In-depth interpretation of TI's processors - mobile phone processor series (Part 2)

Due to the huge success of the OMAP1710 processor on the Nokia Symbian terminal platform, TI's development in the mobile phone processor chip industry at that time was smooth sailing. Two years later, TI launched the more powerful OMAP 2nd generation processor based on the previous generation of products. The product models of this series include OMAP2420, OMAP2430 and OMAP2431.

　　Compared with its predecessor, although OMAP2 continues to use low-voltage 90nm CMOS process technology, it integrates a more advanced ARM11 architecture processor core, supports all mobile phone standards at the time, is compatible with any modem chipset, and has the advantage of parallel processing.

　　

　　Comparison of three OMAP 2nd generation processor chips

　　In addition to integrating an ARM11 processor core with a maximum main frequency of 330MHz, OMAP2420 also has TI's 220MHz TMS320C55x DSP engine, 2D/3D graphics accelerator, advanced IVA1 imaging video and audio accelerator, etc. The system hardware supports Bluetooth, infrared and high-speed USB transmission, is compatible with A-GPS positioning function, can also use WLAN function to access the Internet wirelessly, and supports third-party SD and MMC memory card expansion.

　　

　　OMAP 2420 processor core architecture diagram

　　In terms of graphics processing, OMAP2420 is embedded with POWERVR MBX GPU developed by Imagination Technologies, which supports OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenVG standards for the first time. Its built-in dedicated 2D/3D graphics accelerator can generate 2 million polygons per second and can process static images of 400 pixels or higher. Its integrated advanced IVA1 accelerator can also help OMAP2420 support up to 4 million pixel cameras, achieve 30 frames/second VGA (480*640 pixels) video recording, and provide 3D surround sound effects close to Hi-Fi level, and also support TV-OUT output function.

　　At that time, the OMAP2420 processor showed outstanding multimedia capabilities. Nokia's subsequent high-end models including the N82 (the lowest online shopping price is 1,880.0 yuan), N93 and N95 8G (the lowest online shopping price is 2,750.0 yuan) all used this processor.

　　

　　The Nokia N95 8G, a luxury mobile phone back then, used the OMAP2420 processor.

　　Although the OMAP2430 in the same series also integrates an ARM11 architecture processor core with a maximum main frequency of 330MHz, the 220MHz DSP communication unit on the OMAP2420 has been removed, and the call function has been integrated into the ARM11 processor. Perhaps TI's strategy is based on cost control and power saving considerations. Although the OMAP2430 still integrates a dedicated 2D/3D graphics hardware accelerator, its performance has shrunk to a certain extent, reducing it to processing 1 million polygons per second.

　　The later OMAP2431 is a bit different, not only the DSP communication unit on the OMAP2420 is castrated, but also the 2D/3D graphics hardware accelerator is ruthlessly castrated. This also explains why the N86 (the lowest online price is 2299.0 yuan) equipped with the OMAP2431 processor is not as smooth as the N95 8G in the Jbenchmark3D test, and the picture browsing is also inferior to the N95 8G.

　　

　　OMAP 2430/2431 processor core architecture diagram

　　However, N86 is faster than N95 8G in terms of system response speed and video playback. This is because the main frequency of the ARM11 architecture processor integrated in OMAP2431 has been increased from 330MHz on OMAP2420/2430 to 434MHz.

　　It is worth mentioning that the IVA imaging and audio and video accelerator on OMAP2430/2431 has also been upgraded from IVA1 of OMAP2420 to the more powerful IVA2, which improves the video performance by 4 times and the graphics processing capability by 1.5 times compared to the previous generation product OMAP2420.

　　

　　The later Nokia N86 was equipped with an OMAP 2431 processor.

　　Although the capabilities of the OMAP1 and OMAP2 series processor chips seem a bit outdated now, they were widely used on the then-popular Symbian smart platform at the time due to their stable performance, good compatibility and excellent power consumption control.

　　It should be said that Nokia's early classic Symbian smartphones were able to sell well and maintain a good reputation and popularity, and TI's processors played an important role in this. Of course, the hot sales of Nokia's Symbian smartphones also further consolidated TI's core leadership in the field of mobile processors at the time, with a market share of half of the country. This complementary and mutually reinforcing effect was repeated in Motorola later, and we will talk about this later.
OMAP 3rd generation processors helped Motorola successfully turn around in the Android market#e#

　　OMAP 3rd generation processors help Motorola successfully turn around in the Android market

　　With the rapid development of the smart phone market, the once popular Symbian platform has begun to decline gradually, and the emergence of new smart platforms represented by Android has undoubtedly injected a shot in the arm for the subsequent competition in the mobile processor field. As a result, TI's third-generation mobile processor OMAP3 came into being.

