

Intel's x86 Android, smartphone, and tablet plans exposed - mrsebastian
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/105189-intels-x86-android-smartphone-and-tablet-plans-exposed

======
saurik
This article seems completely oblivious of the fact that the GoogleTV platform
(embodied by devices such as the Logitech Revue) is based on an Intel design
(and thereby is targeted towards x86).

As this platform has now launched (is now launching?) the Android Market, and
(despite Logitech's bowing out) is unlikely to be entirely abandoned by Google
(at least in the near future), there is an actual concrete short-term reason
why Intel would have strong interests in the Android platform.

It is therefore very difficult to take any of this article's speculations
regarding what we might see from "x86-powered smartphones and tablets are
concerned" seriously. :(

~~~
azakai
Yes. Also incorrect in the article is

> Last week, Intel announced that it had added x86 optimizations to Android
> 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, but the text of the announcement and included
> quotes were vague and a bit contradictory given the open nature of Android
> development.

Android is open source (and Google deserves a lot of credit for that), but its
__development __is not open at all. The article seems oddly unaware of that.

------
pixelcloud
What I find interesting about this is the Wireless display technology that is
going to be on this platform. I think they will push that concept hard. The
idea that I can take my phone, sit down at my desk and have it running on the
monitor, keyboard and mouse wirelessly ()and hopefully seemlessly) has been a
big feature that I have wanted for a while.

~~~
dpark
The scenario you're describing is actually not the one WiDi is targeting. WiDi
targets the computer-to-tv scenario. The idea is that you sit on the couch
with your laptop or tablet and the audio and video seamlessly transmit to the
TV. I think this (or some equivalent scenario) is eventually going to be
ubiquitous, whether it's Intel's implementation or not.

The desktop scenario might arrive later, and it might even be doable now, but
it's not the target yet.

------
MrEnigma
I hope this is for running android on bigger devices, and not switching
smaller devices to intel...

~~~
JoshTriplett
Why? Personally, I'd love to see smartphones and other smaller devices with
Intel processors.

~~~
MrEnigma
Well unless something has recently changed, or will in the future, it usually
means more power used, more heat produced, which aren't great things for a
handheld device. Kind of like the Windows 8 tablet with a fan...

------
shareme
Let me break it down..

Android SDK: -Intel improved the x86 emulation on Mac and Windows by a factor
of 10. Android NDK: -Intel patched stuff to optimize and support x86 android
devices

Android Market: -Android Market now runs on x86 platforms

Obviously all that is x86 Intel tablets running android..not smartphones. That
would be the atom chip series.

I took a look at device trees in Android 4 source.. no device trees for Intel
x86 smartphones.

And remember there was an admission by Intel several weeks ago that they will
not be in smartphones, chip wise. That dovetails with their work on both MeeGo
and Android as Intel is pushing their atom series at tablets not smartphones.

------
suivix
I wouldn't use a smartphone with 8 cores and 4 GB of RAM and a long battery
life if the user interface sucks. If Ice Cream Sandwich is mediocre from a
usability standpoint, no hardware can save it.

~~~
backprojection
Have a source?

It seems to me that phrases like "from a usability standpoint", are becoming a
generic stick to beat things with, and that there's a rush of the Hipsters to
be the first to claim that that widely used service X is unusable for some
user experience reason.

here's another example

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3226223>

