Motorola to Launch Intel Phone in September

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Motorola has confirmed that it will be announcing its first Intel-based phone next month. The new device will make its debut on September.

Other than it will be running Android, we do not know any of the hardware specs. Of course, there will be a Medfield Z2000-series processor, but it is unclear if Motorola is using the single-core, 1.6 GHz Z2460 or the dual-core Z2580, which can reach up to 2 GHz. At CES earlier this year, Intel claimed that the Z2460 can hold its own against the dual-core and quad-core rivals.

However, in a BBC article, there are more cautious notes about performance from Intel. "Faster speeds only get you so far," Mike Bell, Intel's vice president for mobile, told the BBC. "It's really all about user experience and the responsiveness of the device and less about speeds and feeds."

I will leave that up to you to interpret that statement, but it appears to be clear that Intel is not shooting for the performance crown in terms of raw processing power. Intel previously said that it has optimized Medfield to run Android well and that appears to be the company's greatest asset until its 22 nm Valleyview processors are unveiled in quad-core configurations in 2013.

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Wolfgang Gruener
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ejb222
    Faster is not always better. This is truth. User experience is trump, and what ever it takes to acheive that works for me.
    Reply
  • cscott_it
    I've seen some reviews for the other Intel Smartphone with the previous generation chip and it honestly does really well. Excited to see Intel bring their expertise to the field, more competition usually provides better products.
    Reply
  • rebel1280
    Nice, another competitor in the phone cpu market! Good for us!
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    Android for X86, a first step of Android to x86 phone platform. Looks like Microsoft is going to get worry on this. :D
    Reply
  • BSMonitor
    ARM's taunt looks more like lashing out in fear... We all know Intel is the global leader in process node technology and capacity... With the margin's Intel can deliver, and the capacity... And the business relationships it already has established with OEM's...

    Oops, ARM
    Reply
  • ojas
    At CES earlier this year, Intel claimed that the Z2460 can hold its own against the dual-core and quad-core rivals.
    Yeah but you've obviously not looked at the benchmarks, or used the existing Intel-based phones from Orange and Lava (apparently Gigabyte makes the Orange edition, idk for sure). They didn't just claim it can, it CAN.

    rebel1280Nice, another competitor in the phone cpu market! Good for us!TomfreakAndroid for X86, a first step of Android to x86 phone platform. Looks like Microsoft is going to get worry on this.The phone's been out since the end of April. Have it lying about in the house (review copy :D). So really this is the third step. Hope it comes with ICS though. I want to see benchmarks with ICS! :D
    Reply
  • ojas
    BSMonitorAnd the business relationships it already has established with OEM's... Oops, ARMBoth have strong business relationships in their respective industries.
    Reply
  • hate machine
    So google isn't very helpful here. Could someone fill me in on if this. Will x86 run existing Apps or will there need to be some re writes. I wouldn't like to see the app market get fragmented further by this. Devs not launching on all apps, carriers making certain apps unavailable, hardware limitations and now ARM vs x86.

    Please someone tell me this is not the case!
    Reply
  • x4dm
    hate machine - according to Intel much earlier this year (I can't find the original link to quote my source) over 90% of apps should be compatible with no glitches. another ~6% will have some minor glitches leaving us to interpret ~4% may have bugs that could screw up the user experience. I would be shocked if this number hasn't gone down in the 5+ months since they released these comments though. (I believe this is why they were holding off the US launch for so long) Also, I may be off by a few percentage points, but for some reason these numbers were stuck in my head...
    Reply
  • ojas
    hate machineSo google isn't very helpful here. Could someone fill me in on if this. Will x86 run existing Apps or will there need to be some re writes. I wouldn't like to see the app market get fragmented further by this. Devs not launching on all apps, carriers making certain apps unavailable, hardware limitations and now ARM vs x86. Please someone tell me this is not the case!Well from what i saw, most apps were compatible. Whichever aren't compatible (Chrome, Firefox Temple Run, and some others) you can't download. They won't appear on your search results. Some get through, like Opera (opera mini works however). So when i tried installing opera, the install failed and i got an error message.

    Intel has a translation layer to interface with apps coded to run on the ARM architecture. But no, they'll be no fragmentation. Your device will simply get the intended install package, but that'll probably be transparent to you.

    Never encountered any bugs as iirc.

    Also, random interesting fact: the phone (i'm talking about the xolo here) shut down because the battery was almost empty. I started it again, and it booted in safe mode! I never knew android had safe mode too lol.

    p.s. x4dm is correct too!
    Reply