By Intel mentioned that they had been working on porting Android to the Atom processor set back in April, and now they are formally announcing their latest line of CPUs, which will support Android among other operating systems such as Meego. The new chips boast dramatic power savings over earlier iterations, and will see a good increase in the performance sector.
The new Atom Z6xx Series of processors will reach 1.5GHz for mobile phones and up to 1.9GHz for tablet devices, providing 1080p video decoding, 720p video recording, and 3D graphics while decreasing idle power consumption fifty times over. This equates to 10 days of standby battery life. The new chipset should also provide up to 2 days of audio playback, and 4 to 5 hours of browsing and video.
Along with Android support, the Z6xx platform will cover the now-standard mobile technologies of Wi-Fi, 3G/HSPA, and WiMAX. The latest in mobile processing from Intel is available now, so expect to see some devices utlizing the new technology coming to market later this year. The Android television Sony/Google joint venture is supposed to use a variant of the Intel Atom processor, whether it is this new version or something completely different should be revealed at Google I/O.
And prepare to see prices for phones skyrocket when they include Intel processors. No one will doubt the power and ability of Intel, but the truth is they tend to be way more expensive than the “budget” alternatives (like AMD in the PC world) when the “budget” alternatives work just as well for what the average user does.
@kevdelsar I have never had an amd chip that didnt burn up. You get what you pay for.
They can “work just as well” but Intel is reliable and their products surpass expectations every time. AMD sucks.
Imagine the battery life!
intel also has more cache in their chips compared to AMD, they also handle OC a little further… if you care about what you buy you’ll go intel, not AMD
I’ve never had a problem with AMD…always choose them when I build PC’s…but anyway. Now cross this new Atom chip with the upcoming JIT capabilities of Android and things are about to get miiiiiighty interesting in this smartphone battle. We could see a big jump in power while much better battery life in one sweep. I just got an Incredible and already can’t wait to see whats out when my two year contract is up.
I have no problem with Moorestown processors in tablets but in a smartphone, um… no. They will be too power hungry no matter what Intel’s specs say. Not to mention by the time we start seeing these in consumer devices Cortex A-9 based devices will be out. For anyone unfamiliar with Cortex A-9 architecture look it up. You can also check out the ST Ericsson U8500, TI OMAP 4430 and 4440 and a few others. They will use less power than the current gen. Cortex A-8 based SoC and offer 3x – 4x performance increases. Intel has a LONG way to go.
Why WiMAX?
@Phil – If you can’t make it two years Verizon has an “Annual Upgrade” program. As long as your current plan is more than $49.99 a month you are eligible for a discounted phone every year. That’s what I did to get rid of my BB Tour and pick up an Incredible.
@Ben – Don’t forget to mention that there is a $30 charge to use that program. You’ll also forfit any time gained towards your New Every 2 program as well.
But regardless, that’s a small price to pay to be able to get the latest and greatest every year.
Okay, who let the Intel marketing people in?
Wait wait WAIT. x86? Atom? 10 days battery life? 1.5 GHz? SERIOUSLY?
That is awesome.
You know what? Never mind. 5 hours browsing and video. Eh.
*DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL* do want! perhaps i’ll wait till the first android phone with That comes out instead of getting the evo
just get the evo Jake.
Just wait till we can overclock those suckers. ;)
@Jake
in that case you will never get any phone… cuz technology always keeps changing and nothing is and will be the best forever… just sharing the same concern I have :)
I’ve never had a problem with AMD. And in fact all my office computers also all run on AMD machines. But going back to topic, I think having Intel into the game will just be good for competition and as we know, this always leads to a drop in overall prices.
So wait, thats a lot of great specs, what does this mean for Android phones in 3 years?? HTC im ganna marry you soon
Decreasing idle usage is nice but misleading. That’s just the processor, what about powering the screen, network connections, wake-up (if something runs every 15 minutes, will it use a lot of power to wake up?) etc – how many of these.are counted?
It’s nice in speed and idle power savings but the 4 – 5 hours of browsing and video suggests much lower real-world benefits, and at Intel’s prices.
AMD? Why are we talking about AMD? Don’t you mean ARM?