Intel Medfield-Powered Phones Announced at MWC

We’ve been telling you a while now that Intel is readying for an assault on the smartphones and tablets market. It looks as though all is going to plan for the chips giant as at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, three Intel Medfield chip-powered smartphones have been unveiled.

Last year, back in September, we said that Intel-powered Android smartphones and tablets will be arriving during the first half of this current year. Unveiling of Intel smartphones at the current MWC is right on schedule for Intel. Last January, we said that Intel Inside smartphones and tablets are on the way, again very much hinting that Intel is really concentrating on the mobile side of tech and will announce developments during a big technology event such as the CES and the MWC.

The Medfield mobile-targeted chip is the first assault from Intel on the ARM-dominated mobile industry. Medfield smartphones were abundant at the MWC with Intel demonstrating a reference design smartphone running on Medfield which will be sold through Orange. Smartphones from Lava and Lenovo, which were also being powered by Medfield processors, were demonstrated at the mobile tech fair.

Let’s discuss Intel’s reference design for a Medfield smartphone first. According to Engadget, the demo unit they got a hold of at the MWC featured a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 processor, an XXM 6260 modem and Intel GMA graphics. This unit also featured a 4-inch display, Wi-Fi and accelerometer.

Other features of this phone are a 1,460 mAh battery capable of powering it for 14 days on standby, 45 hours of audio playback, eight hours of 3G calls or five hours of 3G internet browsing. It also features a micro-HDMI slot, Engadget says.

Furthermore, according to AnandTech, the phone will be sold through Orange which has dubbed it the Santa Clara. Other details from the AnandTech article points to 1GB of LPDDR2 RAM, 16GB in storage, dimensions measuring 123mm x 63mm x 9.99mm and a weight of 117 g. Both Engadget and AnandTech said that the unit demonstrated by Intel had Android 2.3 Gingerbread installed.

Next is the Xolo X900 by Lava and Intel, an Intel Medfield smartphone which is headed to our friends in India.

According to The Verge, the Xolo X900 smartphone unveiled at the MWC had either a 3.5- or 3.7-inch display. It was running on a 1.6 GHz Medfield Atom processor, the publication says, which we’re betting is the same Intel Atom Z2460 processor powering the Santa Clara. Other details about the Xolo X900 is that it was running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread at the MWC.

The Times of India says, however, that the Xolo X900 will feature a 4.03-inch LCD display with an 8MP rear-facing camera. It also features the Intel XMM 6260 platform as the Santa Clara, the publication says. Other features of this phone headed to India is that it has a front camera, NFC and HDMI.

Meanwhile, Lenovo also unveiled the Lenovo K800 at the MWC 2012. It also packs a Medfield Intel CPU also clocked at 1.6 GHz. The unit shown off in Barcelona, Spain was also running on Gingerbread, The Next Web says, although it appears to a custom UI on top.

Tech Radar says that this 1.6 GHz processor is the same Intel Atom Z2460 processor powering the Santa Clara and the Xolo X900. Other details revealed by the British publication are that the Lenovo K800 packs an 8MP camera and a 4.5-inch display with 720p resolution.

Intel last year announced that it was partnering with Google to tune its chips to Android. These is the first batch out of that effort. Why they chose to unveil phones running on Gingerbread escapes us, however. We expect, nonetheless, that when these Medfield phones are released they will already be running on Ice Cream Sandwich if not an update to ICS is near release for them.

We’re also waiting for what Medfield smartphones the giants Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG have in development. Just a thought, with Intel supporting Tizen, when do you think will Intel smartphones and tablet running on Tizen come out? Nonetheless, I understand if Intel wants Tizen to develop first before putting it on smartphones and tablets.

What are your thoughts about this new development? Tell us more in the comments below.

Sources: Engadget, AnandTech, The Verge, The Times of India, The Next Web, Tech Radar

[cb]Intel[/cb]

[cb]Orange[/cb]

[cb]Lava[/cb]

[cb]Lenovo[/cb]

[cb]Android[/cb]