ARM Community: Smart Connected Devices - ARM Community

COMPUTEX, Taipei, well known for being a launching point and preview of some of the latest cutting-edge devices and technologies in the mobile and mobile computing industry, is coming up this week.

Through the years, ARM and the ARM Partners have gradually seen their hard work come to life. Here is a look back at COMPUTEX from ARM’s perspective.

2007
Mobile computing and communication technology were about to change the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry. At COMPUTEX 2007, ARM announced Jazelle MobileVM for enhanced JAVA acceleration on mobile handsets, showing ARM’s commitment to partners working on improving the performance of mobile applications such as g...

It’s only when preparing for my US Visa interview that I realised how much technology I was using and abusing daily
With a look back on my experience, you might see that you too are nearly as much of a geek as I am

First, I needed to submit my application online (DS-160) so I used the ARM Cortex-A8 based Toshiba AC-100 to fill-in the form (of course). The webcam came in handy to submit the picture and an ARM Powered® HP Photosmart C309n gave me all printouts needed for the interview.
Having to go to London, I thought the train journey would be a great occasion to organise emails and catch up...

A few weeks ago I was on the way to the Airport and the limo driver was talking about his Smartphone and all the great things that he did with it day to day. He then mused about what a Smartphone will be capable off in 2-3 years time; even though I have spent hours talking on this topic, I could not respond at the time the, as the Cortex™-A15 was still under embargo . Now working on the principle of better late than never, I can now answer his question.

More Performance In Your Pocket

The Cortex-A15 is ARM’s next generation application processor core aimed at highend Smartphones (and many other devices) coming to the market in 2013. If you want more details on the Cortex-A15 please read Nandan Nayampally’s blog or look up Cortex-A15 specs at http://www.arm.com.

The Cortex-A15 will continue the trend of increasing performance in your Smartphone, driven by enhanced usag...

Netbooks, smartbooks, tablets ... Lots of buzz but where is the beef? I for one thought they would be here sooner. Until recently, netbooks and eReaders were the real things that stuck with the consumer, but it came after the UMPC and MIDs which were misses. In addition, when it comes to tablets, there were many attempts over the years that, to be kind, were not very successful. For tablets, it took Apple to break the code and deploy a product that resonated with the consumer and overnight define a new product classification.

So I get asked where are the ARM tablets and smartbooks, and why they have taken so long? Well it all comes down to timing and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). Let me explain.

Google, Android or Chrome OS? A year ago it was clear that Android was the OS for these new...

I’ve drawn parallels in the past on this blog between the level of innovation and technology advancement that has been driven by a smarter, more connected human system (e.g. the social Web) and what can be possible if all technology (not just mobile technology) could enable the same level of connectivity, built-in feedback and intelligence.

There is a real opportunity for devices to become even smarter by working together by sharing information and operations. The hope is that this interconnectivity will lead to a network of smarter connected devices that is more comprehensive, adaptable and responsive – impacting everything from healthcare to the energy grid to safer automobiles. In the energy grid for example, devices can work within a system context rather than in isolation, adapting their workloads to the needs of those devices around them or detecting faults in the system of devices before a major problem arises.

But while innovation in hardware and application development is an exciting topic it is just one side of the equation, the other side of that equation is connectivity – the pipes connecting these devices.

That’s why I was excited to read a ...

One of the very exciting elements of consumer electronics today is the rate of change and re-invention. ARM’s strategy is to be at the center of the continuum of internet enabled devices – from smartphones to tablets and netbooks, to DTV and STB’s. The form factors and the software and applications running on these devices will continue to shift with consumer preference and technology innovation, but ARM will be at the heart of these great devices (continuing my thoughts from my CES blog). Having seen for myself at the recent web 2.0 show products such Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, Nexus One and the Nvidia Tegra 2 Android tablet...

Following Intel’s latest profit report, Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal raised an interesting question on the viability of Netbooks in his blog.

I recently have been asking myself and our community a very similar question, that you can read more about in this post: Will Netbooks join UMPCs and MIDs in the technology graveyard?

