Intel inside your smartphone: Medfield and Silvermont

In recent months, Intel has been under pressure to explain why personal computers haven't been selling quite as well. But the chipmaker may have another pressing concern: losing billions of dollars on mobile. In 2013, Intel's mobile chip division lost a hefty $3.15 billion, after posting an operating loss of $1.78 billion in 2012. In the first quarter of 2014 alone, the Mobile and Communications Group saw a $929 million operating loss on a meager $156 million in revenue, according to new financial results issued today by the company.

While we'd previously seen Intel struggle for success with smartphones and tablets, this is the first quarter that Intel has broken out numbers for the mobile division alone, which is responsible for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and cellular connectivity in addition to the processors that feature in such devices. The company does say that it managed to ship 5 million tablet processors in the quarter, most of them powering Android devices.

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 Saltwell core inside, but this year the company's introducing Silvermont, and Intel claims the new 22nm architecture will more than hold its own against the best ARM has to offer.

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. Where last year's Z2460 had a single-core processor with the aging single-core PowerVR SGX 540 graphics and only HSPA+ radio support, the new Z2580 has two CPU cores (with two threads each), two far faster PowerVR SGX 544 GPU cores, and a speedy LTE or faster HSPA+ connection in supported markets. Intel says it should have double the performance of the previous Atom across the board. We already spotted the Atom Z2580 in this Lenovo 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 at CES early this month, but the device wasn't ready for a serious test. At MWC, we should be able to give you an idea how this latest Atom and the competition stack up.

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 very first Intel phone. The Xolo was announced for India in mid-2012, while the Yolo is now coming to Kenya.

The Yolo is based on Intel's reference design from CES, with a 3.5-inch screen and 1.2GHz processor; if it follows the specs we saw there, it'll have a pretty minimal 320 x 240 display and dual SIM support. According to a reviewer at Techweez, who also took the photo above, the phone runs Ice Cream Sandwich and supports HSPA+. Intel's chips can offer longer battery life without sacrificing performance, though we found Lexington sluggish at CES. The company is targeting developing markets with Lexington, sidestepping the problems with LTE support it's encountered elsewhere. The Yolo will sell for 10,999 Kenyan shillings, or about $125. There's no word on whether it will start showing up in other countries in the future, though Intel said at CES that multiple companies were working on Lexington phones.

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 loads of time to get it up. While we were able to swipe around most of the core Android 4.0.4 operating system fairly smoothly and without much issue, and take a burst of seven 5-megapixel images with Intel's camera software, it felt like it took well over a minute to load the game Temple Run and the browser had difficulty pulling up full webpages even though we had internet connectivity on the show floor.

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 capabilities. Intel says that several companies are currently working on devices based on the reference design, including Acer and Lava. As you might recall, Lava was one of the first manufacturers to release a Medfield smartphone, so we might just see a repeat performance from the company with Lexington.

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 inside your laptop or desktop PC. It put to rest longstanding worries about performance and battery life on the x86 platform, but was thoroughly dull and, despite largely passing our extensive app-compatibility test, was unable to run quite a few high-profile games. Our review of the San Diego found Intel capable, but still in need of a truly competitive smartphone.

Last month, at a relatively low-key press event in London, Motorola and Intel co-announced the RAZR i, an x86 version of the mid-range Motorola Razr M, the first of numerous collaborations between the two companies. The RAZR i represents a unique opportunity: we finally have two virtually identical devices, one powered by a "traditional" ARM processor, and the other featuring an Intel chip. Can Intel’s effort hold its own, and has the company found its perfect partner in Motorola?

Externally, both phones are more or less exactly the same, both featuring 540x960 Super AMOLED Advanced display, same 8.3mm thickness, same minimal bezels, and same big 2,000mAh battery. They also both have the same Kevlar back panel, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how much you're into the paramilitary aesthetic. Interestingly, Motorola says that the RAZR i will have 4.5GB of user-accessible memory — an extra 500MB advantage over the 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? Now, it appears that the device will be sold in both dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon and Intel Medfield Atom models, though Pocket-lint says the Intel version won't have the same name when sold.

Neither Motorola nor Intel would confirm or deny the report, but both companies have an event scheduled in London for September 18th, and we'll be there to bring you all the details. We're particularly interested in what the device might cost, as previous Intel phones have offered some pretty decent bang for the buck, and at $99 after rebate, the existing RAZR M appears to do so as well.

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 boost.

Outside of its Intel processor, the Grand X IN is a slightly upgraded version of the Grand X, which ZTE launched last month. It now carries 1GB of RAM rather than 512MB and has an 8-megapixel rear camera rather than a 5-megapixel one, but the 960 x 540 screen and 1,650mAh battery haven't changed. The Grand X IN also sticks with the same rounded corners and washboard plastic back as its predecessor, and it likely has the same build quality issues we noticed the first time around. Like the Grand X, it runs Android 4.0 but uses four capacitive buttons along the bottom, including the outdated Menu and Search ones. It has, however, been updated to 4.0.4, rather than 4.0.3 like the original Grand X.

