Hardware video acceleration is a sore subject for quite a few cellphone fans these days, but it looks like Samsung's next generation of mobile processor will speed up graphics directly by integrating a hardware video accelerator. The 65nm S3C6410 processor is based on a 667MHz ARM core but adds in 3D graphics acceleration and hardware support for H.264 and MPEG4, as well as other codecs. The chip is powerful enough to record and play VGA-res video at the same time, which Samsung says will enable higher-quality video conferencing while saving battery life -- that's what we like to hear. There's no word on when or where we might see this bad boy pop up, but with support for Linux, WinMo, and Symbian, as well as architecture support for various types of DRAM and flash memory, we'd guess there might be a few interested suitors.

According to Reuters, chipmaker ARM has plans to show off an Android-based "Google Phone" prototype at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The news agency is citing a "source" for this information, and both Google and ARM declined to comment, as if reading from some sort of industry script, though we're seeing and hearing a lot of buzz from MWC on new tech, so this would come as no surprise. Come on guys, we don't mind if the OS is still a little buggy... show us some hardware.

As ARM continues its quest to become the record holder for partnerships created in one month, now we're seeing that the firm is getting cozy with Intel. Apparently, the duo is looking to instill ARM's TrustZone technology into mobiles, PDAs, set-top-boxes or other devices running "open operating systems such as Symbian OS, Linux and Windows CE." Essentially, the process involves wedding ARM's security solutions with Intel's Authenticated Memory, which purportedly "provides a solution that is stronger than either technology working independently," and moreover, the combination of technologies "can help reduce SoC cost." For the geeks who dig this stuff, feel free to hit the read link for a way-too-detailed eight page PDF. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via TheInquirer]

Ever so shortly after hearing that next-generation cellphones could boast some pretty powerful onboard graphics processing, Symbian has just announced that these same phones could support the ARM Symmetric Multi-processor (SMP) architecture. The firm has inked a deal with ARM that will enable future versions of the Symbian OS to support ARM SMP multicore technology, which is said to offer "exceptional multicore performance for media-rich applications along with the power efficiency required to continue to deliver industry leading battery life." Apparently, the two are looking to stuff the newly unveiled ARM Cortex A9 multicore processor into Symbian-based smartphones by 2010, so unfortunately, we've got a few years left to wait before this goes commercial.

Texas Instruments demonstrated its first processor to enable high definition (720p) playback on mobile phones yesterday at 3GSM World Congress. The OMAP3430, first announced last year, is the first in TI's series of OMAP 3 processors and also first to include support for the OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standard for 3D acceleration. The 3430 gets the muscle to move your HD files and 3D gaming from its embedded ARM Cortex-A8 processor, but from the specs it seems that the video portion is only currently supporting up to 1024 x 768 (XGA) output via composite or S-video connections. Still, with this power available, sometime in the future your common cellphone will be playing back HD on the go or outputting video to a big screen HDTV. We previously expected to see handsets based on the technology this year, but while TI is shipping samples of the processors now, don't expect your HD-capable cell to hit stores until early 2008.

As multimedia features typically associated with higher-end handsets -- music players, video cameras, 3D acceleration, and the like -- start to trickle down to the mainstream, chip suppliers are looking at ways to make the requisite chipsets mainstream, too. Enter TI's OMAPV1035 "eCosto" single-chip platform; with an ARM9 processor core, the 1035 will be manufactured using a 65nm process when it begins volume production in early 2008. Features include EDGE support (but no 3G in sight -- we question that logic for a multimedia chipset that isn't due for another year), 30 fps video streaming at resolutions up to 320 x 240, 3D gaming, and support for still cameras up to 3 megapixels. Just as long as we get an HSDPA version of this goodness, TI, we're with you one hundred percent.