Freescale unveils 'sub-£125' tablet design
Summary: The company has introduced a reference design for PC manufacturers who want to make cheap, lightweight touchscreen smartbooks for all-day use
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The first Sabre reference design is based on Freescale's i.MX515 processor, which is itself based on ARM Cortex-A8 technology — the same architecture that powers the iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid and Nokia N900 smartphones.
ARM has, through the introduction of smartbooks, begun making itself a rival to Intel, whose Atom processors are the basis of most netbooks. ARM claims that devices using its architecture are more power-efficient than those using Atom, due to the British chip-design firm's mobile heritage. However, with almost no smartbooks currently on the market, it is hard to compare the power consumption and performance of the rival platforms.
Apart from the CPU, other features of Freescale's reference design include an accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G support, GPS, a light sensor, a three-megapixel camera, audio in and out and an SD card slot.
The picture above shows the design together with an optional physical keyboard that manufacturers could choose to use.
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