The first Intel powered smartphone has finally been unleashed, in the form of the Xolo X900 Android smartphone by Lava International, an India-based phone manufacturer. Powered by an Atom Z2460 single-core processor with Hyper-Threading technology ticking away inside, it is the first ever phone running on the x86-based Intel Medfield platform, in an arena where ARM based processors are the industry norm.
The Atom processor will be accompanied by a PowerVR SGX540 GPU clocked at 400 MHz, and a 32-bit Dual channel LPDDR2 memory. Other specs include a 4.03″ TFT display with a resolution of 1024×600, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p recording capabilities and a burst mode that will allow you to take up to 10 pictures under a second, 21 Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, an HDMI port, and an NFC chip built-in. The phone will be running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch (which is a downer), but will be getting an update to Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 in the near future. The full specifications can be seen on Xolo’s official website.
Intel has finally entered the smartphone race with a processor that, according to benchmarks carried out by AnandTech, beats the likes of the Galaxy Nexus, iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S2 in browser and JavaScript performance. The SGX540 GPU ticking inside is nothing to write home about, thanks to GPUs like the SGX543MP2 or the Mali-400 out there, but it’s performance is not bad either, being higher than the Galaxy Nexus which packs an SGX540 as well but at a lower 300 MHz clock.
It will be interesting to see how the device performs in real world use of course, as benchmarks are just numbers at the end of the day, with the actual performance often telling a different story. The Atom Z2460 is certainly a very capable processor even with a single 1.6 GHz core but again, only time will tell if it really is as good as the benchmark numbers suggest. Power consumption will also need to be good, specially considering that Intel’s processors have always been considered to be pretty power-hungry.
The Xolo X900 will go on sale on April 23 at a price of approximately Rs. 22000 (~$425), and will be available at Croma stores all over the country, who Lava has teamed up with to sell the phone. So, just about 4 days before you can try out the X900. Till then, one can only hope that Intel’s foray into the smartphone arena is well worth it.
