CSR brings Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity to Mobinnova ICE smartphone

High performance, strong coexistence solution minimises design effort

Cambridge, UK – CSR (LSE: CSR) today announced that its UniFi Wi-Fi and BlueCore4-ROM Bluetooth silicon both feature in the ICE, the new touchscreen smartphone from Mobinnova. The ICE functions as both a portable office and a powerful personal multimedia device. Using CSR’s silicon Mobinnova has been able to include both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality in a slim and attractive handset. CSR designs its BlueCore and UniFi products to harmoniously coexist, which has ensured that the ICE was brought to market in the shortest possible time.

CSR’s focus on providing embedded wireless connectivity with smart integration solutions enabled the Mobinnova ICE to use a chip-on-board design for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This was achieved with CSR providing example designs to simplify the board design process and technical support to ensure that the Mobinnova ICE development was completed expediently and successfully.

The ICE features a three inch, touch sensitive screen, which delivers an easy and intuitive user interface. With Windows Mobile 6.1 and MS Office Mobile the ICE acts like a pocket PC. Users can open all common office documents, and are able to play all popular media types. The inclusion of CSR’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity technologies means users of the ICE benefit from a seamless Wi-Fi internet connection alongside streaming stereo music, file transfer and hands-free calls.

BlueCore4-ROM is a complete single-chip radio and baseband IC. This fully compliant Bluetooth v2.1 system offers enhanced data rates of up to 3Mbps, scatternet support, eSCO, and is built for flawless coexistence with 802.11 systems. The BlueCore range is designed to minimise the need for external components, allowing fast and cost-effective product development. BlueCore4 is available in CSP or VFBGA packaging.

UniFi UF1050 is a complete single-chip 802.11b/g solution, optimised for embedded applications. UniFi offers an extreme level of chip integration, with radio, baseband processor, media access controller and other components on a monolithic die – making it as small and power-efficient as possible. Dual RISC microcontrollers and four QoS packet queues also reduce the load on the host processor.

“The Mobinnova ICE is a device that encapsulates the increasingly varied demands consumers are making of handsets,” said Matthew Phillips, Senior Vice President of CSR’s Handset Business Unit. “Customers want a slim phone, with several connectivity technologies, and expect it to fulfil many of the functions of an office PC. With the help of our industry-leading wireless technology, Mobinnova has done a great job of getting all that technology into a small device that is powerful, attractive and easy-to-use. BlueCore and UniFi were easy to integrate and worked extremely well together. This freed up valuable time for other design tasks, allowing Mobinnova’s designers to concentrate on other product differentiators.”

The Mobinnova ICE is available now.