p phone and a retina implant or two to read 0.2-size fonts before it even matters.

Samsung Omnia becomes first DivX Certified handset in USA

by Darren Murph posted Nov 26th 2008 at 10:50PM


Samsung's Omnia is far from being the first handset in its stable to grab the coveted DivX Certified badge, but it is the first with said badge to ship in the United States of America. What's it all mean? Pretty simple, really -- those lured in by the Omnia's boyish good looks and seductive touchpanel will have no issues playing back DivX video files on the 3.2-inch screen, regardless of whether those files are stored on the 8GB of internal space or on a microSD card. We probably speak for DivX fans across the web when we say that this is hopefully just the beginning of a long list of DivX-friendly phones to come stateside.

Orange launching 60 high-res mobile TV channels in France

by Darren Murph posted Nov 24th 2008 at 7:11PM

Upon first glance, we almost flipped a lid at the mere mention of "high-definition mobile TV." Turns out, that's probably a misconstrued way of saying "high-resolution," or, "a higher quality than usual." At any rate, Orange is making the final touches on its mobile TV service, which will deliver 60 channels (20 with unlimited access) on the company's 3G+ UMA platform. Reportedly, the first handset to take advantage will be the LG Secret KF757, which will be the first mobile to boast the Orange TV Player -- an application that enables users to "flick from one channel to another and to consult a guide to programs showing on each channel." Sounds pretty sweet, but be sure and give us a call when you really have high-def content to share and a phone to take advantage.

[Image courtesy of DirectNews]

DoCoMo serves your DLNA content to a friend's TV via mobile phone

by Samuel Axon posted Oct 10th 2008 at 4:49PM

Eager to live in the fantastical future it has prophesied, NTT DoCoMo went to CEATEC and demoed an upcoming addition to its Pocket U service: MH2H (Mobile Home to Home), which gives you the ability use your cellphone to stream content from your computer at home to a friend's TV. The phone connects to your friend's WiFi network and sends his or her DLNA-compliant receiver the IP address of your also-DLNA-compliant server, then tells said server to accept the connection and start streaming any videos, songs, or photos you feel like sharing. When you leave, the connection ends and every one goes back to partying on their own isolated media islands like it's 2006.

[Image courtesy of Tech-On!]

On2 Technologies reveals 1080p hardware video decoder for handsets

by Darren Murph posted Feb 11th 2008 at 1:29PM


On the same day that Texas Instruments chose to showcase a new chip that would enable HD recording capabilities on cellphones, On2 Technologies is taking a moment from its hectic day in Barcelona to trumpet an all new 1080p hardware RTL video decoder. The Hantro 8190 reportedly supports Adobe Flash along with H.263, H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark and VP6 video formats, and it can even handle JPEG images up to 16-megapixels. According to On2, the device was created to be easily integrated with ARM, MIPS and "other embedded CPU and DSP cores," and can supposedly decode 1080p H.264 video at 30 frames-per-second using a clock frequency of just 165MHz. As it stands, the Hantro 8190 is currently available for licensing, but only time will tell who's going to bite.

Silicon Image VastLane Mobile 5-pin HDMI standard

by Ryan Block posted Jan 8th 2008 at 5:04AM

A few companies have demoed cellphone chips capable of HD output, but the fact is HDTV inputs weren't designed with mobile power requirements and form factors in mind. Apparently unsatisfied by the mini HDMI connector created as part of HDMI 1.3, Silicon Image went ahead with its own design, reducing HDMI's 19 pins to 5 while still retaining compatibility for full HD and digital audio in a package it calls Mobile High Definition Link (MHL). Cutting out any serial connector or further compression, the first MHL equipped products are the VastLane SiI9220, SiI9222 and SiI9290, which could reach cellphones near you as soon as the third quarter of this year.

Sling Media working on Apple TV compatibility

by Evan Blass posted Apr 10th 2007 at 3:22PM

So we just got it straight from the horse's mouth -- the horse in this case being Sling Media's and Zatz Not Funny's own Dave Zatz -- that the company is hard at work on adding Apple's Apple TV to the growing list of devices compatible with your SlingBox. As Dave points out, not only will Apple TV compatibility allow you to placeshift your video content, you'll also be able to stream your entire iTunes library thanks to the 'Box's audio-only mode; who needs an iPod when you can access all your music directly from your Windows Mobile, Palm, and possibly J2ME-equipped cellphone sometime in the future? As usual, we'll let you know when you can start slinging your Apple TV swag, and of course, if and when Team Sling does decide to build a Java client (hint hint, nudge nudge).

TI pushing to get DLP in your cellphone, local cinema

by Darren Murph posted Jan 10th 2007 at 5:40PM

It's not terribly uncommon to see a manufacturer try to push a product (or platform) into every crevice of your life, and it seems that Texas Instruments is diverting quite sharply from its calculatorish ways of old and making an aggressive push to get that DLP logo slapped on everything you own. While we've seen (literally) the diminutive Microvision display do its thang here at CES, TI is hoping to steal that thunder away by talking up its forthcoming palm-sized DLP projectors. The "fully featured" Pocket Projectors, which are co-developed by OMAP, would weigh "less than one pound," use the .55 DLP chip, and could purportedly connect to handsets or PDAs to beam up that big(ger) screen imagery for a crowd to see. Unfortunately for TI, these devices are not (at least initially) supposed to be integrated units, which could easily get overlooked if those built-in alternatives can muster acceptable quality. Additionally, TI is hoping to get that DLP logo stamped on your brain even when you visit the cinema, as the company now has its technology in 3,000 theaters worldwide and is frequently throwing logo-clad splash screens onto the canvas during pre-show advertisements. So if you wonder why you're strangely drawn to the DLP sets during your next HDTV shopping trip, trust us, it's not the mirrors, it's the marketing.

[Via AboutProjectors]

NEC's 3D SiP processor enabling high-def playback on portable devices

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 3rd 2006 at 7:06AM

NEC's new chip design and manufacturing process is going to enable them to build processors small and efficient enough to decode video at resolutions comparable to HDTV on cell phones and other mobile devices. While we've covered versatile system-on-chip (SOC) processors making their way into set top boxes and Blu-ray players, NEC's system-in-package (SiP) SMAFTI (SMArt connection with Feed-Through Interposer) design uses a 3D to overcome conventional SiP hurdles and enable data transmission at up to 100Gbps. Apparently this "microbump connector" will move data around at 10 times the speed of existing technology, making your handheld much more powerful. Finally, we can expect devices using SMAFTI to begin appearing during the first quarter of 2007.

Since we're not electrical engineers, much of that is gibberish but the possibilities are so nice we can't even decide which rumor to start. High-def iPod? Microsoft's Zune/Xboy HDTV player on the go? Managed copy-enabled cell phones for your HD DVDs? Of course the most likely possibility is some cool Japan-only mobile phone (Chinese non-HD n930 pictured above), but does anyone else think HD resolution on a 3-inch screen might be overkill? (Nah, not us either.)




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