Chip maker Freescale is starting to show off products using a new ARM-based processor called the Freescale i.MX53. It’s an ARM Coretx-A8 chip with a clock speed between 1GHz and 1.2GHz.
Freescale’s chips have turned up in a handful of mobile internet devices over the past year or two, but the company really dominates the eBook reader space. Amazon’s Kindle eBook readers and the Sony Reader line of devices both use Freescale chips. In addition to the new i.MX53, Freescale is also showing off a i.MX51e chip which makes eBook readers much faster.
Laptop Magazine’s Avram Piltch shot a video of a new prototype eBook reader with an i.MX51e processor flipping through digital book pages. And you know what? It was fast. Like really, really fast. The biggest complaint I have with most eBook readers with E Ink displays is that when you turn a page, the screen goes dark for a moment before the next page pops up. It’s disconcerting and interrupts the flow of reading a book or newspaper.
While the Freescale i.MX53 processor clearly can’t change the limitations of the E Ink display (you’re not going to watch video on a Sony Reader anytime soon), it does virtually eliminate that slow page refresh. color me impressed.
Laptop Magazine also got to spend some time with netbooks and tablets using Freescale’s older I.MX515 chipset, including the recently announced Sharp Netwalker T1 Linux slate. You can find more photos and videos at the Laptop Magazine blog.