Intel Medfield chip on Motorola and Lenovo smartphones

Intel Medfield chip on Motorola and Lenovo smartphones

Naveed Iqbal

NED Karachi

Intel demoed its own prototype smartphone built using a Medfield chip

Intel's new processor designed for mobile devices will be used by Motorola Mobility and Lenovo in upcoming Android-based smartphones.

The Medfield chip is designed to help Intel make headway in a sector dominated by processors based on designs by the UK firm Arm Holdings. The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The Motorola partnership is significant as Android's maker, Google, is in the process of taking over the phone maker. This launch marks Intel's second attempt to get Atom-based chips used in smartphones.

LG unveiled a previous tie-up at CES in 2010, but the handset never went into production.

This time Intel has announced rough shipping dates for the new devices.

It said Lenovo would launch a Medfield-based phone in China before July, while Motorola would sell its first handset in the second half of the year with others devices to follow.

Battery life

Medfield's system-on-chip design packs an X86-architecture central processing unit (CPU), RAM memory, storage and an Imagination Technologies-designed graphics processing unit all onto the same chip using the firm's established 32 nanometer manufacturing technology.

The chip is smaller than a fingertip and is designed to balance processing power against energy use in order to maximize battery life.

Intel said a prototype unit, which it built itself, could deliver eight hours of 3G voice calls, six hours of 1080p video decoding or five hours of 3G internet browsing.

"Battery life on this platform is not the best in the mobile market, but it is by far not the worst," Mike Bell, Intel's Ultra Mobility Group general manager told.

 “Start Quote

If Intel wants to grow its business at a significant rate it must participate in this market, there is no alternative”

"We are very effective and good at some tasks and sort of in the middle of the pack at others.

"Essentially we think you can build a smartphone based upon our processor with an ordinary sized battery that you see in today's smartphones that will provide a great experience. There will be no battery life issue on our platform" says Mike Bell, Intel's Ultra Mobility Group general manager.