Ironically when I viewed Don Clark’s blog, right next to the article was an advertisement that contained a picture of the iPad. The juxtaposition of the article headline raising questions about the future of Netbooks against the visual backdrop of a break-through tablet device struck me as funny.

Sure there is still some desire in the market for even lower cost basic netbook devices. By breaking a $200 barrier these new devices could reach emerging markets, support education initiatives and could really help to drive netbook volumes.

But as an avid consumer of technology, I generally hold the view that consumers want more than a cut-down PC. They need devices with better battery life and...

While it was great to see the ARM9 powered ...

Coming back from CES and MWC, I found that Android is not a handset OS any more; I have seen Android in so many different form factors: handset , eReader, tablet, smartbook , STB etc. Since Android is an open source platform, anyone can customize it based on their own needs. Some of our software partners are providing Android customization service to the device manufacturers.

ThunderSoft spoke with me at MWC about their work with an Android tablet:



China may become the largest market for Android

When I talk to...

Having just chalked up another MWC, I am left with a couple of overall impressions from the show. Firstly, there was definitely a buzz back in the event and despite the absence from the show floor of a couple handset vendors, the official number of attendees over the four days was 49,000. But in addition to the atmosphere, there were a couple of other overriding themes and technologies that were evident.

Trends in Smartphones

Firstly, the sheer volume of the high performance mobile platforms from many semiconductor vendors was impressive, so expect a noticeable step change progress in smartphones over the next one to two years. 1080p HD video & graphics along with multiprocessor cores at 1GHz and above for high end platforms were evident on many stands. These were consuming every possible bit of data which seemed to be causing headaches for many exhibitors reliant on outside communication or internet connectivity...so spare a thought for the network planners when these devices hit the market.

Growth of Application Delivery

The focus on application delivery was also evident, with the success in the new App Planet event with each of the top OEMs hosting a session...

CES has always been where future ideas are tested and the impact of well placed bets becoming a reality. At 2006, people starting talking about HDTVs connected to the internet, ARM realized that to become a leader in these devices we must support the internet. This kicked-off internal discussions that were initially focused on getting ARM into computing, but very quickly it boiled down to “it’s the internet stupid” and that the internet would be critical for ARM’s success in the future. This initiated engineering efforts by ARM and our Partners to make this a reality. Fast forward four years and I can say the bet paid off in spades and in ways, we did not imagine. Let me show you what impressed me …

eBooks/Readers explosion … this was the year of the eBook/eReader at CES, they were everywhere and a couple received best of show in their categories. The Barnes and Noble nook, Alex by Spring Design, and Entourage edge; all integrated a second screen and Google’s ...

As a student of physics, I have always been drawn to the fundamental truths. However, after a career of marketing it took a true scientist to remind me to go back to my roots and look for the simple truths that hide within complex problems.

It happened when I was giving a recent talk to a large group of ARM engineers and technical fellows at our internal global engineering conference. The subject of my talk was an inside look at the much talked about ARM vs X86 battle. I naturally highlighted many of the power differences between two very different approaches to processor design including the fact that the ARM architecture was designed from the start for mobile.

After my talk I was approached by one of the most famous (internal to ARM) original architects of the ARM instruction set. As a marketer at an engineering conference, it was an honor to finally meet him in person and I was surprised that he took the time to talk to me. He complimented me on my talk but then very gently pointed out that I had a bit of the ARM history wrong – ugh!

You see, the original ARM instruction set was designed f...

I was pretty impressed with Ubuntu remix on the Acer netbook that I’ve been playing with, but wondered if I could use a netbook as my day to day computing companion for a trip away. During these business trips, I use my laptop to give presentations, remain in touch with work (e-mail and office applications) and as entertainment.

I usually travel pretty light anyway (an under 6Kg Samsonite rucksack that has room for clothes and equipment). This lasts me up to a week. With the netbook, the bag was certainly lighter, my MacBook is pretty heavy.

