Telecom Lead America: MediaTek has launched MT6605, a dual-SIM plus 1 micro SD card capable Near Field Communications (NFC) solution.
MediaTek’s MT6605 NFC chip is being designed into smartphones by MediaTek’s global customers along with the company’s Android mobile platforms. The first smartphone models based on this new chipset are expected to ship commercially in Q2 2013.
Positioned to expand the adoption in and usefulness of mainstream mobile platforms, it features unique 3-SWP (single-wire protocol) architecture.
MediaTek claims that the MT6605 allows co-existence of multiple applications, such as information exchange/retrieval, ticketing, access control/authentication, location-based services and device pairing, all on a single mobile device, through simple and secure contactless connections.
In addition, the MT6605 provides integration with MediaTek’s Android mobile platforms and efficiently enables NFC connectivity on mainstream smartphones and tablets. It supports 3 secure elements, both embedded and SIM-based, meaning a possible usage scenario could be a dual-SIM plus one micro SD card configuration in one device.
The MT6605 software stack complies with the NFC Forum Controller Interface (NCI) and works on multiple OS platforms including Android. The chip incorporates MediaTek’s Beam Plus technology that optimizes the NFC plus Wi-Fi handover procedure and can reduce device paring time significantly at very low power operations.
MediaTek also works with its customers to support their antenna designs for smaller antenna sizes than current market offerings. Together with its ultra compact footprint, the MT6605 is ideal for integrated mobile platforms for device manufacturers to integrate NFC at a significantly lower price point.
“With the convergence of mobile communications, social networks, information exchange, payments and cloud services on the smartphone, NFC is a key technology that is bridging the smartphone owner in both the physical and online world for an enhanced user experience,” said SR Tsai, general manager of the Wireless Connectivity and Networking Business Unit at MediaTek.
