14 DAY TRIAL // Santa Clara-based Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is about to make the first steps into the smartphone world, and it seems that it plans on walking both the software and the hardware roads at the same time. The company's Linux-based Moblin 2.1 operating system has just made an appearance, and it seems to be almost ready to come to the market running on handsets powered by Intel's Atom processor.
This is not the first time some of you hear about Intel's Moblin platform, which is aimed mainly at netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs) based on the company's Atom chip, as Intel has been working on this project for quite some time now. However, while Moblin (a name that should come from Mobile and Linux) has been advancing through various iterations during the past years, this is the first time that it appears to be ready to emerge into its final form, especially since this form could fit just fine inside a smaller device like a smartphone.
The video below will offer you the possibility to have a glimpse at what Moblin might be all about. It seems that Intel managed to make the platform's user interface work nicely on a handheld device, while also packing it with a series of widget-based social networking features. In addition, one will also see that Moblin comes with a panel-based navigation system, which offers an easy way to flip through a series of applications running at the same time.
Another appealing feature of the operating system seems to be the very short boot time, yet the only thing that we can do at the moment is dream about it. According to Intel, Moblin is still in a prototype form, and there are no details on when it might actually become available on the market. For what it's worth, they've managed to make enough advancements with the platform for us to expect it to surface on an Atom-based phone in the not too far future.
Those interested in learning more about Moblin should head to its website.