Mobile video is becoming increasingly popular these days, but the technology in most mobile devices is not capable of providing the experience most users would like, according to semiconductor giant Broadcom. To that end, the company has announced its new BCM2727 multimedia processor, which will reportedly unlock features that were previously impossible on portable devices, such as high-definition video playback, 3D gaming and 12-megapixel camera capabilities.
The new processor will be the first to incorporate Broadcom's VideoCore III multimedia architecture, which is the third generation in a line of cellular processors that have been used in 25 million cell phones so far, according to Broadcom. The company claims the new chip it's powerful enough to encode and decode 720p video at 30fps while supporting the H.264 range of HD formats without sacrificing battery life.
Broadcom is already supplying test quantities of this amazing new chip to handset manufacturers. However, given that handset design and development cycles in the industry rarely take less than 18 months, devices such as cell phones and portable media players sporting such HD capabilities aren't expected to be available anytime soon.