Lenovo and Motorola adopting Intel's Atom 'Medfield' SoC

[Cristian_25H]

After many years of planning, work and investment, Intel is now finally looking ready to step up and challenge ARM in the smartphone space. Yesterday at CES 2012 Intel announced that not one but two major companies - Lenovo and Motorola, will be using its 32 nm Medfield SoC (System-on-chip) for smartphones and tablets coming out later this year.

Lenovo is set to kick off the Medfield game as soon as Q2 when it will release in China the K800 smartphone running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The K800 is powered by a 1.6 GHz (single-core/dual-threaded) Atom Z2460 chip, and features a 4.5-inch TFT touchscreen, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS. Lenovo's plans also include a 10-inch Android tablet that's likely also scheduled for a Q2 arrival.



As for Motorola, it entered a 'multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship' with Intel and will introduce Medfield-based, Android-running smartphones and tablets in the second half of 2012. Details are scarce at this time but there will surely be leaks in the coming months.

Image courtesy of Engadget

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[Sasqui]

I invested in INTC with the thought that they would be heading in this direction... and now they have demonstrable results. 22nm tri-gate will give them the edge in the end.

 

[Octavean]

Android support,….check
4.5-inch TFT touchscreen,….check
8-megapixel rear-facing camera,….check
802.11 b/g/n WiFi,….check
Bluetooth 3.0,….check
GPS,….check
1.6 GHz (single-core/dual-threaded) Atom Z2460 chip,…cheeeee,…wait what!?!

Aren’t ARM devices starting to use quad core processors or in the case of nVidia Kal-El AKA Tegra 3,…5 cores (4 Superman plus one Clark Kent). I’ll bet the iPad 3 will have a quad SoC as well as the next iPhone. Hell even the HP Touchpad running WebOS uses a real dual core ARM SoC (albeit 1.2GHz but they were hitting ~1.4 to ~1.5).

I don’t know man,…..

Maybe it can perform well and will have decent battery life but I’m not so sure how good that processor looks on paper. If I’m wrong here that OK, wont be the first time or the last, but many uninitiated gadget buyers will likely be thinking the same thing. Right or wrong in that case doesn’t really matter if no one buys into the platform.

 

[dir_d]

we dont know how this dual thread chip will run. It could be possible to out shine the tegra 3. Time will tell if its up to the task.

 

[joyman]

Using Intel Atom in the last year of the Mayan calendar is fail. We have less than 12 months of life and still they throw at us Atoms... Geez start using molecules already

 

[xBruce88x]

you cant really compare arm vs x86 with just clock speed as the two have very diff design in the way they do things. tho quad arm vs single x86 is a different story.

if there was ever a reason for MS to abondon ARM aupport in windows 8, intel entering the smartphone and tablet market like this would be it. lets hope not.

 

[ensabrenoir]

EXCUSE ME....COMING THROUGH...PARDoN ME...800 pound blue gorillia entering the room here..

 

[scoutingwraith]

Im interested if they solved the battery saving issue compared to the ARM chips. I think i can recall that they were not as efficient.

 

[TheGuruStud]

LOL. The battery will drain in minutes. Forget hours. I wonder how much intel is paying them to make this pile.

 

[iLLz]

Its Damn Good!

Anandtech has a little review up on it. It has two benchmark comparisons and some power numbers. It really looks good and will only get better with the move to 22nm TriGate!

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5365/intels-medfield-atom-z2460-arrive-for-smartphones

 

[xBruce88x]

looks pretty sweet so far. with 22nm i wouldn't be surprised to see dual core 2ghz and a 500mhz gpu.