New cell phone memory from Intel

Intel on Thursday began shipping its next-generation flash memory for cell phones that support cameras, color screens, Web browsing and video. The component, called StrataFlash Cellular Memory (M18), can operate at speeds of up to 133MHz, the company said. The NOR-based memory supports 3 megapixel cameras and MPEG4 video and was produced using 90-nanometer process technology. NOR Flash is used for code storage in applications, most notably cell phones and networking equipment.

For developers, Intel released royalty-free software with three new features: mountable USB, multivolume support and RAM buffer support. Currently, eight handset makers including NEC and Sony Ericsson use Intel flash memory in their devices.