Siano Mobile Silicon has announced the launch of a new multi-standard mobile TV receiver chip, the SMS1230.  The SMS1230 supports the major global broadcast mobile TV standards of DVB-T, T-DMB, and ISDB-T, and, in addition, digital radio (DAB/+) and FM Radio.  The new receiver chip, exhibiting the best performance in the mobile TV market, is the high-end member of Siano’s multi-standard MDTV receiver chip family, which includes also the SMS1150, SMS1130, and the low cost SMS1140, launched earlier this year.

Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano, commented, “Siano’s new high-end SMS1230 is targeting customers that are pursuing top-notch DTV reception performance – reception in extremely tough conditions such as vast distances from the nearest broadcasting tower, or in the presence of very strong interfering signals, or while commuting by car or by train at very high speeds.”

The SMS1230 is currently available in sample quantities, while mass volumes will be available starting November this year.

Of course, what we all want to know is which devices this will be in, and which services will make use of it. I still continue to hold a torch for (Broadcast) Mobile TV, but it’s going to need chips like these, that can bridge standards easily, for it to succeed.

OLED-info.com is quoting iSuppli on some news regarding a potential boom of OLED screens in mobile devices…

Apparently iSuppli says that OLED displays for mobile devices are going to rise from 22m to 178m units, between 2009-2015 – that’s quite a growth! However, in a contrasting statement, OLEDs will still only account for 6% of the market in 2013.

If you are wondering what the average OLED screen costs, well apparently the 2.6″ OLED in the N86 cost $7.05 – whereas the equivalent LCD would have cost $6.50. That said, shaving even cents off the BoM (bill of materials) for a device is important when you are shipping millions of units – so perhaps there’s room for that delta to come down slightly, and add another catalyst to this potential sales growth we are expecting.

[Story via: OLED-info.com via: iSuppli]

My buddy Ron over at OLED-info.com has been a busy bunny – he’s been providing analysis on what the screens on a couple of OLED-sceen mobile devices are like. Short summary: not very good.

However, before we get into it, a refresher on OLED:

OLED is an emissive display technology – it means that the OLED materials emit light. This is in contrast to a reflective display – which uses an external light source – an ePaper display for example, or a ‘real’ paper. OLEDs are bright, and provide great image quality, but because they are emissive, when viewed under direct sunlight (or any strong light source) they have a readability problem.

The best display technology for direct sunlight (besides ePaper) is said to be transflective LCDs, which uses a reflective layer under the LCD’s filter. However this reduces the transmissive capabilities of the LCD, and the contrast is compromised as well. With OLEDs, unfortunately, it’s not possible to use a reflective layer as the OLEDs themselves emit light.

So all of that said, what were the handsets with issues? Well those that are not great are the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N85, and also the Samsung Omnia II. To be fair, it’s not something specific to a particular manufacturer, more a quirk (or feature, as more wily marketing types would have you believe) of OLED per se.

Ron neatly summarises:

Several companies are working to solve this issue – mostly trying to improve the contrast of the OLED displays.The Fraunhofer institute, for example, is working towards OLED contrast optimization in combination with high temperature stability and outcoupling enhancement structures for the automotive industry.

In conclusion, it seems that sunlight visibility is a major drawback with OLED displays, and if you use your phonemainly outside in the sun, perhaps it’s best to get one with a translective LCD. But OLEDs are improving, manufacturers are just learning how to optimize them and hopefully the next generation displays will perform better.

Check out the full article here.

[Story via: OLED-info.com / Video still via: pocketnow.com on YouTube]

The audio may be a bit quite on this video, and it may be a bit long for your ADD self at over 6 minutes, but don’t let that stop you from hitting play and being absolutely bloody amazed at what these guys have created. Ben first told IntoMobile readers about the iBand about 2 weeks ago, when it was featured on the BBC1 television program Dragons’ Den. I usually don’t write about accessories because frankly I don’t care, but this is just … wow, just wow:

It will cost you only $25 (20 British Pounds on Expansys) and that is one hell of a price for what you’re getting. Fantastic work Tech21!

[Via: Engadget, Recombu]

Tegra in an HTC? Quite possible...

PCworld.com is carrying an interesting story, reporting on the fact that Nvidia’s Tegra range of chips will be finding their way to lots of mobile devices soon.

Now we’ve talked about the Tegra before (here and here), but the thing that brings this new story up-to-date is that the Zune HD (Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s digi-music player) will be sporting the chip – in fact the one in the Zune will be an APX 2600, which tech-mumbo-jumbo aside, simply means it has the processor grunt to play 720p HD video.

Apparently we are going to see more devices, all in the portability area, finding their way in to the market this year, including smartbooks, MIDs, and smartphones. Some of these will be powered by the higher-end Tegra chips, running at 7-800MHz. However next year’s chip could be running at 4x the performance, so imagine what we’ll see then (hopefully something in a mobile form-factor that does 1080p HD – just a thought!).

Interestingly, by popping 720p in the Zune HD, it means that it outperforms that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone/iPod touch, which cap out on VGA resolution video. Rocking the HD on a 3.3 inch OLED doesn’t hurt either, and putting HD on the video output will turn it in to some kind of pseudo-Apple-TV-like competitor.

But the Tegra goodness doesn’t end there – it also enables Flash in the browser, a feat only previously accomplished by the HTC Hero, in terms of the mobile side of things.

