Posted by axxxr
Silicon Laboratories announced that Sony Ericsson has adopted the Si4701 FM tuner for the W950 Walkman phone.
ESATO NEWS
By using the highly-integrated Silicon Laboratories Si4701 with support for the Radio Data System (RDS), Sony Ericsson quickly implemented outstanding FM stereo receiver functionality in less than 20 mm˛ of board area on the ultra-slim, stylish, UMTS-enabled W950 Walkman phone with mobile music capability.
The Silicon Laboratories Si4701 incorporates a digital processor for the RDS and the Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS), which includes all the required RDS/RBDS symbol decoding, block synchronization and error detection and correction functions.This feature enables Sony Ericsson to provide FM broadcast data such as song title,artist, and station name on the W950 Walkman® phone.The Si4701 is pin compatible to the non-RDS part, the Si4700.
“Consumers are demanding handsets with music functionality for both feature-rich phones and entry-level handsets," said Tyson Tuttle, vice president of Silicon Laboratories. “The performance, integration and ease-of-use of our FM tuner products allow manufacturers like Sony Ericsson to quickly implement world-class FM stereo as a standard feature on any handset or portable media device."
The Si4701 reduces cost while enabling superior sound quality and adjustability in critical FM receiver specifications. Using patented technology including a field-proven, low IF digital architecture and embedded processor technology, Silicon Laboratories’ FM tuners offer industry-leading performance in all FM receiver specifications and excel in real-world environments such as large cities where high immunity to blockers is critical for good reception. The devices provide software programmability for the seek, soft mute and stereo blend parameters, all of which are fundamental to superior performance in highly variable FM broadcast environments.For more information about Silicon Laboratories please visit: www.silabs.com
Posted by kalleboo
Not bad, although the lack of FM on the M600i is what caused me to get into streaming radio, which has better audio fidelity and better coverage.
Posted by shaliron
That's a nice step forward. Hope SE continue to use it on all their new phones with radio.
Posted by masseur
I absolutely love the M600 and really wish they had put the radio in there.
For this reason, and despite my dislike of walkman branding, I suspect I will swap the M600 for the W950 when it comes available
Posted by Sammy_boy
Not bad at all!
However, I wonder if anyone's going to put a DAB tuner into a phone soon?
If the government gets it's way, all analogue FM transmitters are going to be turned off in the next 6 years or so forcing everyone who hasn't got it to get DAB.
Be great to be able to get DAB on a phone, though I suspect we're a couple of years off that, plus DAB signal strength needs to improve a lot.
Posted by Scorchio
This of course means that the w950 probably hasn't gone into production yet. Might be a bit of wait for this!
Posted by brix25
Which means that it will be packed with the latest tech when eventually gets released.
Posted by jepaz
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I like the look of this W950i, slim & lightweight.
