06
May
Intel

Intel's New 'Silvermont' Architecture Will Offer Three Times The Peak Performance In Atom Processors, One Fifth The Power Consumption

Posted by in News

Most smartphone manufacturers have chosen to ignore Intel's mobile offerings in favor of ARM chips, but Intel is hoping to change their minds with its latest microarchitecture. Today Intel unveiled Silvermont, which reportedly will result in new mobile chips with three times the performance of current-gen Intel Atom processors. Alternatively, Silvermont will enable Intel's next-gen Merrifield smartphone chips to achieve the same performance levels as Clover Trail+ with one-fifth of the power consumption.

silver

Want more specifics? Other advertised features of Silvermont include:

  • A new out-of-order execution engine enables best-in-class, single-threaded performance.
  • A new multi-core and system fabric architecture scalable up to eight cores and enabling greater performance for higher bandwidth, lower latency and more efficient out-of-order support for a more balanced and responsive system.

10
Apr
intel logo

ZTE Announces the GEEK, An Intel CloverTrail+ Phone That Knows Its Target Audience, At IDF 2013

Posted by in News, ZTE

At the moment, mobile platforms are vastly dominated by the ARM architecture, licensed to pretty much every major chip/phone maker out there. That isn't stopping Intel from pushing forward with its x86 mobile chips. The latest taker for the Atom line is Chinese manufacturer ZTE, with the oh-so-appropriately-named ZTE GEEK. The 5-inch smartphone was announced at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing.

zte geek

The GEEK is built around the Atom Z2580 chip, a 2.0Ghz dual-core processor that uses Intel's 32 nanometer fabrication process. (It's even got the familiar "Intel Inside" badge on the back.) It's only the second commercial phone announced that uses the CloverTrail+ series of chips, behind the Lenovo K900.

08
Apr
minority-report-tom-cruise-620x348

[Editorial] Virtualizing Android Is Kind Of A Big Deal For Everybody

Posted by in Development, Editorials
Last Updated: April 9th, 2013

A few days ago, I posted about a student project at a Russian University that aims to run two or more instances of Android at the same time on a single device. It's a technology called virtualization, and we already use it on web servers and developer machines everywhere.

At first glance, the idea sounds interesting, but seems to lack practical uses for the majority of people. Sure, some developers will save a few hours on testing, and industrious users might want to run the latest CyanogenMod nightly ROM alongside their daily driver, but this kind of stuff doesn't really appeal to your neighbors or parents.

07
Jan
image

[CES 2013] Intel Uncovers Low-Power Atom Platform For 'Value Smartphone' Market, 'Bay Trail' Quad Core SoC For Tablets

Posted by in Android OS, News

Intel, not to be left out of the early CES fun, had a couple of announcements for tech fans today – a low-powered platform formerly known as "Lexington," (lovingly called Atom Z2420) for "emerging" value smartphone markets, and the Atom Z2760, codenamed "Bay Trail" headed for tablets and higher-end smartphones.

Intel says that it's already found partners in Acer, Lava International, and Safaricom for the Z2420 platform, and that the chip will be capable of 1.2GHz speed, 1080p hardware acceleration, and support for two cameras (with burst mode). With the Z2420, Intel is hoping to target what most call the budget smartphone market, which their release indicates will reach 500 million units by 2015 according to "industry sources."

The high-end Bay Trail SoC, meanwhile, is a quad core, 22nm chip that Intel hopes will expand tablet prospects in both the Windows 8 and Android arenas.

26
Sep
thumb

Chrome For Android Updated With Support For Intel x86 Devices

Posted by in Applications, News

If you plan on jumping aboard the Medfield bandwagon and scooping up the new Intel-powered Motorola RAZR i when it hits the streets next month, then the newest update to Chrome for Android is just for you. This small bump adds support for Intel x86 chips - like the ones found in the RAZR i, ZTE Orange San Diego, and ZTE Grand X IN.

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This is definitely good news, as lack of Chrome support was one of the last hurdles to jump for x86 phones.

The update is available in the Store now, though it probably won't show if you're not running an Intel device.

21
Sep
motorola-logo

Didn't Catch The Motorola/Intel RAZR i Event? Watch It Now On YouTube

Posted by in News, RAZR i

There's a good chance that the bulk of you completely missed the RAZR i announcement. Why? Because it was held in London and happened in the middle of the night for those of us in the US. Never fear, though, if you simply must see Moto talk up the RAZR i and all of its 2GHz glory, the full event is now available for streaming on YouTube.

Enough chatter - hit play to watch the magic.

18
Sep
1

Engadget Benchmarks The RAZR i, It's Probably Not The Powerhouse You Were Expecting

Posted by in News, RAZR i

Right after Motorola made the RAZR i official, the very first comment on our post was "Benchmarks ASAP!" because everyone wants to know how Intel's Medfield processor compares to the more common ARM-based chips that we're used to seeing. Engadget spent some time doing exactly that this morning, and the results are, well... less than impressive. Have a look:

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The only area where the RAZR i outperforms its Snapdragon S4-touting cousin (the M) is in the SunSpider benchmark, which tests browser performance. Do these scores mean the RAZR i is a bad phone? Heck no. Benchmarks are fun for looking at raw horsepower, but the real test is once you get the device in your hands.

07
Sep
image

Leak: ZTE Warp Sequent Headed To Boost Mobile With Vanilla Android 4.0, May Be Grand X IN Variant

Posted by in Boost Mobile, Grand X IN, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Leaks, News, Rumors

In a tweet earlier this evening, the recently resurrected evleaks Twitter account revealed what may be a variant of ZTE's Intel-powered Grand X IN phone which we saw at IFA 2012 headed for Boost Mobile.

It's definitely worth noting, though, that this ZTE Grand X IN (if that is what we're looking at) is a tad different from the original. Most notably, it appears to be running vanilla Android 4.0 rather than ZTE's own custom overlay.

05
Sep
RRAZR M_White_Dyn_L_vert_ROW_627x1360

Motorola Allegedly Confirms RAZR M Will Pack Intel Atom Processor In The UK

Posted by in Motorola, News, RAZR M, Rumors

Speaking to Pocket-Lint at today's unveiling of the RAZR M and RAZR HD, Motorola has reportedly confirmed that the RAZR M will be announced in the UK with an Intel chip, ousting the Qualcomm S4 found in the US Verizon version. Pocket-lint says the device will also get a "name change," but that just may be referring to the dropping of the DROID branding.

What we've seen of Intel phones so far hasn't been too impressive, so let's hope Motorola has managed to tame the Medfield-based Atom processor into something you'd actually want inside your smartphone. There's no word on LTE support, either.

02
Sep

[Weekend Poll] Would You Give Up A Front-Facing Camera To Have A Bezel-Less Phone?

Posted by in Motorola, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Effect Do You Think The Samsung v Apple Case Will Have On The Industry?

Rumor has it that Motorola will release a phone without a bezel by the end of the year, and we kinda-sorta buy it. The trend has certainly been moving that direction and bezels are becoming increasingly narrow, but we've never had a phone that truly had an edge-to-edge screen with no bezel at all. It simply hasn't been technologically feasible to eliminate it altogether for mass-produced devices.

The advantages would be obvious: first, you could pack a significantly larger screen into the same size package, and second, it would look super sleek.

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