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What is Tegra - Next Gen PMPs And Smart Phones ?
What Is Tegra?
Nvidia says that Tegra is a the "world's smallest computer on a chip." It integrates CPU, GPU, northbridge, southbridge and primary memory functionality onto a single package. The demos available are impressive and Tegra is shaping up to be the hardware platform for the next gen personal media players and smart phones.The first Nvidia Tegra based devices are expected to begin shipping in late 2009
Tegra is a platform for manufacturers to build consumer devices upon, at present it consists of two lines of hardware.
- The Tegra APX series - this line is targeting smart-phones, portable navigation devices and portable media players. The target software platforms are Microsoft Windows Mobile, Windows CE, and Android.
- The Tegra 600 series - this is targeted towards Smart-books, mobile internet devices and embedded entertainment devices.
The Tegra APX series comes in two flavors APX 2500 and APX 2600
The features offered to the devices that will utilize this hardware platform are similar only separated by one or two differences.
- Processor and Memory Subsystem
- ARM11 MPCore
- 32-bit LP-DDR
- NAND Flash support (Enhanced NAND Flash support for the 2600)
- Storage: IDE for SSD
- HD AVP (High Definition Audio Video Processor)
- 720p H.264 Baseline Profile Encode or Decode
- 720p VC-1/WMV9 Simple & Main Profiles Decode (Advanced Profile Decode for the 2600)
- D1 MPEG-4 Simple Profile Encode or Decode
- Supports multi-standard audio formats, including AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
- JPEG Encode and Decode acceleration
- ULP NVIDIA GPU
- OpenGL ES 2.0
- Programmable Pixel Shader
- Programmable Vertex and Lighting
- Advanced 2D Graphics
- Imaging
- Up to 12 megapixel camera sensor support
- Integrated ISP
- Advanced imaging features
- Display Subsystem
- True dual-display support
- 720p (1280x720) HDMI 1.3 support
- FWVGA (864x480) LCD and SXGA (1280x1024) CRT support
- Composite and S-Video TV output
- Peripherals
- USB 2.0 OTG, USB 2.0 ULPI, HDMI, MIPI CSI/DSI/HSI, UART, SPI, SDIO, I2C, I2S
The Tegra 600 series also comes in two flavors, 600 and 650 again the differences are minimal
- Processor and Memory Subsystem
- ARM11 MPCore @ 650 MHz (the 650 @ 750 MHz)
- 32-bit LP-DDR
- NAND Flash support
- HD AVP (High Definition Audio Video Processor)
- 720p H.264 and VC-1 AP decode (the 650 gets 1080p H.264 and VC-1 AP Decode)
- 720p H.264 encode
- Supports multi-standard audio formats, including AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
- JPEG encode and decode acceleration
- ULP NVIDIA GPU
- OpenGL ES 2.0
- Programmable pixel shader
- Programmable vertex and lighting
- Advanced 3D/2D graphics
- Imaging
- Up to 12 megapixel camera sensor support
- Integrated ISP
- Advanced imaging features
- Display Subsystem
- True dual-display support
- Maximum display resolutions supported:
- 720p (1280x720) HDMI 1.3 (the 650 gets 1080p (1920x1080) HDMI 1.3)
- WXGA (1280x800) LCD (the 650 gets WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD)
- SXGA (1280x1024) CRT
- NTSC/PAL TV output
So What Does Nvidia Claim Tegra Is Capable Of ?
Nvidia is pushing Tegra as the platform for the next generation of small devices offering a "desktop-class user experience", It is for.- Net-books, mobile internet devices , personal media players and smart phones. They say they have reduced the power consumption dramatically to one tenth of that required by traditional configurations and simultaneously increased the ability to process tasks. All of this on a platform they say is the worlds smallest computer on a chip.
Tegra has been designed to be very frugal with power, consuming only 100mW or less while at idle and about 350mW while processing 720p HD video. Power is only supplied to the hardware portions required to perform a running function, if not required the power to that component piece is actually turned off.
