In addition to highlighting 3D performance, version 1.1 of OpenSL ES offers buffer queues, content pipes, and explicit object ordering. Khronos expects more adoption by other smartphone vendors, anticipating OpenSL ES will be supported on more than 50 percent of smartphones by 2014.

OpenMax AL (Application Layer)  1.1 is cross-platform C-language API providing such capabilities as controlling player and recorder objects and connecting them to input and output objects like content readers. Recording of audio and video is supported as well as image capture. Also unveiled Tuesday was OpenMAX AL Digital TV Extension, an API for digital TV-related applications on mobile and embedded devices.

"The problem that we're seeking to solve with OpenMax AL is one that has plagued the industry for quite a while," which is streaming media portability, said Yeshwant Muthasamy, chair of the OpenMax AL working group at Khronos and a technology manager at Nokia. OpenMAX AL features easy-to-use high-level access to rich multimedia functionality and is intended for systems integrators.

Version 1.1 of OpenMax AL 1.1 features metadata support for streaming playback, finer-grained radio control, and improved error handling.

Khronos Group bills itself as offering "open standards for media authoring and acceleration." Members include companies such as AMD, Apple, Google, Intel, Nokia, and Oracle. Other Khronos technologies include OpenGL ES, which is a cross-platform API for 2D and 3D graphics, and OpenCL, for parallel programming of heterogenous systems.