14 DAY TRIAL // Today, at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Intel made several announcements that indicate the company is finally ready to enter the mobile market.
Shortly after announcing its partnership with Motorola Mobility to bring Intel-powered Android phones on the market in the second half of the year, the company revealed the first smartphone that embeds an Intel chipset, Lenovo K800.
Manufactured by Chinese handset maker Lenovo, the K800 runs on Intel’s 32mm Z2460 platform, formerly known as “Medfield.” The platform was specifically designed for low power consumption and replaces ARM-based chipsets.
The Medfield platform will power smartphones and tablets that run Google’s Android operating system, but other mobile platforms as well.
“The best of Intel computing is coming to smartphones. Our efforts with Lenovo and Motorola Mobility will help to establish Intel processors in smartphones and provide a solid foundation from which to build in 2012 and into the future,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini.
Lenovo K800 is equipped with a 1.6 Ghz single core Intel Atom processor, which is complemented by a PowerVR SGX 540 graphics processing unit. Although the current platform only supports single core, Intel confirmed plans to launch a dual-core variant later this year.
This is probably one of the reasons why Motorola will start shipping the first Intel-powered smartphones in the second half of the year.
Furthermore, the Lenovo K800 features support for HSPA+ and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Lenovo LeOS user interface on top.
The smartphone sports a large 4.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 720p resolution and an impressive 8-megapixel rear camera.
According to Lenovo, the K800 is expected to arrive in China in the second quarter and will be available via China Unicom.
Unfortunately, there’s no word on the phone’s global availability and pricing options. The good news is that Intel-powered smartphones and tablets have already been confirmed for the second half of the year.