QuickLogic today announced that the good folks at Pantech are the first OEM to bring VEE and DPO to a smartphone in their ‘Tablet Phone’ (AKA Vega 5) product.
As you might expect, we have had access to the phone during the development process, and I have to commend Pantech on the end product. Although the phone is bigger than average (height and width….depth, it’s no bigger than a normal smartphone), it still does fit quite comfortably into my shirt pocket, and for others will certainly will fit into a purse. Weight-wise, it’s a lot lighter than you’d expect; and this is done without sacrificing the feeling of a solidly-built phone constructed of quality materials.
Performance-wise, even outside of VEE and DPO, the phone is pretty snazzy. Watching a movie on it is something to behold—it’s amazing how just 1” of difference in screen size makes all the difference when viewing experience is compared. We did a very unscientific test here at QuickLogic HQ a few days ago, and without prompting folks for answers, it’s very apparent that the display size and viewability are going to be primary consumer purchasing motivators. That, of course, and the stellar battery life.
Regarding said battery life…think about this…a 5” display and a 1.5GHz processor…on a phone. Compare that to whatever mobile phone you have in your pocket or sitting next to you on the desk – likely your screen is more than an inch smaller, your processor is probably slower by 33% or more. Now picture your battery life, or lack thereof…imagine what battery life might be like on the Pantech phone without DPO? (incidentally, a friendly reminder to charge your phone)
Concluding, we are extremely excited about the Pantech tablet phone, and certainly hope it’s the first of many phones in the months/years to come.
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and by the way…coming VERY soon…
Any update on the Vega Racer? Just curious if Pantech allowed one press release would they allow another?
The ability to do multiple press releases really depends on a number of variables; the OEM, the projects/products that would be announced, the sensitivity of those projects/products, etc… My experience is that doing an announcement is truly case-by-case, even within the same OEM.
We always want to keep our investors and followers as informed of QuickLogic news as we can, and continue to make sure of that in the future.
What an advanced device. I could see the use of the built-in digital TV tuner,” receiving signals in the standard T-DMB” in this video….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDiUr6Lwkvw
Does this signal pass through the CSSP on the way to the screen also?
On the issue of “Customer Desire for Visual Enhancement vs Power Savings” can you say what the Pantech no 5 chose?
Does it use MDDO software?
Thanks in advance for any insights….
Jon,
I shouldn’t get into too much into detail regarding the inner workings of the phone, or the particular desire for Visual vs. Power Savings.
However, I can give you general answers:
(1) A typical phone architecture: Mobile displays normally only have a single display input; that is, they cannot have multiple video source chips plugged directly into them. Due to this, all video sources (such as the TV tuner you mention) are typically interfaced directly with the CPU/apps processor. The CPU/apps processor then ‘decides’ which video source to display, and passes that signal to the display along the display path. Our CSSP chips sit in that display path, after the CPU and before the display.
(2) Regardless of emphasis on power savings or visual enhancement, all smartphone and tablet customers using VEE and DPO can expect to receive at least double-digit battery life savings and some degree of visual improvement, even if the emphasis chosen is 100% one way or another.