Intel inside your smartphone: Medfield's mobile push
Intel's serious push into cellphones began late last year at its Developers Forum, where Google's Andy Rubin took to the stage to announce that all future versions of the Android operating system would include support for Intel's architecture. Since then, the company has seen handsets from Lenovo, Orange, and Lava all launch with the Atom-based Medfield processor. It's also partnered with Motorola for a multi-device, multi-year deal, and you can follow all the news from Intel's big push into mobile right here.
Silvermont: Intel's promise to power phones and tablets you'd actually want
Today, nearly all modern smartphones use an ARM-based processor, along with every iPad and practically every Android tablet as well. Soon, though, Intel's x86 silicon might finally pose a challenge. Six years after laying out a roadmap for power-efficient processors for tiny computers, and several failed attempts to make a real dent, Intel impressed us last October with just how power-efficient its Medfield chip could be compared to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon. That chip used the company's...
Intel will show off more dual-core Android smartphones at Mobile World Congress next month
Intel showed us it could create a competent mid-range smartphone with decent processing power and battery life to spare, and then the company decided to create a somewhat slower SOC for poorer countries like Africa. Next month at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, however, the chipmaker's pulling out the big guns: We'll see a bunch of Android devices with the Atom Z2580, a much faster piece of silicon.
Intel actually announced the chip a year ago, but it should be a major step up....
Intel launches the Yolo, its first smartphone for Africa
Intel's chips for smartphones have made strides since we first reviewed them last year, but it's still fairly rare to find one in the wild. So what is Intel telling people who might take a gamble on a more niche processor? Yolo. Released through carrier Safaricom, the Yolo is Intel's first African smartphone, as well as the first phone we've seen to use the Lexington Atom chip Intel announced at CES. Despite what will jump to mind for most of us, the name is a nod to the Lava Xolo X900, the...
Intel's Atom Z2420 'Lexington' smartphone for emerging markets feels lethargic right now
Yesterday, Intel introduced a brand new Atom smartphone processor at CES 2013, but it looks like one you'd never personally want in a phone: We just got our hands on the first Lexington prototype, and it's maddeningly slow. Of course, this is a prototype we're talking about, and an extremely cheap one for emerging markets as well, but each time we tried to load up an app on the single-core, hyperthreaded 1.2GHz Atom processor (or perhaps some particularly terrible flash storage?) it took...
Intel unveils new 'Lexington' Z2420 mobile Atom for smartphones in developing nations
Intel has just announced its latest Atom chip, the Z2420. The company is looking to target smartphones and tablets in developing nations with this specific chip, building a reference platform with some more modest specs compared to Medfield devices. Intel's reference design comes with a 3.5-inch 320 x 240 display, a 1.2Ghz single-core processor with HyperThreading, and a custom Intel radio that supports HSPA+. Dual SIMs support is onboard, and the platform also has wireless display...
RAZR i, believe: does Intel's first real smartphone measure up?
Whether you think it's a post-PC or a PC-plus era, Intel's motivation for scaling down its processors for use in smaller devices is clear. The past few years have seen the mobile and tablet market grow and grow, and Intel has been very slow to react. Finally, after countless failures, Intel proved that it could power a smartphone earlier this year with the release of the Orange San Diego. The phone was one of the world’s first to feature an Intel x86 chip, a cousin to the silicon that sits...
Motorola RAZR i handset runs Android with an Intel processor (hands-on video)
Today in London, Motorola is announcing the first fruit of its multi-year, multi-device partnership with Intel — a revamped Droid RAZR M called the RAZR i. While the two phones look almost identical externally, inside the new device houses a new Intel Atom processor. The chipmaker says this is its first with a maximum clock speed of 2GHz, but that number is far from a cut-and-dry measure of the chip's performance, and the claim should be taken with a grain of salt. The new chip isn't...
