Freescale to Unveil New Tablet Design at CES

Freescale Semiconductor has announced the release of a tablet reference design featuring a 7-inch touch screen which offers up to four times the viewing area of a typical smartphone. The form factor is one-third the size and volume of a typical netbook.

In a release, company sources revealed that the solution will enable a second generation of smartbook products priced at less than $200 with form factors that fully utilize the power, performance and functionality features of advanced ARM (News - Alert) processor technology. It will also provide instant-on functionality, persistent connectivity and all-day battery life.

Freescale proposes to demonstrate the tablet at CES 2010 this week. It will run on both Android (News - Alert) and Linux operating systems.

The device is especially designed to help OEMs create smartbook tablets fast. The solution is based on the company’s highly integrated i.MX515 processor which incorporates ARM Cortex-A8 technology. It also includes Freescale’s MC13892 power management IC, SGTL5000 audio codec and MMA8450Q 3-axis accelerometer.

Company sources also said that end products based on the design may be available in retail stores by summer this year.

“Freescale’s new tablet opens the door to an exciting new world of compelling form factors specifically designed and optimized to support common online activities including social media, high-quality audio/video playback and light gaming,” said Henri Richard, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Freescale, in the release.

Richard added, “We believe the tablet will emerge as a popular form factor for the next generation of smartbooks. By introducing this prototype reference design, Freescale intends to play a vital role in propelling the mainstream adoption of smartbooks.”

The design is based on the Freescale’s Smart Application Blueprint for Rapid Engineering or SABRE platform series. The Freescale tablet features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity besides featuring a 3D desktop framework with touch screen/QWERTY keyboard support.

Also 3G modem and RF4CE protocol options are available. The tablet’s modular approach to 3G connectivity allows systems designers to select carrier-specific air interfaces depending on different regions. Modules can be pre-certified by carriers and selected to match various features and performance targets enabling easy migration to new modem technologies.

Freescale sources revealed that the smartbook platform applications which can be run on the tablet include Web browser with Adobe Flash Player and multimedia plug-ins, a media center, PDF and image viewers, a mail client, an RSS reader, an office suite, handwriting utilities and widgets for Twitter, Facebook (News - Alert), Flickr, Weather SMS and other applications.