CSR launches UniVox Mobile to enable mass market dual mode VoIP mobile handsets. A market, according to ABI Research, that is expected to grow to over 300 million handsets in the next five years. The UniVox Mobile reference design contains all the additional hardware and software to turn a mobile handset into a wirelessly enabled handset that can take and make Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) calls. The hardware element of UniVox Mobile is based on UniFi, CSR’s single chip WiFi solution, and also includes Bluetooth functionality via a choice of BlueCore4-ROM or BlueCore5-FM. In addition to supporting VoWiFi, UniVox Mobile also enables WiFi to be used as the bearer for other services, such as web browsing and multimedia streaming.

CSR has overcome both of the major challenges faced by manufacturers in building dual mode mobile phones that have been hampering wider acceptance of the technology; ensuring low power consumption and WiFi coexistence with both GSM and Bluetooth radios. By reusing many of the techniques honed whilst making its Bluetooth chips, CSR’s UniFi can perform accurate and intelligent control in powering up the various parts of the chip to achieve ultra low power consumption. In addition, CSR has implemented a highly flexible coexistence engine that can be configured to cope with the multitude of coexistence scenarios, such as VoIP calls with audio routed to a Bluetooth headset.

In head-to-head comparisons, when both WiFi and Bluetooth are used concurrently, data throughput for UniVox Mobile is significantly faster than competitive offerings on the market. By providing both hardware and software elements customers can benefit from fast time to market for dual mode products.

Raj Gawera, Marketing Manager for the WiFi Strategic Business Unit, CSR, commented, “It’s clear that consumers like the concept of the dual mode phone, however until now it has proved tricky to deliver the power consumption and voice quality that the end customer requires. With these issues overcome, we believe that dual mode phones present a tremendous opportunity for manufacturers. UniVox Mobile has been designed from the bottom up using power saving and coexistence technologies that we have developed specifically to ensure a smooth user experience."