Intel's first smartphone with Motorola will be a revamped Droid RAZR M
Earlier today, Motorola and Verizon revealed the Droid RAZR M, a $99 smartphone that sticks a 4.3-inch, practically edge-to-edge screen into a decidedly tiny package. Now, Pocket-lint is reporting that Motorola intends to re-use the same RAZR M design for its first Intel-powered smartphone. We've been eagerly awaiting the fruits of a Motorola-Intel partnership ever since the companies announced one at CES, and soon after that we saw some alleged pictures of the first phone. Look familiar, no?...
ZTE's Grand X IN: hands-on with the first Intel-based Android 4.0 phone
Here at IFA, Intel and ZTE are showing off the Grand X IN, the first Android 4.0 phone to be based on an Intel Medfield processor and one of only a handful of phones running Medfield at all. We've just taken a quick look at the phone, which ZTE based on its recently released Grand X but updated with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 processor. As we noted in our review, the original Grand X wasn't particularly fast, and the new processor (along with more RAM) seemed to give it a welcome performance...
Intel guts, Android 4.0 brains: ZTE's Grand X IN launches next month in a new class of smartphones
Last month marked the launch of the ZTE Grand X, a decent midrange handset that runs an almost completely stock version of Android 4.0. Now the company has finally revealed the Intel-powered device that it promised to deliver by the end of the year: the ZTE Grand X IN.
Aside from the Intel Atom Z2460 processor, the Grand X IN is, for all intents and purposes, another midrange smartphone. The device has a 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1GB of RAM, HSPA+ connectivity, and an 8-megapixel...
Motorola and Intel plan event for September 18th, hint at Medfield phone
Motorola and Intel are sending out invitations to the press this morning for an event on September 18th in London. We have been waiting for the two companies to announce something since their partnership was revealed back at CES at the start of this year, and it looks like we will finally see the fruits of their efforts. Motorola and Intel did say that they would announce a Medfield-powered phone this year, so we are fairly certain that this is exactly what we will see at this event. Either...
Intel's Atom chips will support Android 4.1, no timeline given
Intel has confirmed that its Atom chips for phones and tablets will eventually support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as a port. In an email to IDG News, a spokeswoman said that "Intel continues to work closely with Google to enable future versions of Android, including Jelly Bean, on our family of low power Atom processors." Intel's smartphone and tablet presence is minimal, but the first phones bearing its Medfield system-on-chip Atom processors launched this year, and more are expected in the...
Android
ZTE launches Tegra 2-powered Grand X, promises Intel hardware later this year
ZTE has announced that it will release a smartphone powered by Intel hardware in the second half of 2012. The device will make up part of the company's new Grand range of smartphones, which launches today in Turkey with the Grand X. We first saw the Grand X at MWC earlier this year, where it was named the Mimosa X. It features a dual-core Tegra 2 SoC, a 4.3-inch qHD display, an integrated Nvidia Icera modem, and Android 4.0.
In addition to the 3G handset on sale in Turkey, ZTE promises an LTE...
Android
Orange San Diego review: Intel comes to smartphones
For many years, Intel has been promising that it would revolutionize mobile computing. At CES 2010, it showcased a new Atom processor, Moorestown, and even went so far as to announce a device, the LG GW990, which was set to ship in the second half of 2010. Amidst rumors of poor power consumption, the GW990 was canceled, and not a single Moorestown device ever made it to market.
Fast-forward to CES 2012, and Intel is in Las Vegas again with a new mobile chip codenamed Medfield. This chip,...
Android
Lenovo LePhone K800 is the first Medfield-powered phone in China
It doesn't get to claim to be the first-ever Medfield-powered phone — that would be the Lava Xolo X900 — but the Lenovo LePhone K800 does have the honor of being the first Intel smartphone available in China. The K800 was first announced at CES, and we liked what we saw from the Android 2.3 handset. It's powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, and when we've tested similar chips in the past the results have been impressive. The K800 also has a 4.5-inch IPS display, plus 1GB of RAM, 16GB...
