Droplet Technology Showcases All-Software VGA Camcorder Phone Solution on Texas Instruments OMAP(TM) Processors at Computex 2006

location based services

Collaboration Promises Major Handset and Service Benefits in Both Mature and Emerging Markets

MENLO PARK, Calif., June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Droplet Technology, Inc. today announced the demonstration of the industry's first all-software camcorder phone and mobile video service solution to support VGA image size at 30 frames per second running on Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI's) OMAP(TM) processors. Droplet's innovations in low-complexity video processing have delivered a fully functional camcorder phone reference design based on TI's high-performance, low-power consumption OMAP(TM) processors, providing manufacturers with a compelling roadmap to bring to market new, multimedia-rich handheld devices.

As mobile devices continue to evolve into integrated consumer multimedia entertainment platforms, mobile operators worldwide anticipate significant new opportunities to support their subscribers as media producers, rather than just media consumers. The ability to capture and share photographs and video on mobile devices with the same quality as stand-alone digital cameras and camcorders is a technical cornerstone for such new services, together with the deployment and convergence of higher speed cellular and fixed wireless data networks. The ability to reduce the development cost and retail price of camcorder phones in particular will also be key to larger scale adoption of these devices, and related multimedia/data services, in both mature and emerging markets.

"We are excited to be working with TI," said John Ralston, Droplet's President and CEO, "and to be able to leverage TI's combined strengths in wireless technologies and digital consumer electronics (digital cameras, MP3 players, camcorders) to bring new features and capabilities to mobile phones and other portable and converged multimedia electronics."

Droplet's all-software mobile video platform offers advantages that go well beyond just higher quality video capture in lower cost mobile devices, including:




-- Reduced handset development time and increased product platform
flexibility
-- Lower latency video compression and more stable synchronization with
associated voice recording, enabling higher quality video calling over
wireless and wireline networks
-- Ability to integrate compact SW decoder with each transmitted video
stream, for "self playing" audio/video on common handset and PC video
players. This feature eliminates the need for transcoding directly in
handsets or media adaptation servers.
-- Reduced computational requirements for automated video editing,
allowing mobile operators to deploy compelling "media producer"
services via Droplet's mobile video service suite running on low-cost
server infrastructure.


"Droplet's innovations in low-complexity video processing deliver remarkable reductions in both computational horsepower and internal processing memory requirements, enabling an all-software camcorder application that can run on the low-power microprocessors embedded in TI's OMAP platform," said Markus Tremmel, worldwide manager of TI's Cellular Systems Ecosystem. "By leveraging the OMAP processor's high performance and power efficiency, Droplet's all-software video client enables rapid and low-cost camcorder porting to a broad range of handsets, allowing consumers to enjoy an enhanced mobile video experience significantly sooner than otherwise possible."

As new mobile broadband multimedia initiatives come on line in 2006, mobile operators, MMS service integrators, and handset manufacturers will all be able to leverage Droplet's mobile video messaging platform and TI's industry-proven OMAP multi-engine architecture to target a wide variety of new mobile internet and multimedia services based on camcorder phones and other personal media player devices.

Droplet Technology, Inc. is a member of TI's OMAP(TM) Developer Network, a group of leading software developers porting advanced applications to TI's high performance, power-efficient OMAP processors. Handset manufacturers adopting OMAP devices enjoy the rapid deployment of compelling wireless applications -- including streaming audio and video, multimedia messaging, gaming, security, speech recognition, location based services and mobile commerce -- across all leading operating systems. Systems level integration services are also provided worldwide by independent OMAP Technology Centers. The OMAP platform has been selected by leading manufacturers, such as Nokia, Palm, NEC, Fujitsu, LG Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Sendo, HTC and many more, for their 2.5 and 3G wireless devices. For more information, please visit www.ti.com/omap.

About Droplet (http://www.droplet-tech.com)

Droplet develops, delivers, and supports a powerful new video service platform that uniquely meets the image quality, power consumption, and cost objectives set by next-generation portable communications devices and mobile multimedia services. Droplet is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and serves the Asian market through its development and marketing facilities in Beijing, China.

Trademarks

OMAP is a trademark of Texas Instruments. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners

CONTACT: John Ralston, President & CEO of Droplet Technology, Inc., +1-650-688-5762, or fax, +1-650-688-5701, or ralston@droplet-tech.com

Web site: http://www.droplet-tech.com//

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