From my perspective, it’s great to hear about technical capabilities, but I wonder about two other things – first, the user experience, and second the available content. I guess before the end of the year, we should have a stack of Tegra-powered devices to make our judgements on…

[Via: PCworld.com]

A few weeks ago, OLED-info.com reported that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) are using two OLED panel suppliers – Samsung and TPO. The latest update is that TPO has some technical issues, and are not yet supplying panels to Nokia… oops!

TPO plans to launch their first product later this year – a 3″ (or a bit larger) WVGA panel for mobile phones. This panel is already in development. In 1H 2010 TPO will release a 3″ VGA panel aimed for digital cameras, and in 2H 2010 a 4″ WVGA panel for mobile phones.

Of course, all very nice, but no panel for Nokia in the short-term – ouch, that’s gotta hurt inventory-wise, but I’d imagine Samsung will happily take up the slack!

[Via: OLED-info.com]

RIM invited me to hang out with them at the lovely Bryant Park Hotel Cellar Bar in New York City to get a first hand look at their upcoming BlackBerry Curve 8520.  Not only was I able to talk about the 8520 with them one-on-one, but they even allowed me to bring one home with me to poke and prod to my heart’s content!

When I first got my hands on the Curve 8520, I was surprised by how light the device was.  The last BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) I owned was the good ole 8700g, so to go from that phone however many years ago it was that I had it, to this one is a huge step forward.  One of the things RIM wanted to put a lot of effort towards was the 8520’s sleek and streamlined design.  RIM did a great job with that as the 8520 doesn’t feel clunky in the hand.  The 8520 also has small buttons on the right and left side of the device.  The left has one, which by default launches voice command.  The right has three: The first two are for volume control, while the third is towards the middle and by default launches the camera program.

The optical trackpad on the 8520 is also something that should be pointed out.  When you navigate through the menus using it, it’s rather impressive on how smoothly the 8520 navigates.  It’s especially apparent when you’re navigating through the web browser.  Rolling your thumb over the optical trackpad puts less wear and tear on your thumb, especially when you’re scrolling down at a fast pace in order to get to a lower part of the webpage.

And finally, let’s talk about the integrated media buttons located at the top of the 8520.  The placement of these controls were perfect as most people have their phones located towards their hip.  All you have to do to control your music is touch the top of the 8520 and you can easily pause, skip forward or backward while you’re listening to your favorite tunes.  I did notice that the buttons needed a bit of force in order to click the buttons in.  I guess the purpose of this is so users don’t inadvertently bump into something and accidentally switching tracks, but unfortunately it still needs you to have finger muscles of steel in order to use them.

That’s all that we’ll give you for now.  We’ll be working on the review for the BlackBerry Curve 8520, so make sure to check back to IntoMobile to read our full review!

According to OLED-info.com, there are rumors that HP has an upcoming smartphone, called the iPAQ K3 Obsidian. Reportedly it will have a 2.46-inch Touch-AMOLED display, with QVGA 320×240 resolution. Other specs include a 3.2Mp camera, 528Mhz CPU, 256Mb RAM, microSD slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, microUSB and GPS.

Sounds OK doesn’t it? There’s nothing outstanding with those specs, but as previous devices have taught us, sometimes the end result can sometimes be greater than the sum of all the parts….

Thanks for the heads-up Ron!

[Via: OLED-info.com]

I’ve not had a very good run with my iPhone 3GS – first of all, I found the same rattle that Will found, and now I’ve got screen issues!

What exactly? Well, follow my instructions below and let’s see if you have the same:

- hold the 3GS in the palm (NSDQ: PALM) of one of your hands

- take the thumbnail of your other hand and gently run in from the centre of the screen outwards toward the bezel

- see if your thumbnail slips off from the glass over the bezel, or

- …. if it catches on the bezel

….. basically my screen is higher on one side than the other – and looking at the device in profile, you can just about see this.

I was expecting this to be just my issue, but when I typed “iPhone screen not flush”, I got back a bunch of hits – seems like I am not the only person with this problem! Interestingly, this doesn’t appear to be just a 3GS problem, but prone to occur on other devices too!

Now I’m not commenting on this purely because I am OCD, but for practical reasons – if the screen doesn’t mount flush, I’d guess there would be a higher chance of dirt or fluid ingress? Certainly that’s been the case on other devices I’ve owned.

I’m also a little disappointed that the build quality from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), a company normally famed for its industrial design, is a bit lacking here – in my opinion that is.

Anyone else got the same issue?

Oh, thank god. The three-in-one extUSB port nonsense that we’ve had to put up with in the Touch Pro 2, Magic, and countless other HTC devices will soon be a funny story to tell our grandkids. HTC has gone on record about their strategy with standard headphone jacks, and we are all thoroughly, thoroughly elated.

The vast majority of devices we launch after Hero will have a 3.5mm jack. Devices that we have already announced but that still come out after Hero will not necessarily be a part of this change.

Gigitty. We’ve seen HTC already wising up to this problem with the Hero, though we might have to trudge through a few more extUSB-only devices in the immediate future. Fine, whatever it takes – you can even keep extUSB on there, if you insist – just give us a plain ol’ 3.5mm headphone jack, too.

[via TechCrunch]