Mobile TV tuners are shrinking

The picture above shows the latest innovation out of the mobile phones mecca, Japan. In Japan 1 Seg TV tuners are all the rage with most handsets including some form of TV tuner in their spec sheet.

Sharp have made the VA3A5JZ922, (now that's a memorable name!) a TV tuner smaller than the size of a penny, as well as this Sharp is boasting that the smaller unit will help conserve battery life since it is much smaller and energy efficient than current generations of tuner chips.

Smaller chips have been dropping up everywhere recently, with Intel making it's new Penryn processors smaller (as well as it's new chip being put in the anorexic MacBook Air) and Sony making smaller 45nm chips for use in it's Playstation 3's. When companies start making smaller more efficient chips it often means better battery life or energy consumption, a popular subject in these days of climate change this, melting ice caps that.

Sharp claims to being able to produce millions of these chips a month so there should be no problem making TV capable mobile phones for the millions of moble phone users in Japan, and maybe five or six years down the line we may see some of this technology in Europe or America!