Microsoft will allegedly announce its entry into the smartphone arena early next year with an iPhone rival built around NVIDIA’s new system-on-a-chip (SoC) for small form factor mobile devices, according to a report.
The report claims the Redmond-based software behemoth will unveil the device at February’s 3GSM conference in Barcelona with shipments expected to follow shortly thereafter.
Though specific functions and features were not mentioned, it cites “well-placed sources” that claim the device will be powered by one of NVIDIA‘s upcoming all-in-one Tegra chips.
It’s assumed the Tegra will be made available in three variants: the Tegra 600 for GPS and satnav markets, the Tegra 650 for notebooks, and the Tegra APX 2500 that will be used in smartphones.
The Tegra APX 2500 will, it’s thought, include a 600 MHz MPCore Processor, be able to support a 12 megapixel resolution camera, up to 720p H.264 decoding, and NVIDIA nPower technology that could provide power for over 10 hours of HD video playback and up to 100 hours of audio.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, we’ll see. The first Nvidia Tegra-based devices are expected to begin shipping in mid-2009.
TBC | £TBC | Via The Inquirer