Android
Intel releases native x86 Android 4.0 emulator for faster app debugging
Android developers have gotten a nice surprise today: an Android 4.0 x86 image has been released for the platform's software development kit. For the vast majority of people developing on computers that use x86 processors, the update will let the emulator run at native speeds and with fewer bugs, since it will be running native x86 code rather than code from the ARM platform. Developers can install it by refreshing the SDK Manager, then selecting the x86 image under Android 4.0.3. Downloading...
Intel preps 22nm 'Merrifield' and '6331' smartphone processors for 2013
At a recent investor meeting in Santa Clara, California, Intel CEO Paul Otellini has followed up his Mobile World Congress press event with details on its upcoming smartphone processors — Merrifield and the oddly-named "6331" — slated for release next year. Both chips will use a new 22nm manufacturing process, and while the 6331 will be an inexpensive single-core chip, Merrifield will be a dual-core component destined for high-end devices. Merrifield will also include a new GPU design...
Mobile
Lava Xolo X900 will be the world's first Intel smartphone starting April 23rd
The Lava Xolo X900 will be the first shipping smartphone to be powered by Intel's Atom processors, confirming rumors that we heard a couple of days ago. The handset is set for release in India on Monday, and has a 1.6GHz single-core Atom processor, a dedicated 400MHz graphics core, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, NFC capability, and a 1,024 x 600 WSVGA LCD display. It's also got an 8-megapixel camera that's capable of capturing 10 shots per second in burst mode. Unfortunately the Xolo X900...
Android
First Intel smartphone launching 'later this week,' says CEO
Intel CEO Paul Otellini just told investors that the company's first smartphone is ready for launch. On a Q1 financial earnings call, he said that "the launch of our first Intel architecture-based smartphone" will occur "later this week." You shouldn't necessarily expect to get your hands on a new Atom-based smartphone yourself, though, because last we heard the Lenovo K800 will be the first Intel phone, and that particular 4.5-inch, 1.6GHz Atom Z2460-powered Android 4.0 device is only slated...
Mobile
Intel Medfield phone benchmarked, outperforms Galaxy Nexus
We saw the Orange Santa Clara Medfield phone at MWC last week and were impressed by its performance, but an enterprising blogger from German site Caschys Blog went one step further and performed some web benchmarks on the device. He ran Qualcomm's Vellamo benchmark app and the browser-based BrowserMark on the device and got some pretty stellar results. Orange's upcoming smartphone outperformed the iPhone 4S in BrowserMark and bested both the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S II LTE in Vellamo.
The...
MWC 2012
Intel lays out its plan for Android, will cut chip size in half by 2014
As Paul Otellini said at the Intel press event at Mobile World Congress, "it wouldn't be an Intel presentation without a roadmap." The company has laid out the long-term plans for its mobile processors, aiming to move from the current 32nm architecture of the Medfield Atom Z2460 to 22nm next year, and to just 14nm by 2014. The rate that these architectures are shrinking at mean that Intel is aiming to move faster than Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors you can fit into...
Intel and Lava announce Medfield-based Xolo X900 for India (hands-on)
The rumored Medfield smartphone from Intel and Lava has been announced. Known as the Xolo X900, the phone will be released only in India and is supposed to ship early next quarter. As we heard earlier, the Android-based Xolo will come with a 1.6GHz Medfield processor, and will run 2.3.7 Gingerbread. Beyond that, we have few details on the X900, but earlier rumors also said it would have a 3.5- or 3.7-inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera.
We took a look at the phone after the event, and...
Orange Santa Clara runs Intel's Medfield processor, does just fine with Android apps (hands-on video)
Orange announced this morning that it will be the first carrier to bring a phone to market powered by Intel's Medfield processor, with the Santa Clara. We got a chance to play with the phone, and while the phone itself is nothing special the Medfield CPU is pretty remarkable. It's a 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor, and it handled everything from playing Asphalt 6 to opening the app drawer with equal aplomb, handling everything smoothly and instantly. In addition to the awesome usability, the...
Mobile
Intel and Lava to launch Medfield-based Android phone in India this spring?
