It’s impressive to watch the convergence of features into today’s cell phones.  From simple devices that changed the concept of making a phone call to an individual rather than a place, modern cell phones integrate still and video cameras, personal media player functionality, GPS, and with Internet connectivity, an almost limitless access to information.  Platforms allowing 3rd party software development, such as that of the iPhone and Google’s Android OS, have yielded hundreds of thousands of specific software programs for these devices to accomplish almost any conceivable task.  And now, with an ever increasing amount of smartphone processor power, devices capable of playing 1080p high definition video on TV’s or projecting video via a detachable pico projector are hitting the market.

In continuing these trends, Broadcom today announced its new BCM2763 VideoCore IV mobile multimedia processor.  The chip, which promises a smaller footprint and less power consumption than existing models, will deliver 1080p video recording and playback and up to 20MP stills to future mobile devices.  It’s advanced 1 Gigapixel 2D/3D graphics rendering capabilities will not only allow mobile devices to output 1080p video via HDMI to HDTV’s, but will allow these devices to be the processing engine for high resolution 3D video games – essentially adding mobile gaming platform to the list of features converging into the smartphone of tomorrow.

Supporting advanced photo features such as smile recognition and digital image stabilization, the Broadcom BCM 2763 chip will allow consumers to continue the trend of ditching their separate digital camera for the convenience of their camera phone.  The BCM2763 is expected to begin appearing in devices in 2011.