Texas Instruments Inc. (Dallas, TX; www.dlp.com) has reported that interest in the company’s DLP Pico chipset has been so strong that it has invested heavily in an upgraded version. The company plans to start sampling a second generation DLP along with related chip technologies during the second half of this year. Product will be available in late 2009. These chips enable new and improved features in mobile devices.

Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant

At this time, first generation DLP Pico parts have been designed in to some top end phones. One example is Samsung Electronics’ new phone with an embedded pico-projector, which is based on the first generation of TI’s Pico technology. The phone sells for about $500 in South Korea. TI says that Pico parts have also been designed into upcoming notebooks and handheld media players.

The second generation DLP features WVGA 854×480 (that is, DVD) resolution. In addition, it is smaller enabling an optical module that is about 20% thinner with about 20% smaller volume (see photo where first-gen pico chip is in the lower left and second-gen chip is in the upper right). The second generation DLP also incorporates technological advances that increase both the brightness of the projected image and power efficiency of the product.

The latest DLP Pico chipset can be paired with a TI OMAP application processor to deliver improved performance for mobile users.

In comparison to today’s most popular advanced phones, which include Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, TI said the new OMAP 4 will be able to download Web pages 10 times faster, support six times higher video resolution, 10 times better graphics performance and six times longer audio play time. In addition, the chip has three times better computing performance than its previous OMAP 3 chip. It will also improve on the audio playtime and browsing speed of OMAP 3.

One key win for OMAP 3 includes it support of Palm Inc’s Pre. The Pre phone is set to launch in the first half of this year and is widely anticipated to be a strong iPhone competitor.

Even though the cell phone industry is in chaos as a maturing market coincides with a dismal economy, there may well be bright prospects for chips that support new features. With growth rates slowing, it is now all about the upgrade market. What drives consumers to buy a new phone? The answer is, at least in part, the availability of attractive new features and improved capabilities. And that is the raison d’être of the new TI chips.