Getting Ready

I like to listen to the BBC podcasts; I’m particularly addicted to “The Archers”. I spent time reformatting my iPod to Windows and downloaded the Banshee music player as that had good reviews. After a lot of messing about, I managed to get my music onto the iPod but I just could not get the podcasts to automatically load onto the ipod. I created a list and loaded the mp3’s separately.

I had previously made sure that e-mail (Evolution) worked and I noticed that you can select mail folders to be available off line. When you go back on line, they automaticall...

My final review of the Netbook, will be on the sound and visual quality this smart mobile device presents. As well as its capabilities to navigate through the exciting world of social media!

Sound and Vision

Photographs are supported via F-Spot which helps you organize photographs. It surprised me by recognizing my Canon G9 when I plugged it in and downloaded RAW format photographs. Like iPhoto, it includes integration with Flickr. It doesn't allow you to edit, but Google's Picasa is available and does exactly that, giving more or less the same features of Apple's iPhoto.

Gimp (a Photoshop replacement) is also available, if I want to do heavy editing. The sm...

Everyone loves the iPhone. Everyone loves the App Store. But why should Apple have all the fun? Or rather, why should they have all the apps, and all the app developers? What if there was a single SDK that allows you to write a rich mobile app in vanilla C++, compile it to native ARM CPU instructions, then click a single button to generate standard app installer packages for the iPhone, Android, ...

My wife thinks my job is to breed worms and develop environmental habitats. While this is obviously not true, there are some parallels to be drawn between her thinking and my real job of enabling a robust graphics ecosystem. For example my job does involve helping develop efficient interdependencies between partners (organisms) who share a common technology culture (habitat). The partners in this case include almost everybody in the software creation value chain of consumer electronics, namely the silicon vendors, OEMs and their 2nd and 3rd party developers. The technology that binds all of my ecosystem partners together is advances in graphic technology with adoption of graphics processing units (GPU), and history has taught us that the early marriage of software and hardware is essential for market success for upcoming technologies.

The software developer ecosystem is facing multiple challenges at this time, when time to market is crucial for everyone including OEMs and 2nd party developers who produce increasingly complicated devices.

Mobile application stores, originally introduced by Qualcomm and perfected by Apple, have produced the right formula for a huge number of 3rd party developers, including “indie” develope...

NetBooks, the new breed of low power, cut down laptops have gained significant popularity over the last twelve months. They seem to be being used as cheap laptops (for students) and second PCs, perhaps being used for traveling and conferences. Microsoft has given WindowsXP a reprieve in order to support them and is promoting support for them in the upcoming Windows 7 release. Apple remains aloof and mysterious.

Meanwhile, Linux based versions of NetBooks are available now. Often these have tailored distributions of Linux, aimed at ease of use, particularly for those unfamiliar with Linux.

Curious about how this will play out I took an Atom based Acer Aspire One and installed Ubuntu Remix onto it. This is Canonical's approach to making Ubuntu user friendly on a 9” or less screen. What I want to know, is could I use this machine in my day to day work and home life? What improvements would I make, if I could? What does this mean fo...

过去几个月来，基于 ARM 处理器的移动计算平台在中国一直备受关注。手机行业和 PC 行业的众多企业均对此“新兴”市场兴趣满满。此外，芯片集供应商已成为该市场中的关键合作伙伴，因为他们拥有芯片和公板设计。高性能 ARM 移动计算平台（如基于 Cortex-A8 的平台）比以往的平台更加复杂。因此，来自芯片集供应商的直接支持对于 ODM/OEM 完成初步设计非常重要。每周我都会接到来自这些公司的几通电话，询问有关该市场的更新信息（包括他们可以并肩合作的任何合作伙伴的信息）。有些电话非常有趣，因为是从深圳地区（多数灰色市场厂商聚集的地方）我从未听说过的某些公司打来的。灰色市场是指制售品牌非常小甚至无品牌或营销活动的设备的中国小型制造商。他们说希望做基于 ARM 的智能移动设备....

