March 28, 2006, 4:42 PM by moofoo3 to chairmansteve
Wait, arn't Hardrive realativly big to be used in such a handheld device?
I mean, sure they will get smaller as time goes on but they arn't that small yet. But it would give a way for storing games in an efficent manner.

March 28, 2006, 5:24 PM by chairmansteve to moofoo3
Hard Disk Drives can be big or small. They come in all sizes.

0.85" - Smallest Hard Drive
1.0" - Microdrive / Pocket Drives
1.8" - iPod / Media Players
2.5" - Notebook PC / Xbox 360
3.5" - Desktop PC / Xbox Classic / Servers
5.25" - Ancient

Physically bigger hard drives can have more storage capacity, consume more power, and are less tolerant of movement. Xbox Portable may use 1.8" HDD like iPod. But certainly flash memory is the best storage for handheld devices.

March 28, 2006, 6:23 PM by Airzonk to chairmansteve
I was thinking the same thing. If they make the system bendable, it could be made in sections with the scrane™ over the sections.

March 28, 2006, 7:54 PM by moofoo3 to chairmansteve
Could you give max size capabilities for the drives...
What do they use the .85" drive in? I've never even heard of a size below 1.8"

March 28, 2006, 9:47 PM by chairmansteve to moofoo3
I can give an estimate for current maximum size per platter.

Single Platter
0.85" - 4GB
1.0" - 8GB
1.8" - 40GB
2.5" - 80GB
3.5" - 160GB

In a couple years, those maximum platter sizes may double. At the moment, iPod uses single-platter 30GB ($300) and double-platter 60GB ($400) 1.8" drives. 0.85" drives may be used in mobile phones and other small gadgets.

April 23, 2007, 11:15 AM by chairmansteve
Microsoft has a patent application for mass storage in gaming handhelds.

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A handheld gaming device having a non-removable hard disk drive memory is used to perform gaming and non-gaming functions. The hard disk drive memory provides internal mass storage that is utilizable for storing various types of game-related information and non-game-related information. In one embodiment, the hard disk drive is configured to store selected portions of data in assigned regions of memory. The internal mass storage can be used to store saved game data, game specific data, and can be used as a buffer while streaming content from a remote server or drive. The internal mass storage also can be used to store other types of information, such as calendar information, personal appointments, maps, photographs, and other third party game related information.

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http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&s1=20070087796

December 6, 2007, 8:19 PM by chairmansteve
MS may release a handheld in 2008 or 2009, so it's time for more speculation.

What SoC (CPU + GPU) processors will be available?

SuperH + PowerVR (Renesas)
ARM + PowerVR (Freescale, NEC, Samsung, TI)
ARM + ATI (Freescale, ST)
x86 + PowerVR (Intel)
x86 + ATI (AMD)
ARM + NVIDIA (NVIDIA)
PowerPC + PowerVR (Freescale)

Renesas (SuperH + PowerVR) could be interesting. That's Dreamcast. If Microsoft and Sega have plans to combine forces for a portable, it might involve hardware compatible with Dreamcast. The older Sega platforms should be easier to emulate.

ARM + PowerVR seems to be the most popular with several suppliers. Today's Zune has an ARM processor from Freescale but without the GPU. A gaming Zune might use Freescale again with an added GPU (PowerVR or ATI).

Intel has Moorestown in the works. It should be a low power SoC with x86 CPU and PowerVR GPU designed for handhelds and ultra mobiles. AMD also has a SoC planned in this time frame with x86 CPU and ATI GPU.

NVIDIA also has an ARM license and is working on GeForce-based SoC.

And the boring option would be Zune hardware (ARM) with just software rendering.

December 6, 2007, 8:27 PM by Chris_Redfield to chairmansteve
I think ATI is a likely candidate for a portable GPU. They could do something on the level of an X1600 on a 35nm process in early 2009, with thermals and power usage low enough to be viable.

This would be interesting, on a small screen, graphics would begin to approach xbox 360 levels with such a chip. As for CPU, you are right ARM is a likely candidate. Something the size of a PSP roughly, with a solid state internal drive, and using carts rather than optical media.

480 x 272 is a likely screen resolution for such a device i think. Rendering at a resolution that low for an ~X1600 class graphics chip, you could squeeze alot out of it.

December 6, 2007, 8:48 PM by chairmansteve to Chris_Redfield
CPU/GPU should be on the same chip (SoC) and designed for handhelds. Cost and power consumption are key. ATI has been licensing handheld graphics technology with unified shader architecture. Freescale already has a license.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~120703,00.html

February 11, 2008, 1:28 PM by chairmansteve
If using an NVIDIA SoC, the APX 2500 (ARM11 MPCore + GeForce) could do the job.

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NVIDIA has worked closely with Microsoft on the development of APX 2500

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http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1202741043286.html

February 11, 2008, 4:31 PM by ali_f to chairmansteve
I still dont understand Steve.....Is this a Xbox 1? Or a handheld which i guess is gonna compete with the next Nintendo handheld and the PSP2...

February 11, 2008, 7:38 PM by chairmansteve to ali_f
The NVIDIA APX 2500? It's a processor from NVIDIA to be used in GPS devices, portable media players, and mobile phones. If Microsoft wants to release a gaming handheld, APX 2500 is one of many options for the processor. I'd put it at the top of the list, followed by ARM + PowerVR.

1. ARM + NVIDIA (NVIDIA)
2. ARM + PowerVR (Freescale or Samsung)

February 11, 2008, 9:51 PM by Airzonk
At this point, Nintendo and Sony have sold so many new handhelds over the last two years that most gamers will take a long time moving to another portable. If Microsoft made a portable console, it would have to be a very powerful portable. It could also be much more expensive, more like a high end portable console, with many non-gaming features to pull people away from Ipods. Pulling people away from Ipods is going to be an amazing feat. Also getting people to drop the PSP or DS is going to be hard too. Again, the Microsoft portable is going to have to be farking amazing and revolutionary to get a lot of buyers. We'll have to wait and see what Microsoft does.

I really think Microsoft should focus on the xbox first and then once they have that market locked up, they can go after portable market.

February 11, 2008, 10:44 PM by chairmansteve to Airzonk
DS and PSP were launched in late 2004. They'll be 4 years old this year. 2009 can be a good time to start the next generation. And iPod is the real competition. An Xbox Portable would surely be connected to Live Marketplace for digital distribution of music, movies, TV, and games. That puts it in direct competition with iPod.

There may be a Zune 3.0 next year with gaming. Zune X? Zune HD? Zune 360?

February 11, 2008, 11:58 PM by Airzonk to chairmansteve
Seeing Zune move up to a gaming platform would be great for it. But, as far as just gaming portables, I think people will hang on to the ones they have longer than people who play console games. The one thing is that Microsoft could get more people interested in a portable consoles, like Nintendo has with the Wii for console gaming. So, eventhough the DS and PSP will be competition for the xbox portable, Microsoft would be smart to appeal to the current portable gamer AND some other untapped type of person. I think the Zune 3.0 would work well. If it was as thin as the Iphone and had good gaming properties, Microsoft may hit the jackpot.

Also a release date around the same time next xbox console is released would give it a nice boost.