sprint 6900 succesor of 6800/mogul

[APOLAUF]

Originally Posted by TC1

Nice write up, I wouldn't have had the patience. Are you an EE APOLAUF? In a former life I use to design integrated circuits (PMOS, NMOS, and CMOS) and do digital hardware design.

Yeah, I'm a graduate student in EE, though I'm more of a mix of EE and CS... studying for my prelim exam, and since one of the subject areas was electronics, I had remembered enough from that course to write that blurb.

[no2chem]

Originally Posted by APOLAUF

This is making a large assumption. The first assumption is that you're using a similar address bus on the Mogul as the Touch. While they do use the same chipset, and therefore you'd expect the same bus width, it doesn't mean that all the wires for the address bus are present on the Mogul.

Take for instance the fact that 64MB of RAM doesn't require an address bus larger than 24 bits, assuming that you have a 4-word-addressable memory. Addressing 128MB of RAM consequently requires 25 bits in our 4-word scheme. Why would they add the extra PCB traces to accommodate, say, the full 32-bit address bus, if the memory installed will never be more than what the factory intended? So add either 24 or 25 traces for the address bus, and you've saved realestate on a small embedded device platform.

The above doesn't imply that the address bus doesn't have the full 32 bits available, but it is nonetheless an assumption, and may be problematic.

The second assumption is that memory timing and latency is the same. It may be, and if it is standard SDRAM, a slower timing will work just fine on faster, newer memory. But what if the power requirements are different? It's well-known that more RAM means a bigger drain. This is because of CMOS leakage current within the device. The more gates/transistors you have, the more current leakage you are going to have. (SDRAM uses capacitive memory, but it still must be switched. Also, given that it is capacitive memory, it takes more power to recharge the RAM cells than if you had fewer of them, as in 128MB vs 64MB.) A way around this is to change your operating device characteristics. Build a lower-voltage device circuit, and change your device characteristics (transistor size, gate width, etc.) so that your leakage isn't as bad. If the power supply to the memory is different, then there is essentially no chance that you will see a RAM upgrade, especially not from the Touch.

These are just some points - simply moving a chip because the dimensions match says nothing about their interoperability. It'd be NICE, but keep in mind that embedded devices aren't as standardized as PC memory, where the end-user is actually responsible for their own memory upgrades (usually anyway.) Therefore, it makes it a lot more difficult, in the long run, to make embedded device parts interchangeable, and leaves us SOL because the manufacturer chose one part over another.

I think more of an issue is figuring a way to solder surface mount these chips, which probably involves some kind of hot-air reflow solder work. However, SDRAM is pretty standardized across the industry, and as long as the pins for addressing x cols and rows of memory are present, and the SDRAM controller is capable (since I believe it's integrated into the MSM7500, i'd say yes), then yes. You might have to flash new firmware before you can address/access that memory though.

Then again, for that amount of work, just get a touch and one of those mini keyboards.

On topic, however, calling the touch the 6900 is another very very stupid sprint move.. couple that with their 75% loss... *sigh*

[nkawal]

Originally Posted by no2chem

I think more of an issue is figuring a way to solder surface mount these chips, which probably involves some kind of hot-air reflow solder work. However, SDRAM is pretty standardized across the industry, and as long as the pins for addressing x cols and rows of memory are present, and the SDRAM controller is capable (since I believe it's integrated into the MSM7500, i'd say yes), then yes. You might have to flash new firmware before you can address/access that memory though.

Then again, for that amount of work, just get a touch and one of those mini keyboards.

On topic, however, calling the touch the 6900 is another very very stupid sprint move.. couple that with their 75% loss... *sigh*

Dual Touch Coming Next Year, Possibly 3rd Quarter

[EtherealRemnant]

Originally Posted by holo

before apple *launched* the iphone, but do you really think htc had no idea apple was working on it?

I heard about the HTC Touch way before I heard anything concrete about the whyPhone.

HTC didn't have anything to fear from Apple either way.

If HTC really felt the need to compete with the whyPhone, they would have released a device with a larger screen and a full touch interface.

I firmly believe HTC and LG thought up their touch phones on their own. But that's not an argument for this thread.

As far as the successor of the Mogul, I think that a CDMA HTC Nike will be the phone they'll consider an "upgrade" - essentially the GSM Touch Dual on CDMA.

Meanwhile, at&t will get a 512MB/256MB PPC with a 3.5" LCD, windows mobile, standalone-GPS, 16GB microdrive and HSDPA w/ HSUPA... Its not that far off if you look at the fact that HTC already has a device that comes close... This setting Sprint and Verizon two generations behind.