TI to add iTrip-alike functionality

Basically the WiLink 6.0 or BlueLink 7.0 chips provide what TI calls 'personal audio broadcasting'. It's a facility made popular by Griffin Technology with its iTrip for Apple's iPODs.

So if you've got your latest tunes stored on your mobile phone, then you can play them at a party by tuning the FM radio into your handset. The chips can also receive over FM, although it's unclear what that's for.

INQ readers may remember that Ofcom finally made personal FM broadcasting legal last summer here in Blighty.

The basic difference between the two chips is that the WiLink chip incorporates a WiFi/WLAN capability whereas the BlueLink chip only offers Bluetooth and FM.

To jump ahead of the opposition (and Broadcom in particular), TI is promising that the tri-functional WiLink 6.0 will support the IEEE's draft 802.11n standard.

As a consequence of this support, TI is claiming it will "drastically improve voice call quality and reliability in VoWLAN applications." That's Voice Over WLAN.

Despite mobile operators' nervousness about handsets which offer a VoIP/Internet telephony capability, handset vendors are building it into more and more of their model range.

The good news, according to Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics, is that "integrated mWLAN and Bluetooth solution, such as TI's new WiLink 6.0 single chip, should help push these key technologies toward the mid- and low-tier handset segments."

Just to be on the safe side, TI's two new chips use 65 nm technology to help provide low power as well as a smaller footprint. µ

See Also
Ofcom to OK iTrip