Tuesday 10 January 2012

CES 2012: Intel Enters the Smartphone Market


Intel has entered the smartphone market with Lenovo K800. Lenovo's Liu Jun and Intel CEO Paul Otellini jointly unveiled this on the stage of CES 2012.

Intel’s first phone – Lenovo K800 has a 4.5-inch screen. The smartphone is powered by an Atom Z2460 chip, which runs at 1.6GHz. The phone will be based on the Lenovo LeOS user interface. It will reach China market in the second quarter via China Unicom. Mike Bell, vice president and general manager of Intel's mobile wireless group alleges “the Intel smartphone chip will be competitive on power and excel in performance”. Intel showed a prototype unit, which could deliver 8 hours of 3G voice calls, 6 hours of 1080p video playing, or 5 hours of 3G internet browsing.

Intel has also announced its alliance with Motorola Mobility. Intel’s partnership with Motorola Mobility is of great significance since the company is being taken over by Google Inc. Imagine the potential of a phone with Intel chip running on Android operating system!

Intel was trying hard to offer its chip to smartphones. In 2010, Intel showed an LG smartphone based on the earlier Atom chip code-named Moorestown. However, the device could never reach customers.  Actually, Intel’s Moorestown chips were considered power hungry, which led LG to scrap the first planned Intel-based smartphone.

Two years ago, Intel partnered with Nokia to develop the Linux-based MeeGo OS for smartphones. Later Nokia preferred to adopt the Microsoft's Windows Phone OS for its smartphones, leaving Intel deserted.

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