Intel Successfully Ports Android 4.1 Jelly Bean To Atom (Medfield) Devices
Looks like Intel has begun testing Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for use in smartphones using their Atom processors. Mike Bell, Intel’s vice president and general manager, mentioned during a developer conference today in San Francisco that he’s currently running the latest Android dessert on his own device, with a few other employees running it on their Medfield-powered smartphones as well.
When asked about a time frame current Intel devices would see an update to Jelly Bean — such as those manufactured by ZTE, Lenovo, etc. — he explained that it’s out of his hands saying, “We can’t put it on the phones. We have to give it to the carriers to put on the phones and they go through acceptance testing.”
Their single-core Atom processor is expected to be the subject of a Motorola press event taking place next week in London. Intel also has plans to introduce a dual-core version of their Medfield processor debuting in smartphones sometime early next year. Also due out in 2013 is Intel’s low-power Atom processor for high-end smartphones dubbed Merrifield that is manufactured using the 22nm process (current generation Medfields are using 32nm process). If that sounds snazzy to you, Intel’s plans stretch all the way to 2014 where they hope to release a processor using an abhorrently small 14nm process. Sweet, jeebus.
We’d love to see another silicon player enter into the semiconductor ring. Still, with ARM practically monopolizing the mobile processing market, we can’t help but wonder if it’s too little, too late.
[PCWorld]