N95 Processing Power !

Only when i blogged about the NviDia 6100 GoForce Graphics solution for smartphones did it cross my mind to check about how the N95 did it's number crunching, not to mention how it supported the 5MP camera and that 3D snake and System Rush game.

So i did some research and i must say i was really impressed with what had turned up!

The N95, Nokia's answer to multimedia computers, runs on a very interesting combination of hardware. As you know it has 64MB of RAM and 160MB of flash memory. It's CPU works on a Texas Instruments OMAP microprocessor known as the OMAP 2420. The OMAP 2420 features 332 Mhz clock speed, PowerVR features (3d and 2d accelerator) and High speed peripheral interconnect while running on the ARM11 architecture. Per the TI website, the OMAP families are broken into "High Performance", "Basic Multimedia", and "Modem and Applications". I smiled a bit when i saw that the OMAP 2420 is listed under the High-Performance segment - that explains the smooth graphics on system rush and snake. Oh yeah.. and it has 2 of these processors too...

PowerVR's latest designs on the portable market, the low power PowerVR MBX and high performance PowerVR SGX, which have become the de facto standards for mobile 3D, having been licensed by six of the top ten semiconductor manufacturers including Intel, Texas Instruments, Samsung, NXP Semiconductors, Freescale, Renesas, and Sunplus, and is in use in many high-end cellphones including the Apple iPhone, Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P1i, and Motorola Z8. The thing is the N95 runs on the low-power MBX version.. i shudder to think what would happen if it were using the power hungry SGX. We would then almost certainly have to go Yoobao then.

Thanks to all these cool hardware the N95 packs a punch for handling graphics - Fully HW accelerated 3D OpenGL ES 1.1 and HW accelerated Java 3D go a long way in re-defining gaming on the n95 and mobile phones as way we know them today. It probably won't be soon before we start seeing hi-graphic gaming phones on the market - a new NGage maybe?

NVIDIA GoForce 6100

the Highly Integrated and Power Optimized Mobile Multimedia Experience

Running highly integrated media features on your phone often meant that there had to be a trade off between battery life and multimedia content processing and voice calls. This no longer has to be the case. The GoForce® 6100® is a highly integrated multimedia applications processor that combines the flexibility of highly optimized DSP technology with hardwired acceleration to deliver the ultimate power optimization – consuming less than half the power of other application processors available on the market today. As a result, the NVIDIA GoForce 6100 delivers rich multimedia features to the mobile entertainment and communications market, enabling mainstream users to enjoy more – more moments in their life with more time left on the battery life. An ideal mix of interfacing, connection, integration, multimedia and ultra-low power features, GoForce 6100 has been designed from the ground up to enable fast time to market for award-winning connected and mobile products in 2007 and 2008. Key Features

Dedicated high performance 250MHz ARM1176JZ-S core Hardwired acceleration for all processing-intensive multimedia and security functions H.264, WMV9/VC-1, and MPEG-4 at up to VGA resolution, 30fps Up to 10 megapixel camera sensor support Support for all available DRM formats Fully integrated, high quality analog audio subsystem Integrated TV encoder and video DACs

Key Benefits

Ultra low power consumption even when running high-performance media features Compatible with multiple network standards, including DVB-H, ISDB-T and DMB Turn key, flexible and highly optimized software and multimedia firmware platform for shorter design cycles iPod quality audio playback Dedicated imaging pipeline for high performance mobile photography Drives LCD displays up to WVGA resolution S-Video TV-out Connects to any network – Up to 3G cellular (HSDPA), WiFi , Bluetooth, GPS, WiMax

With chips as advanced as this already in the market, i think it will probably drive out PowerVR out of the mobile market just as it drove them out of the PC market. Probably within the next few years we may have ultra-portable gaming consoles. Come to think of it, the N95 is already a small gaming console by it-self!

I mean with the TV out cables and the advanced high-performance chip that drives it, the N95 did give pretty impressive results when i played System Rush on the TV. Try it out sometime - i'm sure you'll like it.

US 3G Nokia N95 Getting Battery Upgrade!

It seems Nokia has upgraded the N95 for the US market, taking care of most of the problems that it had faced earlier.

The first is that the thing finally has US 3G. It's 850/1900, so you're cruising on AT&T's HSDPA network at speeds up to 3.6mbps. That's fast.Of course, you can still fall back to EDGE, if you're out of area. Worldwide travelers should know that they did remove the 2100 HSDPA.

Then, the battery. Oh, that puny battery.. it's been upped to a whopping 1200 mAh!! That's a competition to the add-on battery released by Yoobao even!!! 'Course the Yoobao battery is at 1400mAh - but it destroys the looks. The Nokia BL-6F fits in there all snug and gives the N95 the power it so desperately needs. Compare that to the previous N-series Battery Overlord, the N73, with 1100 mAh.

The phone is said to be shipped along with a 1GB microSD to take care of the memory needs that it's 5MP camera would want.. not to mention the rate at which the camera sucks up memry when in video mode with it's 30FPS shooting rate.

There are also rumours going around that the RAM has been boosted up to 128MB. Qith that kinda power i wonder why they didn't add that NVIDIA GoForce Graphics too.. then the n95 would be the ultimate multimedia device on the face of this planet!!

Oh and by the way, the BL-6F doesn't get into the old n95s :( . From what they've said the BL-6F needs more space in the battery compartment. If this phone does come out, then it'l be a really bad day for all euro n95 users out there..

Symbian-Guru says:
Finally they're throwing the US a bone and giving us a leg up over the European market.

Oh well..i guess life's like that...sniff

courtesy symbian-guru.com