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…