Platform Dials Up Easier Design For 2.5G Cell Phones

With constantly changing standards, upgrades, and new features to keep handset manufacturers competitive, the hardware and software continue to get more complex. Yet with Motorola's i.250-21 Innovative Convergence platform, OEMs and ODMs (original design manufacturers) may now find it much easier to design and implement a state-of-the-art 2.5G multimedia digital cell phone.

The i.250-21 platform is a mix of hardware chip sets and software that completely defines a four-band GSM/GPRS voice/data cell phone. It supports the 850-, 900-, 1800-, and 1900-MHz bands, making it possible to create a phone that's usable for voice or data anywhere in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The three-chip set is shown in the figure. The MC13777 RF IC integrates the low-noise amplifiers, mixers, baseband filters, and the transceiver VCOs. The MMM6022 HBT power amplifier covers all four bands and integrates the power coupling, power detection, low-pass filtering, and antenna switching functions.

The DSP56331 baseband processor integrates the DSR56000 DSP with an ARM7TDMI-S microcontroller. This chip offers high-quality video and imaging capabilities, and it contains secure memory.

The software includes a field-proven GSM/GPRS stack and relevant applications software, such as multimedia messaging service (MMS), caller ID, and the wireless access protocol (WAP 2.0).