ARM Announces New Vector Graphics Products To Set The Standard For Next Generation Mobile User Interfaces

Complete graphics stack unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2008 enables developers to design more attractive, dynamic user interfaces

CAMBRIDGE, UK – Feb. 11, 2008 – ARM today announced at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain, three new ARM® Mali™ 2D vector graphics software products based on open standards. Mali-SVG-t™, Mali-JSR226™ and Mali-JSR287™ software join the existing Mali-JSR184™ software, Mali55™ and Mali200™ GPUs to form a complete graphics stack supporting all the standards for advanced graphics required by manufacturers of mobile handsets, portable media players and navigation devices. When integrated into a user-interface framework the new 2D Mali software products make it possible for designers to produce attractive, intuitive user interfaces using industry-standard graphics design packages and without having to write code. Ericsson Mobile Platforms are the lead partner for these new software products, licensed as part of the Mali graphics stack for use with the Mali200 hardware in their groundbreaking HSPA-enabled mobile platform, U500. The tightly-integrated software and hardware products will accelerate development for customers of the U500 platform and enable a class of feature phones, leading the way to a new level of user experience.

“From touch screens to mobile browsers, the way that users interact with their handsets is changing. Consumers today expect an intuitive, responsive user interface on their mobile devices – anything less causes frustration,” said Michael Dimelow, director of marketing, Media Processing Division, ARM. “Handset manufacturers are under immense pressure to bring together the best user interface designers, content developers and Java programmers to deliver advanced 2D graphics on a broad range of mobile phone screen shapes and sizes. Through tight integration with hardware acceleration in mobile devices, ARM Mali software will help device manufacturers and content developers to take advantage of advanced graphics processors such as the Mali200 and Mali55 GPUs to deliver breakthrough mobile user experiences.”

“Even though all PCs and most new phones come with 3D acceleration built in, more than 90 per cent of the work done with either device is in 2D,” said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research, a leading multimedia and graphics market research firm. “3D sells the machines, but it is 2D that most of us use every day, all day long.”

ARM Mali-SVG-t software is an optimized library of ARM code designed to load, manipulate, display and animate 2D images on a range of mobile devices and can be accessed directly or by Java applications using the companion products Mali-JSR226 and Mali-JSR287. With the ability to automatically scale objects, compatible applications created by Java designers automatically scale to the correct size and adapt for different screen aspect ratios without any loss of quality, significantly reducing development and testing effort and accelerating the time-to-market. As with the Mali GPUs, Mali software does not compromise image quality, delivering great anti-aliasing and enhanced font rendering, resulting in high-quality graphics and clear, readable text.

Availability
The complete ARM Mali graphics stack is now available for licensing for use with Mali55 and Mali200 GPUs or with legacy chipsets without a Mali GPU. Mali-SVG-t and Mali-JSR226 software are available for immediate delivery; Mali-JSR287 software will be available following ratification of the JSR287 standard, expected by the end of 2008.

Further information on ARM embedded graphics solutions is available.

About ARM
ARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes 16/32-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. Combined with the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.