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 rear-facing camera with a VGA camera on the front. Android 4.0 is included, but unlike the Grand X, appears to be skinned. Regardless, this is the first time that Intel's Medfield platform will be used alongside Ice Cream Sandwich on a retail smartphone, so it will be interesting to see how it performs when paired with one of ZTE's devices. Pricing and carrier information for the Grand X IN have not been announced, although the phone will be available in Europe starting next month.

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 way, we'll be there to cover it, so be sure to tune in on September 18th to find out more.

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 coming quarters. Unfortunately, they're largely still running Android 2.3 Gingerbread — with the exception of a few on Ice Cream Sandwich, despite Andy Rubin's promise that Google would optimize future versions of Android for Intel's chips.

Intel has focused on Windows 8 for its Atom-based Clover Trail processor, and we're glad to see it at least trying to keep up with the latest version of Android. But while Intel has a long-term phone development partnership with Motorola, we aren't seeing much of Google's plan to optimize for Atom in the future.

Unfortunately, the final piece of the Grand puzzle — the Intel-powered smartphone — remains a mystery. We know that it's coming before the year's end and, as ZTE is heavily invested in the platform, it's safe to say that it'll be an Android device. Although ZTE may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of smartphones, it has a large presence away from Western markets. At the very least, it's another name to add to Intel's admittedly short list of smartphone partners.

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, Intel says — this chip is the one. Intel showed off a fully-functional reference design, and also announced a multi-year, multi-device partnership with Motorola.

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 of internal storage, and an 8-megapixel rear camera. It's available from Lenovo and a handful of other retailers in China, for RMB 3,299 ($524). There's still no word on when we'll see Intel-powered phones in the US, but the company's clearly committed to rolling the Medfield platform out in a big, global way.

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 the image may take some time due to high demand, though. For developers, this means a better system for building and testing apps. Intel's x86 architecture is ubiquitous, and this upgrade will complement the native x86 support that was added to the emulator back in March. End users won't see any direct changes, but anything that helps developers is certainly good news for all of us.

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 that Mobile and Communications GM Mike Bell hopes will provide a more "immersive experience."

Intel's roadmap doesn't end there — the chip maker is intending to release a 14nm chip in 2014. But, with competitive offerings like the 28nm Snapdragon and the quad-core, 40nm Tegra 3 already making their way onto store shelves, Intel still has some catching up to do.

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 will ship with Android 2.3, though the company promises that an over-the-air upgrade to Android 4.0 is on the way.

It's a big step for Intel, with its chips also powering the Lenovo K800 that's expected to launch in May. However, early adopters might have a greater price to pay than usual — they're likely to see far fewer apps in the Play Store than other Android devices, since many won't yet be ready to run on Intel's hardware. However, for those who still want a handset with Intel inside, it's set to cost INR 22,000 (or around $425) off-contract.

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 for China right now.

Feel free to live vicariously through us, though, by watching our CES 2012 hands-on video of the Lenovo K800 below, and look forward to Intel phones from Motorola and other OEMs over the coming year.

The results are pretty unsurprising as the power of Intel's 1.4GHz SoC has never been in question, but it's always good to see a device performing to expectations. It's worth mentioning that browser benchmarks aren't indicative of real-world performance, but when combined with our impressions from MWC, it appears the Santa Clara will be a potent device. The important question that Intel still hasn't answered is one of battery life, and it looks like we'll have to wait for the phone's release this summer to put it to the test.

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 an integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years. This doubled density leads to equal power in chips half the size, or alternatively double the power from the same sized chips.

A key factor in the rapid acceleration in size reduction is Intel's planned adoption of FinFETs next year, which allow a single transistor to act as a multi-gate device. This means that one transistor can perform far more calculations than in a traditional setup, with far fewer electrodes needed and therefore greater space efficiency. This in turn means that chips can get smaller while still becoming more powerful.

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 weren't too impressed. The screen 1024 x 768 screen doesn't disappoint, and the phone was fairly light, but the physical buttons were clunky and the capacitive keys too short and narrow to use comfortably. There's no word on pricing, so we're not sure where this will end up falling on the smartphone spectrum.

The Santa Clara — that's a codename, it'll be called something else when it launches — is otherwise a solid, if unremarkable, phone. It's not particularly attractive to look at, and is so light that it actually feels a little flimsy. It has a 4.03-inch, 1024 x 600 display, along with an 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p video. It's currently running Android 2.3, but Orange promised that a 4.0 update is coming.

The handset also, critically, seems to run Android apps without a hitch. We've had a lot of issues with Android devices powered by alternative or new processors, some of which just aren't able to run a lot of Android apps, but that doesn't seem to be much of a problem here. Orange reps told us that they've worked hard with Intel to ensure that Medfield devices are fully compatible, and it seems like their work has paid off. We played Modern Combat 2, Asphalt 6, and MX Moto Free, and all worked really well; we weren't able to play Oregon Trail: Settler, but that seemed to be due to a connectivity issue rather than the phone's hardware.