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Symbian running on a multi-core CPU configuration

Categories: Symbian, Technologies
By: , IntoMobile
Saturday, June 13th, 2009 at 1:59 AM

Symbian Foundation’s blog has recently announced that a team at ST-Ericsson and ARM have managed to make Symbian running on a highly capable SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing) configuration. In other words, Symbian can sing along on dual-core CPUs!

The test environment consists of an ST-Ericsson U8500 smartphone platform embedding the first silicon implementation of ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore in the industry. A single instance of the Symbian operating system schedules multiple threads concurrently, distributing the CPU load on two cores. This guarantees the best combination of high performance and low power providing an unparalleled capability to build next generation mobile products for a variety of advanced consumer experiences.

The hardware used also contains an HSPA Modem, and can accommodate features and functionality such as:

  • HD 1080p camcorder and video
  • Up to 18 million pixels camera
  • ~100 hours audio playback time
  • 10 hours HD video playback time
  • Simultaneously TV out over HDMI
  • Video and Imaging accelerator
  • Hardware accelerated 3D Graphics supporting OpenGL ES 2.0
  • 2xWVGA (960×854) displays
  • Touch UI on 2 displays

Please note that this is more of a proof of concept than something any manufacturer will pursue in the short term. Who knows how much we’ll have to wait to see the first dual-core smartphone being released. We’ll certainly watch carefully for any such news…

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • vasra

    Symbian should understand that the fact that they’ve been ablo to port and developer-test their OS on a multi-core mobile CPU tells the sad state of their affaris, and not the opposite.

    Other manufacturers are almost ready to *ship* products based on CPUs like Snapdragon and Symbian has just managed to barely port/test-run their OS?

    Good grief.

    They really need to sharpen up their communication skills.

    While this may be good news for Symbian, the spin is totally off.

  • Thomas

    Is Nokia going to make a decision to take Symbian or Maemo as their OS of choice?
    What’s the real difference? It seems kind of a waste to support two open source OSes.

  • Jeff

    ST-Ericsson started to work on the Mont Blanc (code name for the 8500) a while ago.
    The 8500 is a double cortex A9 core. This processor is more powerful than the qualcomm
    snapdragon. The first OS supported will be Symbian because the ST legacy with Nokia
    and the AP Nomadik family. The next OS to be supported will be Android.

    Many interesting things are coming… LTE too :-)

  • mirmit

    Snapdragon is not a multi core processor. It’s just an ARM and a DSP. This exist for a very long time. Here we are talking about two ARM core running together Symbian OS. This wil lallow to reduce the bare clock speed, and ask the second processor, or the 3rs, 4th…, to take its part of the jobe to provide horse power when needed. This should lead to longer standby time and better battery usage.

  • Neeraj

    Multi Core means that there are two different version of ARM or one ARM and one DSP.
    what about base band processing .which Processor will be responsible for that job ARM or DSP.