CES has been quite a show with all big names revealing their next-gen SoCs and ST-Ericcson had something a little different to offer.
While big wigs like Nvidia and Qualcomm and Samsung lifted the curtains on their next-gen processors, ST-Ericsson followed suite, determined to not be left behind at CES. ST-Ericsson unveiled the NovaThor L8580 chipset with quad-core A9 CPU at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
The NovaThor L8580 chipset comes with a low-power eQuad processor with four Cortex-A9 cores, clocked at up to 2.5 GHz, coupled with the PowerVR SGS544 GPU, and offering the ability to go low-power and run at 0.6V. It boasts of the ability to handle screen resolutions of up to 1920×1200 pixels along with 20 and 5 megapixel rear and front cameras respectively without any hiccups. What’s also claimed is glitch free playback of full HD content. There’s also built-in LTE HSPA , TD-SCDMA and EDGE radios.
While most modern high-end phones will be moving on up to the Cortex A15 architecture, the NovaThor L8580 should fit right into the rung just below the flagships. It would offer significant processing power and exceptional battery life all at a very affordable price, or at least that’s what ST-Ericsson would have us believe. Whether this becomes a reality or not is something we will know only once the first few devices with this processor start rolling out. Till then, please don’t hold your breath.
Check out the ST-Ericsson L8580 chipset’s block diagram below, as well as ST-Ericsson’s listing of the features. Do also check out Nvidia‘s, Samsung‘s, Qualcomm‘s and Intel‘s chipset unveilings.
FEATURES
- Full HD 1080p camcorder, multiple codecs supported (H264 HP, VC-1, MPEG-4)
- 3D HD video capture and display
- High-resolution, touchscreen display support up to WUXGA
- Simultaneous dual display support up to dual qHD
- High-performance 3D graphics
- Dual camera support up to 20 Mpixel and 5 Mpixel
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS (GPS GLONASS), FM and NFC enabled platform
- Built-in USB 2.0, HDMI out
- Optional support for mobile TV standards
TELECOM
- LTE FDD/TDD, HSPA , TD-SCDMA, EDGE
- Radio supporting up to 10 LTE/WCDMA/GSM bands.
- Power efficient architecture
- Highly integrated radio solution
TECHNOLOGY
- Super fast, low-power eQuad processor clocked at up to 2.5Ghz based on ARM® Cortex™- A9 processor
- Dual multimedia DSP for low-power, flexible media processing
- High-bandwidth Dual LP-DDR2 interface
- Imagination Technologies POWERVR™ SGX544 GPU
- Unique audio architecture with a wide range of audio codecs supported
- Advanced power saving architecture enabling class-leading audio and video playback time