We're expecting to hear all about Intel's Medfield processors and the company's plans for smartphone domination this week at Mobile World Congress, and it sounds like a big launch in India could be in the plans. According to a report from BGR, Intel is planning to launch Medfield-based Android smartphones in India and China as early as April. BGR claims that Intel will partner with Indian brand Lava to launch a new smartphone brand that will be run separately from Lava; the phone itself is...
Android
Rumored Motorola Medfield phone images, camera specs surface
What appear to be images of Motorola's first (but not last) handset with an Intel Medfield chipset and running Android 4.0 have shown up on Pocketnow. We first heard that Android was going to be optimized for Intel chips back in September, and got a look at Lenovo's K800 phone with a Medfield chipset in Las Vegas a month ago. Motorola's take on Medfield clearly sticks within its own design heritage, taking some cues from the Droid Razr and Droid 4, only with no capacitive buttons on the face,...
Android
Intel details new Medfield Atom processor, announces added Android app support (update: video)
We've spotted a couple of devices today with Intel's new Medfield chip, and this evening the company is finally coming clean about its forthcoming Atom processor, which is now confirmed to be coming to Lenovo and Motorola phones and tablets later this year. The single-core, 32nm processor, which is now called the Atom Z2460, is clocked at 1.6GHz and supports hyper-threading. That processor is then bundled with the Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX540 graphics, and Intel's 6540 HSPA+ modem...
Android
Lenovo K800 is the first Intel-powered Medfield phone, coming to China in Q2 with Android 4.0
Earlier today we saw Lenovo's Intel's Medfield-powered Android 4.0 tablet hanging around on the show floor, but Intel's just announced that Lenovo's also got an Atom-powered phone: the 4.5-inch Lenovo K800, coming Q2 with Android 4.0 on a 720p screen. It'll run the company's new Atom Z2460 chip, and has HSPA+ support with Intel's XMM 6260. We're hearing it might have Intel's Wireless Display technology as well. Lenovo plans to bring the Medfield phone to China during the first half of the...
Android
Intel's Medfield reference design smartphone first hands-on
The floodgates have finally opened here at CES 2012 and we've just played with Intel's reference design smartphone on the show floor. This prototype smartphone is running Android 2.3.7 on the company's Atom Z2460 Medfield processor we've recently heard about. Clocked at 1.6Ghz, the 32nm X86-architecture chip supports hyperthreading, Intel's graphics media accelerator for video and up to a 24 megapixel image sensor. The device has a 4.03-inch 1024x600 display, records 1080P video on its 8...
Android
Intel to show off LG Android phone running Medfield at CES, says Korea Times
It's all but a given that Intel will be showing off a smartphone running its Medfield platform at CES — back in September, Rubin teased Android phones and tablets running on the aforementioned Atom processor, and prototypes were tested at MIT. According to a report from Korea Times attributed to Intel Korea chief Lee Hee-sung, Intel head Paul Otellini will be showing off an LG Android smartphone running Medfield, with the implication it would make its way to consumer release sometime later...
Intel Android smartphone and tablet prototypes tested by MIT, look promising
Intel's 32nm Medfield system-on-chip has been teased all year as the platform for the company's big leap into mobile devices, and now we finally have some real hands-on feedback to report about it. The MIT Technology Review team was allowed to have a brief play with a pair of Medfield prototypes running Android — a phone similar in size to the iPhone that was on Gingerbread and a tablet close to the iPad 2 in thickness running Ice Cream Sandwich — and came away impressed. Responsiveness,...
Android
All future Android versions to be optimized for Intel as well as ARM; Medfield-based tablet and phone teased
At Intel's Developer Forum, Google's Andy Rubin just appeared on stage to confirm that Google and Intel will be continuing their partnership. Expanding it, even, as Rubin announced that all future versions of Android would include optimizations for Intel silicon - from the core of the OS up to multimedia. So to catch up: today we saw Microsoft tout Windows 8 running on ARM processors and we saw Google tout Android running on Intel processors. Yes, we got the order right there.
Intel took the...
