NVIDIA Showcases New Mobile Phone GPU

The NVIDIA GoForce 5500, the company said, will deliver higher quality entertainment experiences to a new wave of mobile phones due out later this year.

NVIDIA yesterday unveiled a new handheld graphics processing unit which they say will deliver high quality TV, video, audio and 3D gaming to mobile phones. The new NVIDIA GoForce 5500 GPU is slated begin appearing in mobile phones from major handset manufacturers before the 2006 holiday season.

The NVIDIA GoForce 5500 GPU, said NVIDIA, brings the capabilities of devices such as the home entertainment system and Sony PlayStation to mobile phones. Features specific to this new GPU will reportedly include H.264, WMV9 and MPEG-4 video playback at 30 frames per second, compatibility with mobile TV standards such as DVB-H and DMB, surround sound with crossfade and multistream technologies, 3x the performance of previous GoForce GPU as relates to gaming, support for up to 10 megapixel resolution and rapid multi-shot as relates to digital camera phones and a lower power design to stretch battery life.

“The introduction of the NVIDIA GoForce 5500 handheld GPU marks the beginning of a new era for 3G mobile phones,” said Michael Rayfield, general manager of the handheld GPU group at NVIDIA, in a statement. “The NVIDIA GoForce 5500 GPU delivers high-quality video playback and capture, high-resolution camera support, and stunning 3D graphics — all at impressive performance levels that we believe consumers are going to demand in the next generation of mobile devices.”