Update: TI looks for EDGE with new cell phone reference design

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) announced its first chipset for EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) networks, a stepping stone on the road to 3G (third generation) wireless networks, it said Tuesday.

TI's TCS3500 chipset is intended to allow cell phone designers to build smart phones and personal digital assistants that run on EDGE networks. These networks offer faster data rates than current GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service) networks, but fall short of the data rates promised by the oft-delayed 3G networks.

EDGE networks are seen by GSM carriers in the U.S. as a competitive response to the rollout of new, faster CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks by carriers such as Verizon Wireless Inc. and Sprint Corp., said Tom Pollard, worldwide marketing director for TI's wireless chipset business unit. European carriers are also rolling out EDGE networks in order to improve bandwidth while waiting for the market to develop for 3G networks, he said.

The first EDGE networks are starting to appear in the U.S., but the majority of that business won't emerge until 2005, Pollard said. The TCS3500 chipset will be available to manufacturers in sample volumes in the first quarter, with full production volumes available in the fourth quarter, he said.

The OMAP850 applications processor is the backbone of the chipset, Pollard said. That chip also incorporates a quad-band EDGE modem, and upgraded imaging capabilities that allow the chip to power up to 2 megapixel digital cameras, he said. A power management chip as well as a Bluetooth chip complete the chipset, he said.

Intel Corp. released an EDGE chip last year, hoping to break into the market for cell phone chips that is currently led by TI. Intel's PXA800EF chip comes with the applications processor, the digital signal processor (DSP), and flash memory integrated onto a single chip, unlike TI's chipset approach.

The integrated approach can boost performance, but TI opted to let customers choose the amount of flash memory they require for their cell phones, Pollard said. Intel's customers can add more flash memory in their phones, but some customers might not need as much flash memory as found in the PXA800EF, he said.

There are tradeoffs associated with the two approaches, said Mike Feibus, principal analyst with TechKnowledge Strategies Inc. in Scottsdale, Arizona. The chipset approach offers customers more flexibility and lower manufacturing costs, but cell phone developers worried about the size of the chipset can build smaller phones with Intel's chip, he said.

The TCS3500 was released as a reference design that can help cell phone builders quickly develop a product, Pollard said. The reference design includes software tools and guidelines for motherboard design, he said.

The reference design also supports a wider variety of operating systems than Intel's chip, Pollard said. Cell phone developers using the TI design can run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile, the Symbian OS (operating system), Linux or PalmSource Inc.'s Palm OS. Intel's PXA800EF customers can only run real-time operating systems that support Java on that chip, an Intel spokesman said.

By themselves, Intel's XScale applications processors support the wider range of operating systems, the spokesman said.

TI declined to release pricing for the TCS3500. Pricing varies greatly depending on the number of chipsets purchased, Pollard said.