TI looks for EDGE with new cell phone reference design

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January 21, 2004 (IDG News Service) -- Texas Instruments Inc. announced its first chip set for Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE) networks, a steppingstone on the road to third-generation (3G) wireless networks, it said Tuesday.
TI's TCS3500 chip set is intended to allow cell phone designers to build smart phones and handheld devices that run on EDGE networks. These networks offer faster data rates than current Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) 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 Code Division Multiple Access networks by carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp., said Tom Pollard, worldwide marketing director for TI's wireless chip set 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 chip set 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 chip set, 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 chip set, 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 chip set 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.
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.
Dallas-based TI declined to release pricing for the TCS3500. Pricing varies greatly depending on the number of chip sets purchased, Pollard said.
On Monday, TI also announced that it's shipping samples of its first 90-nanometer chip, a 1-GHz DSP for products that require more bandwidth

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