Observations on power-efficiency trends in mobile communication devices

Abstract

Computing solutions used in mobile communications equipment are essentially the same as those in personal and mainframe computers. The key differences between the implementations are found at the chip level: in mobile devices low leakage silicon technology and lower clock frequency are used. So far, the improvements of the silicon processes in mobile phones have been exploited by software designers to increase functionality and to cut development time, while usage times, and energy efficiency, have been kept at levels that satisfy the customers. In this paper, we explain some of the observed developments. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.