Samsung Electronics Unveils 533MHz Mobile CPU

Posted By: Ryan Monday, July 21, 2003 12:40:53 AM

Samsung Electronics today announced fastest mobile CPU to date, with a core speed of 533MHz. The new mobile CPU integrates a number of components and features an ARM core. It is aimed at PDAs and smartphones and will be in production by the fourth quarter.

The S3C2440 enables features such as camera interface, TFT & STN LCD display support, SD/MMC/SDIO, USB host and device, and touch screen interface. By providing a comprehensive set of common system peripherals, the S3C2440 reduces overall system costs and eliminates the need to configure additional components.

The S3C2440 features an ARM920T core, a 16/32-bit RISC microprocessor for high performance in a small form-factor and a low core voltage of 1.3V. In addition, it is developed using 0.13um CMOS standard cell and a memory compiler and adopts Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA).

The S3C2440 CPU supports major operating systems including Microsoft Windows CE, Palm OS, Symbian and Linux. The device also offers the advantages of a built-in NAND flash boot loader so that high-density NAND flash memory can be used without having to install an additional support chip.

Samsung's mobile S3C2440 CPU is sampling now in 533MHz, 400MHz, and 300MHz versions and will be in mass production from Q4 2003. A recent Gartner Dataquest forecast reveals the global application/ multimedia processor market is expected to reach 25 million units in 2003 and leap to 170 million units by 2007.

    "The increasing popularity of mobile applications is driving the demand for high-performance, low-power mobile processors, " said Vice President Yun-tae Lee of the Mobile Design Project Team at SOC R&D Center, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung developed its newest 533MHz processor using its unique high-speed process and low-power design technology in conjunction with an optimized power management methodology for high performance operation from a minimal power source."

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os 6 chip?

antikryst @ 7/21/2003 1:18:25 AM #
hmmm??? would this be an os6 chip? maybe palm should figure out more features for the up coming os so that the speed would be utilized fully.

RE: os 6 chip?
abosco @ 7/21/2003 2:18:07 AM #
OS 6 will be fully utilizing ARM code for applications. Current OS 5 devices still have DragonBall applications with ARMlets to speed up certain processes. With OS 6, everything is written in native ARM code. This makes it optimized indeed.

This could be used in OS 5, even. The only thing stopping it is time. OS 6 will probably be out by the time this processor is released, not to mention rumors of the 800 MHz X-Scale.

-Bosco

RE: os 6 chip?
gfunkmagic @ 7/21/2003 2:53:38 AM #
Pretty incredible when you think that a year ago today, the fastest processor available on a PalmOS pda was a 66 Mhz dragonball!

Visit http://goodthatway.com/
-better living through better technology.
RE: os 6 chip?
Tungstenman @ 7/21/2003 10:16:02 AM #
800mhz xscale? am I missing something here, in a palm OS device, that sounds cool.

A Palm in one hand is worth 2 Pocket PC Bricks
: )
-Steve

Link To Samsung press release

gfunkmagic @ 7/21/2003 1:50:12 AM #
If anyone's interested in reading the original press release, you can find it below:


http://makeashorterlink.com/?I25936555

Visit http://goodthatway.com/
-better living through better technology.

Update from Samsung

ConceptVBS @ 7/21/2003 2:55:15 AM #
They are planning to release a 1GHz mobile CPU near the end of next year. It's been only 21 months since Samsung started the mobile CPU business. Look at where they are now. I think Intel should watch its back. Samsung is renowned for being agressive in almost every market they enter.

RE: Update from Samsung
abosco @ 7/21/2003 3:27:33 AM #
ALMOST every market??? 65" HDTV plasma TVs, Palm OS and PPC killer smartphones, plus all the crazy tech they show in other countries? Samsung is definitely a company to watch for the next decade.

-Bosco
RE: Update from Samsung
Wollombi @ 7/21/2003 11:03:42 AM #
It's kind of ironic, too. I remember when Samsung was a name to avoid in electronics.

_________________
Sean

It is not very comfortable to have the gift of being amused at one's own absurdity.
-Somerset Maugham-

RE: Update from Samsung
elo @ 7/21/2003 11:08:07 AM #
I think that Samsung is the new Sony. I've had great luck with their recent products, while my Sony stuff (excluding Trinitron TV's and Clies (so far) are all crapping out on me. Things do change and Samsung is really coming out swinging.

