Posts tagged Mobile
Intel’s $126 YOLO phone matches quad-core Samsung Galaxy S III performance
Jan 26th
New benchmark results suggest Intel may have a bright future in smartphones after all– and the first phone to show that is, appropriately, named YOLO. (though sadly it’s spelled “Yolo,” not “#YOLO”)
Low-end Android handsets in developing markets sell in the $70-200 range (without carrier subsidies). They’re typically equipped with processors from Chinese manufacturers like MediaTek, Allwinner, or Rockchip — often with anemic ARM11 performance in tow. Buyers wanting a smooth Android experience have to step up to more expensive phones.
Into this void stepped Intel, which announced its new Atom Z2420 processor at CES a few weeks ago. Formerly codenamed “Lexington,” the mobile platform features a single-core 1.2 GHz CPU with HyperThreading (a lower-clocked version of the 1.6 GHz Z2460 Medfield / Penwell chip in the Xolo X900), PowerVR SGX540 graphics, Intel XMM 6265 HSPA+ 3G radio (a variant of the XMM 6260 adding dual-SIM support– important for developing markets), MicroSD support, FM radio, and even Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, which can stream 1080p HD video to Wifi-connected TVs. The chip supports up to 1.3 MP front and 5 MP rear cameras and can record and play back 1080p video.
As with Intel’s first smartphone processor, the new Lexington platform was accompanied by a “shipping quality” reference smartphone (“FFRD,” or Form Factor Reference Design) to help manufacturers get off the ground with its chip. Safaricom of Kenya and Lava Mobile of India are bringing variants of this design to market, as is Acer.
Today we have the first benchmark results from the Safaricom phone, dubbed “Yolo,” and they’re quite surprising. The 3.5″ HVGA (320×480) phone includes 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, 5 MP rear camera (no flash), MicroSD slot, and Android 4.0.4, and sells for 10,999 KES ($126).
Juuchini put the Yolo up against Samsung’s flagship Android phone, the Galaxy S III GT-I9300, packing an Eynos 4412 processor (quad-core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex A9 with Mali-400MP graphics) and 1GB of RAM. As the results show, Intel’s phone comes pretty close to matching the almost 5x more expensive S III:
|
Phone |
Specs |
Antutu Benchmark (higher = better) |
Vellamo (Metal) |
Vellamo (HTML 5) |
Vellamo (Extras) |
|
Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-i9300) |
Samsung Exynos 4412, quad-core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.4 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 1280×720 resolution |
12986 |
403 |
1360 |
110 |
|
Intel Safaricom Yolo |
Intel Atom Z2420, single-core Atom @ 1.2 GHz with HyperThreading, 512 MB RAM, 480×320 resolution |
12961 |
423 |
1009 |
49 |
Note: some versions of the Galaxy S3 (e.g. most of the U.S. versions) have a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor instead of the quad-core Exynos and will thus produce different benchmark results.
See here for a review of the Yolo. The phone will hit India shortly as the Lava Xolo X500, retailing for Rs. 8,999 ($167).
Intel doesn’t appear to be targeting the U.S. market with this, which is unfortunate, as we think a Yolo with a higher-resolution (e.g. 800×480) screen could do well as an entry-level smartphone (think free-on-contract). And maybe it’d sell even better if branded “#YOLO.”
Still, the Lexington platform’s performance in such a low-priced handset bodes well for Intel’s future in the smartphone industry.
AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion
Mar 20th
AT&T and Deutsche Telekom just announced the sale of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion — $25 billion cash and $14 billion in AT&T stock, giving Deutsche Telekom an 8% stake in the U.S. telecom giant. If the deal passes regulatory approval, which the companies estimate will take up to 12 months to complete, the combined subscriber base would exceed 130 million, making AT&T by far the largest mobile operator in America (followed by Verizon and Sprint). Moreover, since AT&T and T-Mobile are the country’s only major GSM operators, AT&T would gain a monopoly on GSM cell service in the U.S.
AT&T says the deal will bring “straightforward synergies” due to ”complementary network technologies, spectrum positions and operations.” The company also claims the deal will expand the footprint of its LTE 4G service by 46.5 million people, to 294 million, or 95% of the U.S. population. T-Mobile USA itself had no clear plans to migrate to LTE, however, suggesting that AT&T intends to use T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum (1700/2100 MHz) for LTE, alongside its own 700 MHz bands.
If the deal does not receive regulatory approval, AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile a $3 billion “breakup fee,” transfer AWS spectrum it is currently not using for LTE deployment to T-Mobile, and sign a roaming agreement to give T-Mobile access to its network.
Read on for more about the deal.
Qualcomm ships dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon CPU for smartphones
Jun 3rd
Qualcomm just shipped the first dual-core smartphone processor, a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon chip. The new third-generation QSD8260 and 8660 chips are based on a die-shrunk 45nm version of the 1 GHz QSD8250 chip found in phones like the HTC HD2, EVO 4G, and Google’s Nexus One and should use less power while packing a lot more computing horsepower.
The third-generation Snapdragon CPUs offer a next-generation Adreno (ATI Imageon) GPU with support for Open GL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1, hardware acceleration for 1080p HD video encode/decode, and video output resolution up to WXGA (1280×800) with 24-bit color. They also pack a dedicated low power audio engine (to allow the rest of the CPU to go to sleep when you’re just playing music) and low power GPS electronics (to reduce power consumption in navigation apps).
The 8260 model packs an HSPA+ radio (GSM), while the 8660 supports both HSPA+ (GSM) and EV-DO Rev. B (CDMA). Qualcomm will also offer the QSD 8672, a 1.5 GHz version for tablets and larger devices that began sampling several months ago.
The CPUs are based on the same Scorpion core design as current Snapdragon chips, implementing the ARMv7 instruction set but offering slightly better performance clock-for-clock than ARM’s reference design, Cortex A8. For more information, check out our Smartphone Processor Guide.
No info on when the new chips will hit production smartphones, but we’re probably looking at early 2011 at the earliest.
Full press release after the break.
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