Because of this Nvidia states that while their competitors device platforms based on the Atom CPU provide up to 5 hours of music listening time and 3 hours of video. The Tegra platform can deliver 25 days of music listening and 10 hours of HD video processing .(based on 1W display and 24 WHr battery)
So far they have stated the platform is capable of :
- 25 days of music or 10-hours of 1080p video playback on a single charge
- video games play at up to 46 frames per second
- Accelerated graphics with their Ultra Low Power GPU
- Accelerated Adobe Flash animations
- Always-on processors for instant access to a network
- GPU accelerated encode and decode of video
- Multitasking
Can It Live Up To The Hype ?
This depends on the manufacturers. Will they take full advantage of the features the platform offers? Will they skimp on costs? Maybe they will cripple it with DRM and other "features" that tend to frustrate or disappoint the end consumer.
The platform itself has been shown to be competent in demonstrations, the development unit shown in the following videos and other links in this article has these features :
- 800 x 480, 4-inch screen
- HSDPA
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networking
- GPS
- Mobile TV
- 256 MB of RAM
- 5-megapixel camera
The development units are designed for manufacturers to test and to show what the APX 2500 can do but we can only hope that production models based on the platform are almost as good.
The HDMI out allows the device to be used as a portable movie player streaming HD video directly to your TV.( Demo here)
The GPU encoding allows HD video to be recorded if manufacturers take advantage of the support for a 12 megapixel camera sensor.
Multitasking and complex functions have also been demonstrated , this video shows real time processing of an augmented reality game.
The following video is a good introduction to the capabilities of the platform.
Products are currently under development which should be available before the holidays, these include net-books, tablets and MIDs:
- Compal Communications, Inc. CN88 (netbook)
- Inventec Applications Corp. Rainbow (netbook)
- Mobinnova ViewBook N910 (netbook)
- Pegatron Vivid (netbook) * Wistron M5 (netbook)
- ICD Ultra (tablet)
- Mobinnova Mabo (tablet)
Tegras Future
The second generation of Nvidia's Tegra, is slated to ship devices next year. According to Nvidia they already have active devices which their customers are helping them test. The third generation Tegra is also in development, scheduled to reach market in 2011.
Nvidia reports that the second gen chips have 4 times the performance of the currant Tegra chip while maintaining a power consumption of 1W or less.
They claim the third gen will boost that to ten times the performance and still maintain the low power consumption. All this and we are yet to see a consumer product utilizing the first generation.
Future Devices - PMPs and Smart Phones are the next step in computing
Think about the progress of mobile phones over the last 10 years. First they got smaller , in some cases ridiculously small. Recently they have grown in size due to personal device convergence. Smart phones are now capable of competently replacing media players, GPS navigators and a small host of other personal devices.
In 5 to 10 years devices evolved from today's PMPs and smart phones will for many people become the most important personal computing device in their home.
Companies that traditionally produce PC components, laptops and even GPS devices know this. Many have started to make efforts to develop phones.
Asus , Dell even Garmin are set to release a communications device over the next 12 months.
There is very little info on what or who is going to use the first gen Tegra chip in smart phones and PMPs. There have been rumors that HTC is going to base some future smart phones on the platform and Microsoft has also been rumored to be interested in producing a phone. Their recent $500M USD acquisition of Danger, the makers of the Sidekick, points to an interest in phone manufacture , but they are at present denying the any plans.
The only device in this form factor that is confirmed to be using the Tegra chip is the Zune HD.
Unfortunately the Zune HD doesn't take full advantage of the platform.
Even though the Zune HD offers "HD video out" it requires a dock to achieve this. The dock will be sold separately.
Additionally the Zune HD won't actually play HD video itself. The supported 720p HD video files will play on the player, but they will be downscaled to fit the screen. A resolution of 480 x 272 – not HD resolution.
As said above the success of Tegra will depend on the manufacturers taking full advantage of the features the platform offers.
Hopefully for tweakers and gadget enthusiasts the HTC rumors will prove to be true. They have no real interest in adding DRM, and some of their previous designs show they are not afraid to produce a slightly thicker device if they believe they can bulk up the features. Maybe they will produce a model similar to the development unit shown in the demos.
Use the following link to search for relevant reviews or faults associated with the Zune HD. The results are provided by our custom Google search, which attempts to return more meaningful data for individuals researching hardware or electronics products prior to purchase.
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