Trying to find some details about what to expect the performance of the N97 to be, I found that there is no definitive processor choice announced.
The discussions that I have seen on other boards have ranged from a low-end ARM11 processor with single core modem to a top-of-the-line ARM11 quad-core processort to even a TI OMAP.
Nokia's website is devoid of any technical data and the pictures at the US FCC website of the internals of the phone are too fuzzy to determine the processor in that prototype model.
This thread will be devoted to the processor discussion until the information is released by Nokia.
Well.. I am very interested in this as well and also looked up the FCC site for it:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1091061&native_or_pdf=pdf
I can definitely see the main CPU to be a Texas Instruments chip (and not any other manufacturer) so an ARM (11) based TI chip can only be the OMAP. This is evident on the main centre chip with a Texas diagram (the TI logo). There is also a Toshiba chip that I assume is the 16GB onboard Flash memory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP
Lets hope it is an OMAP 3xxxx series - meaning the device should be of at least 600Mhz (what the E55 is also).. Just hoping it is the better one of the series that includes the PowerVR built in rather than the one without (OMAP3503 etc)..
bchliu wrote:I can definitely see the main CPU to be a Texas Instruments chip (and not any other manufacturer)
How do you determine from the picture that the TI labeled chip is the "main CPU"? It could just as well be, e.g., TI's NaviLink GPS receiver chip, and not the application processor.
The one chip seen in the FCC photos does resemble an icon very very similar to the OMAP icon found inside an N95.
Texas Instruments' corporate "Texas" logo can be found on many/most (all?) TI chips, not just OMAP chips.
There is no "OMAP icon", as far as I know.
Thats easy to identify.
The biggest chip is clearly a Toshiba (from the logo) and this is basically the 16GB onboard storage that comes with the phone - Its called a Multi-chip package that basically packs a few NAND (flash) chips all in one big package to be 16GB.
The two chips next to it including the one under the sticker are RAM type chips that totals to 128MB of the Phone specification. The chips under the chrome plate are the sealed radio chips for GSM/3G/WIFI/BT (its the same with every other Nokia design if you google it).
Whats left is the TI chip clearly displayed which is the next largest packaging and as said before is very similar to the N95/E90 OMAP in looks and size. The other chip near this is probably the Northbridge / controller for memory and storage access.
The circuitry to the other side of the motherboard is closest to the Battery terminal and charger, so I can guess it is nothing more than capacitance components along with the internal charger.
By process of elimination - you can find that the TI logo chip is very likely to be the OMAP device needed to drive this phone. From memory, the GPS chip on the N95 is heaps small and located very near the GPS aerial - but a comparison will help.. (I'll dig out something when I get home since I've saved both the E90 and N95 circuitry designs previously).
From what i'm reading here, your saying it only has a 16gb flash chip, but this phone has 32gb flash. So is somebody wrong or just not mentioning that there is 2 of them maybe?
My Mistake.. the Toshiba packaging can go up to 32GB.
http://edageek.com/2008/08/07/emmc-esd-embedded-memories/
So not surprising to see it on the N97 really..