Freescale Semiconductor has unveiled the future of the smartbook category with a tablet reference design featuring a 7-inch touch screen with up to four times the viewing area of a typical smartphone and based on a form factor that is approximately one-third the size and volume of today’s typical netbook.
The design is intended to enable a second generation of smartbook products with prices less than $200 and featuring form factors that fully leverage the power, performance and functionality advantages of advanced ARM processor technology. It is designed to provide instant-on functionality, persistent connectivity and all-day battery life. The design will be demonstrated at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show running both the Android and Linux operating systems.
We are looking at Freescale’s 1GHz i.MX515 processor based on ARM A8 technology, other specs include Freescale’s MC13892 power management IC, SGTL5000 audio codec and the MMA8450Q 3-axis accelerometer. The solution is designed to help OEMs jump-start creation of smartbook tablets. End products based on the design could hit retail shelves as soon as the summer of 2010.
Example smartbook platform applications intended to run on the tablet include a web browser with Adobe® Flash® Player and multimedia plug-ins, a media center, PDF and image viewers, a mail client, an RSS reader, an office suite, handwriting utilities and various widgets for Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Weather SMS and other applications.
Smartbook reference design features
· Size: small/thin form factor (200mm x 128mm x 14.9cm and weighing 376 grams); no need for fan or heat sink
· Processor: Freescale i.MX515 applications processor provides high performance and low power
- ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz
- OpenVG & OpenGL/ES graphics cores
- HD video decoder hardware
· Memory: 512 MB DDR2
· Display: 7-inch (1024 x 600) touch screen
· Storage: 4-64 GB internal storage; removable micro SD
· Connectivity: 3G modem (option) 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, RF4CE (option)
· Ports: USB 2.0 and USB mini (also for charging), audio in/audio out, SIM card
· Audio: speaker, microphone
· Camera: 3 Mpixel (video recording up to VGA @ 30fps)
· Battery: 1900mAh, USB charging
· Sensors: the MMA8450Q 3-axis accelerometer and an ambient light sensor
· Power management IC
