THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
The monochrome E-Ink displays have been
a success for e-books. But there seems to be
a requirement for color should these displays
land in other applications. It’s too bad, since
the battery life possible with these types of
displays would be very handy for basic browsing
and e-mail. Video update performance, which
is slower than conventional LCDs, represents
another challenge. This is likely to change,
though, making these flexible displays a preferred,
colorful choice.
LCDs hold the edge for now in all but the
e-book arena. Likewise, LCDs are the only
choice for the MID through laptop categories.
They may be dominant, but the technology
isn’t standing still. Interesting features on the
horizon include 3D, such as those displays
previewed by 3M and Toshiba Matsushita
(see
“3M Film For Viewing 3D Films”). These displays are easier
to implement in smaller form
factors without special glasses.
Lower costs in displays can
lead to some interesting applications.
Sharp’s Mebius adds
a display to the multitouch pad.
It’s a natural combination since
fingers are already in the area.
Likewise, it can present contextsensitive
menus.
Higher resolutions, lower
power requirements, and faster
response times are being delivered
to address increasing
demands for features such as
high-definition (HD) video, which
is part of the equation for many
mobile devices. Encoding and
decoding can be accomplished
by kicking the main processor
into overdrive, though this
tends to push the processor’s
performance and power requirements.
That’s why audio and
video accelerators or coprocessors
are the norm, especially
when coupled with low-power
processors.
IGNORE THE CPU BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The CPU inside these devices
is what really makes this market
space interesting. It’s where
Intel, Via, and AMD are almost
going head to head with Arm
and other alternatives. That trio
has an advantage if the target
operating system is a Microsoft
Windows variant. But these
platforms also run Linux, which
spans the gamut of platforms.
Intel’s Atom and other
low-power x86 chips have significantly
reduced their power
usage. Hefty heatsinks are often
the norm, but the move away
from fans is clear. Some x86
systems use no fans at all, yet
the push for performance always
seems to raise the requirements
for power and heat dissipation.
Some of the first products in
the smaller-form-factor arena
utilized Arm architecture processors.
The Atom has proved to be
a challenge in the netbook area.
However, its low-power characteristics
don’t extend down as
far as the Arm and MIPS solutions
that are popular in the cellphone
form factor.
The high performance-to-power
ratio of these embedded processors
is ideal for mobile applications.
Likewise, even higher-end
processor architectures such as
Arm’s ARM 11 and Cortex-A8 fall
in the 1-W power range, allowing
four- to eight-hour operation
using only a pair of batteries.
And this is without resorting to
low-power displays like those
found in e-books.
IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN
The rising popularity of Linux
also factors into the use of nonx86
platforms. Linux isn’t alone
in this arena, though. Windows
CE and a host of other embedded
real-time operating system
(RTOS) solutions are applicable
in this space. But these options
tend to be utilized in more
special-purpose solutions, like
personal navigation devices.
Nonetheless, Linux offers a
popular platform for applications.
There’s also a move to
versions tailored for this product
category, such as Ubuntu’s
Netbook Remix and Mobile version.
Moblin and Android are
Linux flavors, too.
Windows Vista plays a major
role in the netbook space. The
arrival of the leaner, meaner
Windows 7 will easily displace
Vista, but it could also have
an impact as platforms like Atom continue to cut their power
consumption (see “Holding Out For
Windows 7: A Wise Move?”).
In general, the challenge for this
class of machines is to consider
the range of resolutions, input
options, built-in peripherals, and
communication. At this point, it’s
quite a chore to even address a
subset of platforms. For example,
interfaces that work well with a
mouse or stylus are frequently
very ineffective or even unusable
with fingers.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Finding home is a snap with a
GPS. Much like accelerometers,
falling prices, shrinking sizes, and
lower-power solutions are significantly
extending the range of builtin
peripherals. Digital camera
sensors are often part of the equation,
especially since video encoding
is a nice complement to decoding
hardware.
Wireless support is also moving
from a single-function module
to multifunction RF modules with
options such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
(many flavors), WiMAX, 3G, and
4G. Another item coming into play
is 802.15.4/ZigBee. RF4CE is
a standard based on 802.15.4
that’s being used as an RF remotecontrol
protocol in consumer
electronic products starting with
HDTVs. Incorporating this type of
support into these types of mobile
products turns them into control
systems.
Price remains a major issue.
For the low end, $200 looks to be
the magical boundary, while netbooks
seem to be hitting $400 and
above. It will be interesting to watch
how the mix of features will complicate
consumer choices compared
to products like digital cameras,
where megapixels dominate.