中国现在拥有巨大的灰色市场..数百家中小型公司正在这个市场中拼搏挣扎。他们非常灵活变通，只要是可以赚钱的设备，他们都愿意做。他们�...

There have been a number of items in the press over recent weeks about video technology and so I am going to explore why this is important for Smart Mobile Devices. One of the interesting news items was about the inclusion of standard video codecs in the HTML 5 specification. It seems that a lack of agreement between interested parties means that a standard is currently not possible. Another news item was the Google announcement of the acquisition of On2 Technologies - a company noted for providing the video compression technology used by the likes of Adobe Flash and Skype.

So why is the specification and control of video codecs so important?

Digital video signals from a video or TV camera have very high data rates in their raw format, but fortunately also contain large amounts of redundant information. Video codecs exploit this redundancy to compress the digital signal and reduce the amount of storage required to hold a particular video and hence reduce the amount of data required to transfer the video to an end user. When you want to view the video, the decoder uncompresses the data and regenerates the original video....

China, one of the largest PC, mobile phone and consumer electronic markets in the world, is at the center where all companies in the industry are competing with each other. And now, it’s one of the critical markets for ARM based mobile computing devices. We are working with our partners including Silicon vendors, OS vendors, software service companies as well as OEM/ODMs to enable the market in China.

Convergence is happening everywhere in the industry: fixed line and wireless; embedded and PC, especially mobile and internet. Everyone is talking about mobile internet in China such as the operators, internet companies, wireless service providers etc. There were 298 million internet users in China by the end of 2008, among which 117.6 million users also accessed internet through mobile phone; growth of 133% more than 2007， according to CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center). I am expecting the next 100 million internet users in China will access the internet through mobile devices rather than PCs.

Chinese people are one of the craziest and most endurable users I have ever seen. Many young generation people will spend 2-3 months’ salary just for a latest “cool” Nokia phone, and then change to another one in half-year time. They like to try new devices and services, and they ar...

ARM Powered Smart Mobile Devices Press Tour took place from coast to coast in the US and then on to the UK. From this two week tour the articles listed below are some the of the news coming from the various media.

Windows to run on ARM processors by 2013

ARM has legs

ARM Outlines Next-gen Netbooks and Smartbooks*

Can ARM Come Between Microsoft and Intel?

ARM hopes to lure Microsoft away from Intel

ARM-Based Pegatron Netbook Protoype

ARM-Powered Pegatron Netbook Showcased

Pegatron shows netbook with Palm Pre's CPU

...

We just took a delivery of 15 netbooks and distributed them around ARM; I am excited to take mine on the road with me this week to show the press and here is a little about my experience with this smart mobile device so far.

A little about the device … it is 10.1 “netbook” powered by two cell battery and an ARM Cortex-A8 running about 800MHz. They are extremely light and are made thin because they don’t generate much heat. These are not production units and are considered engineer samples; cases are “soft tooled” so the fit is not solid like production units but it gives a good a feeling on where the products are going. Electronics wise the device is close to full function complete, but from software prospective more work is needed … but too not much. What’s missing is from the software side includes power management, 2D/3D driver optimization, and some video codecs.

That said, this device rocks and I can definitely see a bright future. The installed OS is Canonical’s Ubuntu 9.04. WiFi...

I‘ve been thinking recently about the different trade-offs needed when designing ARM powered smartbooks* and netbooks and how they are different from traditional x86 PCs. So whilst sitting in my car at the lights yesterday, some analogies sprang to mind.

Over the past few years, the desktop seems to have evolved like a drag racer – It’s all about peak performance – Maximum throughput and maximum clock frequency is what matters. This might be necessary if you’re an out-and-out gamer, but is it really required for the majority of users? The problem with this approach is that the quest for performance pushes all other design criteria out the window - The way to get more and more performance is to throw more and more power at the problem. You end up with the equivalent of a 7000hp drag racer that can run a quarter mile in sub 5sec. Great for bragging rights, but not much use in the real world.

