Sony Corporation announced the development of a new application processor which will serve as the heart of its upcoming “Clie” PDAs. The new processor, dubbed “Handheld Engine”, will initially be show up first in the Clie PEG-UX50, a new PalmOS-based handheld set debut in Japan next month (shown in the photo below).

The “Handheld Engine” processor is based on an ARM926 CPU core with 64Mbit embedded DRAM, and integrates a large number of on-chip interface functions including a 2D graphics engine, LCD display controller, DSP, camera interface, and Memory Stick interface.

According to Sony, the Handheld Engine offers smooth video playback at low processor clock speeds, resulting in low power consumption, through the use of low-voltage, large-capacity, wide-bandwidth 64Mbit embedded DRAM technology along with a 0.18um production process. Additionally, a newly developed “DVFMTM” (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Management) technology is said to achieve efficient power consumption by automatically selecting a clock rate and then adjusting the power supply voltage to match via a speed monitoring function.

The device is packaged as a 368 pin “TFLGA” and operates from 2.5-3.3V external power. The processor runs at a variable clock rate between 8MHz and 123MHz, and its power consumption is approximately 270 mW during MPEG4 movie playback, and 1.7mW in standby mode.

Sony did not indicate whether there are plans to support the Handheld Engine under other operating systems such as embedded Linux.

The chip will be made at Sony's semiconductor fabrication facility in Nagasaki, Sony said.

 
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