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Bluetooth + WiFi + GSM = Wanda

nackrm writes "CNN is reporting on the latest from Texas Instruments seen recently at the Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association (CTIA) conference in New Orleans. They've managed to jam these three techs into one chip. Soon we'll be seeing the techie equivalent of a swiss army knife."

11 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Bluetooth by giberti · · Score: 5, Informative

    I recently bought a blue tooth phone and a Palm T with blue tooth and have been enjoying the freedom from AvantGo. It isn't fast like a desktop, but it gets the job done. Its also nice to keep my contacts/calendar in sync between the palm and phone so if I don't want to lug the palm around, I'm not lost.

    And line of site is a pain with IR.

    --

    AF-Design, web development.
  2. Re:GPRS, 2.4Ghz interference myth? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Informative

    WANDA has GPRS.

    802.11/Bluetooth interference is a problem for some wireless chips and not a problem for others; it's not clear why.

  3. Re:Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    you can't be serious...

    the essential difference between bluetooth and IR is that iR own't keep a connection if you don't keep perfectly still.

    IR has even failed on me due to my switching on or off my desk lamp...

  4. Article at infoSync by cemysce · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is another article about TI's WANDA.

    1. Re:Article at infoSync by cemysce · · Score: 2, Informative

      ... which stands for Wireless Any Network Digital Assistant.

  5. Re:Not one chip! by glenkim · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not quite. CNN says that it's all on one chipset. So CNN is also to blame for misreporting.

  6. Accelent� Systems Designs New Tri-Wireless PDA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Accelent® Systems Designs New Tri-Wireless PDA Concept Design For Texas Instruments As An Independent Omap(TM) Technology Center

    http://www.accelent.com/TMRG5.ASP?PAGE_ID=791

  7. Re:Why GSM? by Czernobog · · Score: 2, Informative

    Simple. GSM is used almost everywhere in the world. It's the most widely available mode of celular telephony.
    Exceptions include Japan, South Korea and the US.
    Pretty much everyone else uses GSM.

    --
    /. Where the truth
  8. Re:Interference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    BlueTooth and most WiFi both use the 2.4GHz unlicensed band, but Bluetooth frequency-hops whereas Wifi does a wide frequency spread. You'll get interference during those times when your BT hop sequence "lands" in your Wifi channel. This situation will improve with BT radio 1.2, which is capable of adapting its hop sequence to avoid frequency areas which are noisy.

  9. It's not a Single Chipset by ceranta · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looking at the site and TI press releases it's clear that WANDA is a reference design for a Tri-Wireless platform, which includes GSM/GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth. It uses the OMAP processor/dsp (one chip), Bluetooth single chip (one chip), WiFi single chip (one chip), and the Baseband/Radio (three chips).

    So, that's 6 ICs right there. Not a Single Chip, but a Single Chipset.

    Since there is integration across the board, there are less worries about spectrum bashing (esp with WiFi and Bluetooth) since they can allocate the spectrum efficiently and properly.

    And it's a Concept Design ... we all know how well concept designs work in real life.

  10. Re:Why GSM? by taweili · · Score: 2, Informative

    Because GSM is the most widely deploy standard in the world. What's in GPRS/1xRTT/3G? It's data!!! Expensive and low speed 2.5G/3G data. Combining WiFi with GSM, you get a 3G killer. Who needs to wait for 3G to realize while you can get WiFi data today in cheaper price and much higher bandwidth?