Symbian OS pushes processor technology boundaries

[Rafe]

ARM and Symbian today announced Symbian OS would support the ARM Symmetric Multi-processor (SMP) architecture in future OS versions. This technology allows for multiple CPU cores to be used in mobile phones. Don't get too excited though, the first phones using multiple core processors are not expected before 2010. In other Symbian related processor news Renesas today announced it has commenced sample shipments of its new generation chipset, the SH-Mobile G3. Read on for more details.

Read on in the full article.

[Rafe]

Note I'm not an expert on computer processors so if I made a mistake please feel free to correct me!

[blue13x]

New phones like the n95 already have dual cpu, taken from the Nokia developer page:

CPU:
Dual CPU

CPU Type: ARM 11

CPU Clock Rate: 332 MHz

3D Graphics HW Accelerator

blue13x:
SMP is not used in the dual-core CPU in N95. Because in N95, one CPU core runs Symbian OS and S60 applications and the other runs GSM/WCDMA stack.
In a smartphone which supports SMP, more than one core (maybe 2 or 4) run Symbian OS and S60 applications. Symbian OS needs updating so as to support SMP, e.g. scheduling threads in several CPU cores and providing synchronization mechanism for threads.

same goes for a lot of "dual" cpu windows mobiles, the other arm chip is just for radio.

it's confusing to mention n95 as dual cpu, BUT.. the difference is that with symbian 9 you could have a single cpu solution as well, the same chip running both radio and operating system.

there's synchronization mechanisms already in symbian, but with most apps being single thread(and just utilising active objects) they're not used much.

-lassi

So SGX devices in mobile handsets in 2008 G3 and possibly OMAP3?

[Rafe]

Yes, though I would have those timescale seem about right to me. OMAP 3 devices could be quite prmoising in multimedia terms.

lassi:
Sorry. In my last post "synchronization mechanism" indicates the implementation of synchronization mechanisms for threads running in different CPUs, which is more complex than that in a single CPU. For example, the kernel need to use "test-and-set" CPU instruction to make two threads running in different CPUs access one shared object subsequently. Sorry for my poor English.

N95 and N93 (and others) are dual CPU, but they are not SMP. The other CPU is running the Cellular stack, not a lot else, and whatever else, certainly not Symbian. You can consider it like a modem or sound card. Sure it communicates with the end user OS, but it's mostly doing it's own thing.

Prior to 6630 most are single chip, and many after are single chip. Only thing is that the OS doing the "single chip solution" is not Symbian, even if Symbian is one of the OSes running there.