When you want a mobile device that can be used all day, then you need more than just performance - you need power efficiency as well. This isn’t some aftermarket add-on or some minor changes to the periphery of the system. It’s a fundamental cornerstone of the design. We’ve seen the approach of squeezing a PC design into a UMPC or MID and give a wry smile whenever battery life is mentioned. The power consumption is simply too high and battery life ...

Today Google announced that they will be releasing a Google Chrome OS for Netbooks & Smartbooks* supporting both the ARM architecture and the x86 architecture. Of course this has generated a lot of press and commentary such as "Clash of the Titans" in the Economist, with a strong focus on the rivalry between Google and Microsoft, but what does it mean to the consumer?

What Computing Power Do You Need?

Traditionally computing has followed Moore’s law in that consumers have followed the increase in computing power. Today this has resulted in incredibly powerful desktops that consume 600+ Watt, but what does the consumer do with that? The simple answer is that for typical use cases consumers do not need this level of performance, unless you ar...

On 16th June we saw the results of the UK government’s report mapping out a plan to ensure every household in the UK has access to 2 Mbps by 2012 and with a vision of making 50 Mbps available to 90% of the population by 2017. With the delivery mechanism through ADSL & fibre optic technologies, the long timescales must surely put a smile on the face of mobile network operators (MNOs) who are offering comparable data rates with all the advantages of wireless connectivity. Whilst the consumer may like the convenience provided by mobile broadband, MNOs are viewing mobile broadband as an opportunity to deliver new services and content as they already enjoy a billing relationship with the consumer. However, the target devices are not just mobile phones or PCs connected through dongles, but the new class of Smartbooks unveiled during Computex in the Smart Mobile Devices category.

The capacity to consume content on Smartbooks is arguably higher than that of traditional PCs. Due to their long battery life and integrated on-chip hardware acceleration with video and graphics processors, these devices offer the capacity to decode three HD movies on a single charge and suitable graphics performance for...

Following my first blog on the history of GPUs, I’d like to continue the discussion of OpenGL ESv2.0 and the evolution of Smart Mobile Devices. GPUs have gone from traditionally being games accelerators to becoming an essential part of game platforms (i.e. we are not talking about GPUs accelerating games anymore, they are an absolute necessity to even play a modern day game). In ARM we experience that the same thing is happening in the mobile platform but for a much wider range of applications, and of these, the biggest one of all is the User Interface (UI). Devices today are increasingly differentiated on the crispness of the UI (I will leave any discussion about actual usability out of this post; I am still an avid shell user even sitting on a Mac) and device manufacturers are seeking to insert as much “soul” as possible into the UI in attempts to gain more market share. Although it is 2-3x more expensive in terms of silicon cost to add a GPU that can support OpenGL ESv2.0 compared to a fixed function GPU supporting OpenGL ESv1.1 or OpenVGv1.1, it is becoming an absolute necessity in order to support the high-quality graphics effects i...

For the last few years we have been hearing how x86 CPU in PCs could be scaled down to create great mobile devices to service the needs of today’s mobile consumer. While this sounds like a great idea it overestimates the role of the CPU in enabling these devices and oversimplifies the underlying hardware power management challenges. To create truly smart mobile devices, the CPU must be integrated with other processors, such as the graphics and video that are optimized for their specific tasks and can be powered off when not in use. Only then can a compelling user experience be created that covers the range of criteria (all day use, always connected, performance, multimedia) that today’s consumers demand in their mobile devices.

The PC way of thinking has always been about providing the peak performance necessary to do any work load in SW on the CPU. This is evidenced by the move to higher and higher clock speeds (2+GHz and “burst performance”) to achieve the necessary performance for diverse applications such flash animation or HD video in the next generation of PC netbooks. The impact, of course, is high peak powers and high idle powers due to the process technology and number of gates in the CPU necessary to achieve the required maximum clock frequencies. These high peak powers require expensive and complicated thermal management solutions that limit form factors and increases costs while the high idle power drains the battery when not in use. Toda...

