Freescale Semiconductor has unveiled 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 an average netbook.
The company claims that the design is intended to enable a second generation of smartbook products with prices less than $200 and featuring form factors that leverage the power, performance and functionality advantages of ARM processor technology. It is designed to help OEMs create smartbook tablets based on Freescale’s i.MX515 processor incorporating ARM Cortex-A8 technology.
According to Freescale, the new prototype includes the MC13892 power management IC, SGTL5000 audio codec and MMA8450Q 3-axis accelerometer, Wi-Fi and bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a 3D desktop framework with touch screen/QWERTY keyboard support. 3G modem and RF4CE protocol options are also available.
Smartbook reference design features small/thin form factor (200mm x 128mm x 14.9cm and weighing 376 grams); processor incorporated with ARM Cortex-A8 core, OpenVG and OpenGL/ES graphics cores and HD video decoder hardware; 512MB DDR2 memory; 4-64GB internal storage; removable micro SD; and 3G modem (option) 802.11 b/g/n, bluetooth 2.1, GPS and RF4CE (option) connectivity, the company said.
In addition, it is also equipped with MMA8450Q 3-axis accelerometer and an ambient light sensor; USB 2.0 and mini, audio in/audio out, SIM card; 3 megapixel camera; 1900mAh, USB charging battery; and power management IC with battery charging system for both USB and wall charging, output buck converters for the processor core and memory, boost converters for LCD backlighting and serial backlight drivers for displays and keypad, plus RGB LED drivers.
Henri Richard, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Freescale, said: “Freescale’s new tablet opens the door to an exciting new world of compelling form factors specifically designed and optimised to support common online activities including social media, high-quality audio/video playback and light gaming.”
