Intel is expected to launch its next-generation XScale, codenamed ‘Bulverde’, sometime this year. The chip maker announced Bulverde last September at Intel Developer Forum. The next IDF kicks off in the middle of February, and it’s very possible that the company will use the event to fulfil its promise of revealing more about Bulverde’s features sometime during the first half of 2004.
So far, Intel has said nothing about Bulverde’s clock speeds although it’s speculated that the PXA263 will be extended to 412MHz and 540MHz. The chip will feature a version of the Pentium family’s MMX multimedia instructions, SpeedStep power-conservation technology, and integrated video capture and camera control circuitry.
Bulverde integrates digicam and real-time video encoding. Using MPEG 4 and leverages Wireless MMX, it can take still images of up to four-megapixel resolution and record high-resolution video at 30fps.
The May release timeframe is suggested to pre-empt the arrival of Windows Mobile 2004 for Pocket PCs in Q2 or Q3.
PocketPC’s are long overdue for 802.11g compatibility, which requires 32 bit CardBus slots. Currently only 16bit PC cards can be used on even the latest PocketPCs.
