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ZTE has debuted its first Android smartphone using the Intel 32nm Atom processor platform at the Spring Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. The unfortunately-named ZTE Geek houses the Clover Trail+ processor running at 2GHz, housed inside a device that appears to be inspired by the company's Grand S LTE offering.
Lenovo followed up its CES computer announcements with several cellphone unveilings, introducing the K900 alongside several other phones. The flagship phone caught our attention, as one of the first to be powered by Intel's Clover Trail Atom platform, and we had a chance to handle the company's new flagship phone at a CES media event.
Lenovo has used CES to debut the K900, the first device to feature Intel’s first dual-core CPU for smartphones. The chip is the first from the forthcoming Clover Trail+ platform, the Atom Z2580 clocked at a speedy 2GHZ. As it is based on the same architecture as the 2GHz single-core Medfield processor powering the Motorola Razr i, the addition of the second core no more than doubles the performance of the new chip over its predecessor.
Intel’s next-generation mobile SoCs have been detailed in leaked slides. The successor to the new Clover Trail platform is codenamed Bay Trail-T and is scheduled for release in 2014. It will move to a 22nm process, down from the Clover Trail’s 32-nm process, and will bost performance by 50 – 60 percent. Bay Trail-T will also move to a quad-core architecture, but will drop hyperthreading in the transition.
Just days after the Intel CEO claimed that Windows 8 wasn't ready for release, reports say that Intel's delayed delivery of power management software is interfering with the development of tablets running the upcoming OS. Microsoft is yet to approve any tablets featuring the new Clover Trail Z2760 processor, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Intel has disclosed specific details of the renamed Clover Trail processor, now called the Intel Atom Z2760 processor. The processor is a highly integrated dual-core system on a chip specially designed and targeted for Windows 8 tablets and tablet convertibles, including both the new Windows 8 user interface and familiar Windows desktop modes.
Sony may be readying its hybrid slate for a market launch. Pocketnow has posted a picture of the company's marketing collateral which shows the tablet/notebook cross bearing the "Vaio U" series label. Sony had shown off a prototype of the device concept, sporting a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, at CES back in January.
Sony had a surprisingly large number of prototype devices at CES 2012, including a pure tablet. Those were only a small piece of its prototypes. We revisited to catch the rest as well as to see just how Sony was gearing up what looked to be a more direct challenge to Apple for 2012.
An insistence on earlier pricing policies from Intel and Microsoft may put Windows 8 tablets out of contention, notebook PC builders getting into the field claimed Monday. Intel was reported by Digitimes contacts as unwilling to cut profit margins on its Clover Trail-based Atom chips, while Microsoft wasn't planning on trimming its Windows 8 price. As such, Intel-based Windows 8 tablets might start at a minimum $599 and scale up to $899, all well over the benchmark $499 price of the iPad.
Sony in the aftermath of its CES 2012 opener began showing a slew of unmentioned concepts and prototypes at its booth. Among the examples was a new, mystery VAIO tablet concept behind a glass case. The new device, presumably intended to run Windows 8, had an all-rounded design with an aluminum back and a separate, illuminated, capacitive touch keyboard.
Claims of the iPad 3 shipping in March were braced on Friday by a rumor that included uncertain claims of a second 2012 follow-up. Apple's tablet would arrive in two months with its rumored 2048x1536 display, Digitimes' anonymous sources said. They also echoed beliefs that Apple would cut the iPad 2 down to $399 to squeeze out other companies who had discounted their own tablets, though in their case due to poor sales.
Acer and Lenovo are putting their faith in Intel-based Windows 8 tablets for the summer, part suppliers claimed Monday. The two, according to Digitimes, would depend on Intel's tablet-oriented Clover Trail Atom platform. No details existed for the tablets, although Clover Trail would help get thinness and battery life closer to ARM tablets like the iPad and some future Windows 8 models.
Intel's tablet-oriented Clover Trail processor got more details through a claim late Thursday. Having originally intended its Medfield processor for both smartphones and tablets, Intel was now supposed by Digitimes contacts to be limiting Medfield to phones and reserving Clover Trail solely for the larger slates. The aim would be to directly challenge equivalent Intel ARM processors, including in peak design power.