　　

　　The third generation of OMAP 3 processors with a new architecture and process

　　TI's OMAP3 platform includes the early OMAP34XX (3410/3420/3430) series and the subsequent OMAP36XX (3610/3620/3630/3640) series processors. Among them, the OMAP3430 is the most noteworthy. The Milestone generation (Milestone) that saved Motorola from a difficult situation (the lowest online shopping price is 3050.0 yuan) is equipped with this processor.

　　

　　OMAP 3rd generation processor full range product comparison

　　OMAP3430 is the first to integrate the latest Cortex-A8 architecture processor developed by ARM based on the ARMv7 instruction set, with a maximum frequency of 600MHz and support for up to 256MB DDR memory. Since TI fully adopts the core architecture provided by ARM without modification, OMAP3430 has become the industry's first mass-produced processor chip integrating the Cortex-A8 architecture core, and has improved the overall performance three times compared to the previous ARM11 architecture processor.

　　

　　Milestone helped Motorola recover

　　At the same time, OMAP3430 is also the industry's first processor to use 65nm process technology. The more advanced process technology enables OMAP3430 to reduce core voltage and thus power consumption while bringing more efficient performance.

　　In terms of multimedia, OMAP3430 integrates the more advanced IVA2+ accelerator, which can improve multimedia processing by 4 times compared with the previous generation, and can support the encoding and decoding of DVD videos such as MPEG4 and H.264, with a resolution of up to 720P. In addition, OMAP also embeds the Imagination POWERVR SGX530 GPU chip, and supports OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG standard API interface specifications, and its built-in 2D/3D graphics hardware accelerator can provide more realistic user interfaces and game screen effects.

　　

　　OMAP 3431 processor core architecture diagram

　　In addition, OMAP3430 also has a built-in ISP graphics signal processor, which can not only provide image quality but also reduce external components to reduce system cost and overall power consumption. OMAP3430 can support up to 12-megapixel cameras and XGA-level (1024*768 pixels) system displays.

　　In terms of power consumption, OMAP3430 is equipped with TI's unique power management technology. Through SmartReflex technology, it can dynamically control the core voltage, frequency and power according to device activity, operating mode and temperature, thereby reducing the overall power consumption of the processor.

　　It should be said that the Motorola Milestone, which is regarded as a legendary machine, was able to quickly occupy the market after its launch and successfully helped Motorola to achieve a brilliant turn on the Android platform. The OMAP3430 processor it carried played a great role. Its stable performance and good compatibility played a great role. However, it is precisely because the OMAP3430 was launched relatively early and only supports a maximum of 256MB of memory, so the Motorola Milestone has obvious difficulties in playing Flash after upgrading to Android2.2.

　　It should be noted that due to the uncontrollable power consumption issues of the 65nm process technology for the Cortex-A8 architecture processor, TI reduced the operating frequency of the SGX530 GPU integrated in the OMAP3430 from the default 200MHz to 110MHz. This is one of the reasons why the Motorola Milestone is not as good as the iPhone 3GS at the time in terms of gaming experience, although the two contemporary products have great similarities in hardware specifications.

　　

　　Motorola Milestone gaming experience is inferior to iPhone 3GS due to GPU throttling

　　The OMAP36xx series processors launched later also integrate the ARM Cortex-A8 architecture processor, but the chip itself uses the more advanced 45nm process technology. The advanced process technology not only makes the chip itself have less heat and power consumption, but also fully exerts its performance. The default main frequency of the OMAP3610/3620/3630 processors has been increased to 720MHz, and the OMAP3640 has been increased to 1GHz, maximizing the performance of the Cortex-A8 architecture.

　　

　　OMAP 3630 processor core architecture diagram

　　In view of the huge success of Milestone, Motorola and TI have maintained a closer cooperative relationship. Motorola's subsequent Droid X, Milestone2 and the highly acclaimed Defy rugged phone are all equipped with OMAP36xx series processors.