Agere Systems introduced a silicon solution for delivering much more affordable entry-level cell phones that feature compact disc-quality music.
The TrueNTRY X125 platform, which consists of semiconductor system chips, software and a product development kit, provides processing power three times greater than most typical cell phones in use today. In addition, Agere's audio software and hardware electronics circuitry and processing technologies play integral roles in delivering sound quality comparable with industry-leading music players. The solution provides a dedicated applications processor separate from the communications engine, enabling users to receive phone calls or surfing the web while playing music.
The solution is aimed at entry-level mobile phones with bill-of-materials cost as low as $30. At such low cost points, the cell phone market has the potential to accelerate its growth rate substantially, particularly in developing nations such as India and China.
Other key features include:
- integrated speaker amplifier
- integrated CD quality stereo
- integrated polyphonic sound synthesizer
- integrated Universal Serial Bus 2.0 On-the-Go controller with charging
- integrated power management circuits to support all phone peripherals
- integrated battery charging circuits with over voltage protection
"CD-quality music is rapidly becoming a 'must have' application for voice- centric and basic cell phones," said Denis Regimbal, executive vice president of Agere's Mobility Division. "The challenge has been figuring out how to achieve high-quality music and other higher-end, multimedia features on cell phones while making them much more affordable."
To date, Agere has shipped chips for more than 135 million cellular phones.
http://www.agere.com
