1ghz

Heads up, Intel: TSMC cranks up ARM chip to 3GHz

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has ripped a page right out of the Intel playbook.

TSMC announced today that a chip rolling off its advanced 28-nanometer manufacturing process was jacked up to 3.1GHz -- unheard of in the annals of ARM-based mobile system reviews.

Intel, of course, is not a stranger to fast frequencies. Its high-performance Core i desktop processors run well more than 3GHz, and even its higher-end mobile parts are rated close to 3GHz.

But that's unfamiliar territory for ARM, which is known more for power efficiency than raw power.

More specifically, the TSMC chip is a … Read more

Samsung chip hits 1GHz. Is it bound for the iPhone?

On Monday, Samsung and Intrinsity jointly announced one of the fastest processors to date aimed at devices like Apple's iPhone.

The new 1GHz chip co-developed by Austin, Texas-based Intrinsity and Samsung is similar to the processor that currently powers the iPhone 3GS: a 600MHz Samsung processor based on the ARM Cortex A8 design. U.K.-based ARM licenses its low-power chip designs to many of the world's largest chip suppliers including Samsung, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and, more recently, Nvidia.

The new Samsung-Intrinsity chip, code-named "Hummingbird," could be bound for a future iPhone or like device. "… Read more

Toshiba drops new touch-screen smartphone

I'm no fan of Windows Mobile, but Toshiba Europe just dropped a new smartphone that might make me forgive the OS. This is the TG01, a new touch-screen handset that Toshiba is apparently aiming at the iPhone. And it runs on the Snapdragon CPU at 1GHz.

The speedy proc is nice, and the other features are as high-tech, such as the HSUPA/HSDPA data modem for 3G connectivity, the 4.1-inch hi-res WVGA display, Wi-Fi, GPS, and built-in support for DivX.

Toshiba also has a TouchFlo-like UI layer over the ugliness of Windows Mobile 6.1 that appears fairly … Read more