Spreadtrum Communications has introduced a 1GHz low-cost Android smartphone platform for TD-SCDMA and EDGE/WiFi, which are now sampling with customers. The new solutions allow manufacturers to produce smartphones with features such as HD video playback and a built-in 5MP camera at around US$100 retail prices.

The platform's Cortex A5 processor architecture delivers more than 40% lower power consumption compared to ARM11-based products, and more than 70% lower power consumption than Cortex A9 products, Spreadtrum said.

Spreadtrum also claimed that its 1GHz platform is the most highly integrated, lowest power smartphone platform for the TD-SCDMA market. Codenamed SC8810, the solution delivers the lowest chip count with a multimode single-chip RF transceiver supporting TD-SCDMA, EDGE, GPRS and GSM and integrates power management, the company added.

The SC8810 supports TD-SCDMA with HSDPA at 2.8Mbps, HSUPA at 2.2Mbps as well as quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE with dual-mode auto handover, according to Spreadtrum. The SC6820 - the company's new 1GHz baseband solution for EDGE/WiFi - supports quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM. Both products combine silicon hardware with turnkey Android software that reduce both the design time and design resources required to deliver new handsets to market.

"Our 1GHz Android platform sets a new bar for low-cost smartphone performance," Leo Li, Spreadtrum's president and CEO, said in a statement. "The graphics and web browsing performance of the SC8810 and SC6820 compares favorably to one of the most popular smartphone models globally, delivering a high performance applications and gaming experience for consumers. This type of experience has previously been available only in mid- to high-end handset models and can now be delivered by OEMs in US$100 smartphone models. This will reshape the definition of and consumer expectations for a low-cost handset."