RE: Update from Samsung
ozz @ 7/21/2003 10:43:37 PM #
I just bought a new Samsung Laser Fax machine and it has almost every feature known to mankind on it. I'm very happy with it. Yes, Samsung appears to be coming on VERY strong in all areas of electronics. Stay tuned.

_________________________
Lord, help me become the person my dog thinks I am!
RE: Update from Samsung
Tubaguy47 @ 8/1/2003 10:39:48 AM #
The stuff that Samsung makes lasts FOREVER... I have an ols Samsung 386 that runs like new. Absolutley no comparison to modern computers, though.

-Mr. Tuba

Thechnology Marches On!!

soundguise @ 7/21/2003 2:59:50 AM #
All I can say is that I am still using a 500MHz Pentium 3 based computer as my primary machine. Boy am I behind the times. I guess when the first handheld running at 533MHz comes out I will be forced to upgrade my desktop and my handheld for that matter out of pure shame.

Really though announcements like this remind me how much the focus of growth in computing has shifted to the mobile computing platforms. Things are going to stay pretty exciting over the next few years.

RE: Thechnology Marches On!!
Haber @ 7/21/2003 5:40:05 AM #
Don't worry. The Samsung chip probably does less work per clock than a PIII. The venerable X-Scale at 400MHz does not equal a PII at the same clock, for instance. They aren't easy to compare either, the PC being x86-32 and the X-Scale ARM. My laptop is a PII/PE running at 400MHz, if that helps, and the Linux box is an AMD K6 233MHz.

Mhz != Performance

doctor__no @ 7/21/2003 5:28:50 AM #
Though this processor does sound promising, especially with integrated peripheral support, I'm not conviced of it's performance... yet.

I'm disappointed by the opening comment, " Samsung Electronics today announced fastest mobile CPU to date". As I'm sure we're all aware of, core speed certainly doesn't equal performance, and I'm hoping that most people won't be mislead.

Apart from that, this processor doesn't seem to offer anything that XScale, or similar processors, otherwise couldn't. The main benefit it seems is that by integrating common system peripherals and having a built-in NAND flash boot loader the processor may reduce the overall cost of device (that's assuming if this processor is affordable).

RE: Mhz != Performance
ConceptVBS @ 7/21/2003 7:03:36 AM #
The current Samsung S3C2410 266Mhz mobile CPU used in HP Ipaq 1940 performs equally with HP Ipaq 2210 using Intel's Xscale running at 400Mhz. What people dont understand is these S3C series have RAM + NAND Flash + CPU + all the extras on one silicon sliver, in other words, in one chip. There are no bottle neck between these components. That is why they call it SOC (System-On-Chip). If the performance of the 266Mhz version is any indication, this 533Mhz version will kick major ass. It will give Intel a run for its money both in performance, power efficiency as well as cost.

Possiblilities

Timothy Rapson @ 7/21/2003 8:20:49 AM #
Great News
The things that jazz me about this are:

Competition is good. More speed, lower prices, more features.

The camera function built-in.

Samsung is huge volume and can do everything from the chip to the support software (they have their own hardware abstraction layer for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile 2003) to the case design. I am pretty sure they make screens from scratch and they are one of the largest if not the largest memory chip manufacturers in the world.

.13 micron. The smaller a chip the faster AND the less power. I believe .13 is as small as it gets right now.

That support for NAND and Samsung's experience with piggybacking and making memory itself, could mean huge amounts of RAM built-in for next to no expense in $$, size, battery life, or complexity.

We could get a ton of new features: voice recognition, optical scanning of pages of text (through that camera that has built-in support) coverted to text right on the PPC, new levels of compression for video and audio that would allow us to save more on less flash space, and......drum roll......HIGHER RESOLLUTION SCREENS without slowdown!

OS 6 and Windows Magneto (whatever it is called it better have higher resollution support) may both have a new champion in the CPU wars of Winter 2003/2004.



How does this power use compare to current CPUs?

JonAcheson @ 7/21/2003 12:23:10 PM #
I'd be interested in knowing.

Of course, the CPU isn't the major power-sucker, AFAIK that's the screen, but it would certainly help.

"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

533MHz ARM Now?

vesther @ 7/21/2003 11:00:24 PM #
Interesting.....Very interesting.......

I hope Consumer-Level Handhelds will be at least 400MHz fast in the future....because some of these consumer-level Palm Powered Handhelds definitely need some much-needed speed boost here...

Established Consumer Palm Handheld Possessor since 2002

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