Casio-Hitachi unveils two phones with Spansion NOR flash memory

Spansion, the Flash memory venture of AMD and Fujitsu, announced that Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications has developed two new cellular handsets with 512 Mb NOR Flash memory, which uses stacked versions of Spansion's WS256N, a NOR Flash memory device based on the company's award-winning MirrorBit( technology. The new G'zOne and A5512CA mobile phones developed by Casio-Hitachi and available now in Japan integrate 80 MHz versions of the Spansion WS256N, the fastest frequency using two-bit-per-cell technology. In addition, Spansion has proven that the WS256N has headroom to spare, providing a platform for wireless designs with frequencies up to 108 MHz.

The WS256N is the only mass production two-bit-per-cell 80MHz product available today, and allows mobile handset designers to maximize the potential of wireless chipsets by pairing high-performance Flash memory and logic to rapidly process ever increasing millions of instructions per second. As a result, designers can adequately store and manage the growing amount of code needed to deliver increasingly feature-rich phones with advanced multimedia features. Fast read speeds can also help to enhance the end user experience by enabling faster boot times and camera shoot times.

The robust cellular handsets developed by Casio-Hitachi feature up to 64 megabytes (MB) of code storage for advanced multimedia functions. Both phones integrate a 1.28 megapixel camera, expansive telephone and address databases, mapping/navigation functions and video capabilities.