Prototype Smartphone Uses Intel Chip and OS
For the last few months, Intel has been offering us tantalizing tidbits about its upcoming chips for smartphones. Now we have a sneak peek of the device from Europe.
Steve Paine, who edits the Carrypad and UMPC portal got his hands on a prototype smartphone running Intel’s chips and MeeGo, a Linux-based operating system developed by Intel and Nokia.
Intel’s smartphone chip codenamed “Moorestown,” is based a processor based on the company’s Atom platform. Moorestown for cellphones has been created to be extremely power efficient, yet pack enough computational muscle for multimedia features such as video conferencing and HD video, says Intel.
Intel had hoped to have the first phones featuring its chips in hands of consumers later this year but last week, the company said the devices are expected to launch early next year.
Though Intel’s chips power most desktops and notebooks, Intel chips are absent in smartphones. Almost all smartphones are today use chips based on Intel rival ARM’s architecture.
There’s no word yet on performance and how Intel chips are handling multimedia content.
Meanwhile, Intel has also been working with Nokia to bring the MeeGo OS to market. Last year Intel had been working on Moblin, a Linux-based operating system designed specifically for netbooks. Separately, Nokia had been working on a new Linux-based software platform called Maemo for smartphones and tablets.
At the Mobile World Congress conference in February this year, Intel and Nokia announced they had combined efforts and spawned a new OS called MeeGo. MeeGo is hosted by the Linux Foundation and is designed to live on phones, netbooks and TVs.
Paine says Intel and Nokia have now released version 1.1 of MeeGo that includes the the handset user experience or UX available to developers for review. MeeGo will have its first developers conference in Ireland in November.
The protoype phone running MeeGo has an interesting user interface. MeeGo is still in pretty early stages so we will have to wait and see if other handsets manufacturers will take a shine to it and MeeGo it can become an alternative to Android.
Meanwhile, check out Paine’s photos of the Intel prototype to get an early sense of what MeeGo looks like on the phone.
See Also:
Intel Introduces Ultra-Low-Power Processor for Smartphones …
Smartphones With Intel Chips to Debut Next Year
Why Intel’s Processors Aren’t Big on Cellphones
Intel Hints at Its Own Smartphone Operating System
Intel Researchers Turn Counter Tops Into Touchscreens
Photo: Intel prototype phone/Carrypad
Fuente: Gadget Lab
