ATI to bring high-speed video to mobile devices

[Colin Dunstan]

Unlike its competitor Nvidia, ATI is doing it right: the video chip producer is clearly big-time riding the mobile wave. With the launch of two new media processors, the Imageon 2282 and the Imageon 2182, the company is offering two new solutions to boost audio and video performance multimedia capabilities on mobile phones. The higher performance Imageon 2282 is targeted at the high mid-tier mobile phone segment while the Imageon 2182 targets the mainstream, low mid-tier segment. Features:

Audio: The new programmable audio engine in the two processors enable new features such as CD-quality, 3D ring-tones along with high-quality stereo recording and playback (in AMR, AAC, MP3, Real Audio, WMA and MIDI).

Video: The video engine enables a mobile digital video recorder/player and a 3 mega-pixel digital still camera. In addition, the Imageon 2282 provides video streaming and video conferencing functionality with picture-in-picture support.

There are also PDAs powered with ATI's Imageon chips. HP's iPaq hx4700 for instance features a Imageon 3220 video chip, which used to be the top of the league for quite some time. Only recently, Dell knocked off HP with the introduction of its Axim X50v, which uses the superior Intel 2700G multimedia accelerator.

[Pride Of Lions]

With advances like these, I salivate to think of the next generation of Tapwave Zodiac's. I hope that they get it right and offer us a line of Zodiac's that include the latest and greatest for those of us who desire it.
POL9A