ARM Community at Computex

Don’t Supersize My Processor….Consider ARM Smart Mobile Devices
Kerry McGuire reflects on the excitement around Computex 2009. She describes her ideal smart mobile device and the technology needed for it.

ARM in the News

Pegatron Netbook: Freescale CPU, 8hr battery, super-slim & 3G [Video]
By Chris Davies, Slashgear.com, June 4, 2009

Wistron N900z Smartbook*: sub-$200 ARM netbook [Video]
By Chris Davies, Slash Gear, June 3, 2009

ARM's East Interview on Semiconductor Industry [Video]
Bloomberg TV, June 2, 2009

COMPUTEX 2009: the year of the low power chip
by Scott Bicheno, Hexus.channel, June 3, 2009

...

Cut the Wire, Rise from Your Desk & Make the Internet Personal

The Smartphone Redefined Email
Would the Blackberry have been successful if it had taken the laptop email experience and just made it smaller? No, RIM took advantage of the always on, connected experience of your Smartphone and redefined the email experience to make it a compelling (perhaps too compelling) experience. The same is happening with the Internet; Smart Mobile Devices are going to redefine how the Internet is used.

Making the Internet Personal

Smartphones redefine the Internet experience because as well as offering a full browsing experience they offer unique features that a laptop cannot offer:
• Always with you
• Always on
• Always connected
• “Swiss Army Knife of features” including still camera, video camera, GPS, 3D compass, 3D accelerometers

This unique combination of features will allow a wide range of Internet services that will be accessed from the Smartphone in your pocket, making the Internet truly personal and not deskbound.

Smartphones Today – Redefining Shopping Around You

So how has the Smartphone enhanced an Internet service? Let’s just take a simple example of online price comparis...

With the Silicon Handcuffs Off, Taiwan Will Lead A New Era of Choice in Computing

With ARM and its expansive Partner ecosystem providing compelling platforms for the (mobile) computing market, Taiwan’s ODMs and OEMs, for the first time, will have the freedom to innovate and differentiate through a new class of Smart Mobile Device that they provide.

I’ve spent many a year in the traditional PC industry, but now I’m seeing signs of a major transformation happening at the ODMs. For the first time, they feel the freedom to move from implementing a defined specification/device to making new devices that leverage the base technology. This freedom allows them to choose the best ARM Partner for the class of device that they are designing.

Computex 2009

Having finished a week tour in Taiwan meeting with ODMs, I was amazed at the focus and excitement surrounding this year’s Computex. As usual, the ODMs are striving to beat out their competition by showcasing their products to existing and prospective OEMs. However what makes this year unique is the opportunity that they see in the diverging PC market and the potential to change what has been the legacy for the last 20+ years.

Taiwan has built its business model of suppliers to a common platform driven primarily by one silicon company. The model runs on razor thin margins with little room for differentiation. Notebook X must have these features; netbook Y must...

Netbooks with ARM technology will start shipping in the next couple of months, ushering in a new level of usability for the consumer – the best in Mobile Computing. Like your Smartphones, these Smart Mobile Devices will be thin and light, have great internet and multimedia experience, and will set the bar for battery life – delivering a full-day experience. Saving you from making that painful choice between your work and your back.


Trials of a Road Warrior with limited battery life

Having your battery go flat with no place to charge can mess up your day. I have been lucky with most of my portable devices because they get me through the day before I have to seek out a wall plug or USB port for charging. But for some, or should I say one in particular, it is challenging to keep going for more than a couple hours. Yep, my trusty notebook. With notebooks you have a choice of light and limited work, or heavy and a back problem. I choose the heavy, back-breaking option because as a road warrior I can’t afford to lose hours in my day due to a lack of battery power.

I travel frequently and in good or bad times my company has us fly in coach. When I board I always hope that I am lucky enough to get the seat with power and hope it works, but most of the time the closest power is the socket in the airplane’s bathroom. (I’ve...