ARM Community: Which Devices Enable Your Connected Life? - ARM Community

Can you think back to a time before you owned a full color, touchscreen smartphone that allows you to navigate easily to your emails, calendar and favorite games by tapping and sliding on a graphically rich interface? Technology moves fast and with devices now being so user-friendly and intuitive, consumers are becoming rapidly accustomed to having so much information and entertainment at their fingertips – so much so that we take these devices very much for granted. The capabilities of smartphones, tablets and a range of other consumer devices have advanced so much, it is good to sometimes take a moment to really appreciate how much they now do for us.

Today’s connected consumer wants a seamless, connected user experience from one device to the next and we can no longer live without our smartphones, tablets, DTVs and automotive devices – for communication, social networking, entertainment and global navigation. One survey found that 84% of tablet users are primarily gaming, but predicts a shift to more time spent on email or social networking. From smallest screen, budget smartphones, through tablets and up to wall-filling widescreen digital TVs, we are constantly accessing a range of content to feed our connected lifestyles.

And the capabilities of these devices will continue to make great leaps. The technology being licensed now from ARM by semiconductor companies will enable the next wave of consumer devices hitting the stores over the next few years, with breathtakingly realistic graphics making the user experience even more immersive.

ARM is working with a range of Partners, targeting different devices at a range of price and performance levels, with different screen sizes and different target consumer demographics. Recognizing the need for truly incredible graphics to satisfy consumer demand, silicon companies are building ARM® Mali™ embedded graphics IP into the solutions they are taking into their customers’ smartphones, tablets, DTVs and automotive media systems.

In the last few months, a number of ARM Partners in the Asia Pacific region have licensed the Mali GPU IP, taking market-leading technology into the full spectrum of consumer devices. Recently, LG licensed a range of ARM technology, including Mali GPUs, to drive its strategy across a range of product lines from mobile phones and tablets, through to digital TV and set top boxes. Mali GPU embedded graphics IP has also been licensed by Fujitsu along with complementary ARM Cortex™-A15 CPUs and ARM Corelink™ systems IP to develop full function SoCs. Spreadtrum also selected Mali IP, licensing the Mali-300 GPU to bring high performance, embedded 3D graphics to affordable entry-level mobile phones.

Android™ is rapidly becoming widespread across a variety of connected devices with a growing wealth of content available. Telechips has licensed Mali GPUs from ARM again, this time the Mali-400 MP for Android based tablets; meanwhile Allwinner is targeting Android devices from tablets through to automotive with its solution based on the Cortex-A8 CPU and Mali-400 MP GPU. Shanghai InfoTM is taking a range of ARM CPU IP and Mali GPUs into mobile computing devices. Further licensees include Leadcore who will integrate its Cortex-A9 processor and Mali-400 MP GPU-based applications processor with its own baseband chip for high-end smartphones compliant with China’s 3G standard, TD-SCDMA; and Brite Semiconductor having also licensed a range of ARM CPU and Mali GPU IP to take its solutions into multiple consumer markets.

These forward-looking semiconductor vendors in the fast-paced Asia Pacific geography are confirming the ability of Mali platforms to bring unprecedented graphics performance to all screen-based consumer devices, big and small.

Are you ready to immerse yourself in the next generation of addictive content on your upcoming Mali GPU-enabled connected device?

Lorna Dunn, Marketing Communications Manager, ARM, Lorna’s background is set firmly in marketing, in education and experience…giving her a much less technical outlook than many of her colleagues and the ability to see things from a more mainstream consumer point of view. As an accredited Chartered Marketer, Lorna holds the CIM Diploma in Marketing which she went on to after an International Business degree from Aston University Business School and EDHEC, France. Lorna has since clocked up over 10 years working in Marketing Communications for technology companies. Working with the Media Processing Division at ARM to communicate what Mali can deliver to the outside world gives Lorna an incredible insight into the technology and partnerships that come together to deliver the devices that are really now part of our everyday lives – however technical we are!