The program will help device makers with the process of building tablets

Sep 10, 2014 06:24 GMT  ·  By

In its quests to ship as many tablets as possible, Intel has made another step towards reaching this self-imposed goal.

With this purpose in mind, the chip giant has launched a new program called "Reference Design for Android."

Intel has recognized the importance the penetration of the Android tablet budget sector, something that was quite obvious when the company partnered up with low-chip manufacturer Rockchip in order to make a smoother entry into the Chinese market.

Intel wants to help device makers build tablets

Anyway, since Intel is no stranger to the production of hardware, the company has come up with the above plan, which aims to help other device makers design Android tablets easier.

Of course, those manufacturers jumping onboard with the program will be obliged to make use of Intel’s own platform, but that shouldn’t a problem for most budget tablet producers.

At first, Intel will roll out a single binary image for Android, which will allow OEMs/ODMs to “select from a pre-qualified list of components or a complete BOM specification.”

So from now on, device makers won’t be forced to waste time trying to find a specific set of components that’ll support Google’s operating system, because Intel is offering a full package which they can be sure it will work.

On top of that, Intel promises it can offer updates just within two weeks after Google rolls out the updates for its own devices.

That means Android tablets running outdated versions of the OS might become obsolete, not to mention device makers will be able to ship software updates a whole lot faster.

This is an important aspect to take into consideration especially since a lot of brand vendors have taken their sweet time to roll out the Android 4.4 KitKat update to some of their devices.

At this point, you might be thinking that if a lot of device manufacturers end up adopting Intel’s Android-tablet design, much of the slates will end up looking the same, not to mention delivering the same functionalities.

Well, this doesn’t have to be the case, because Intel is giving OEMs/ODMs a choice to choose from a list of qualified components and is up to the tablet makers to match them and combine them in order to create something “special.”

Another major benefit of jumping onboard with Intel with this, is that the chip giant will be in charge of managing the Google Mobile Services certification process.

That means no time (or money for that matter) will be wasted on testing and applying for Google’s approval.

Intel has a similar project for wearables

Intel is doing the same thing with wearables through their Analytics for Wearables program. The idea behind this project is to support the active development of wearable apps along with “data-driven intelligence.”

Intel is also looking to provide the necessary data in order to help developers in their quest to create better apps for wearables optimized for Intel chip architecture.

The new #Intel reference design platform for Android; partnership w #Google. Quality & value #Intel powered #tablets. pic.twitter.com/VhWjpgSBt1 — Intel Malaysia (@myintel) September 9, 2014