Android on x86 processors has been a niche product so far, but this is about to change: At the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Intel is showing a smartphone that runs Android on an Atom Z2460 processor. The smartphone operating system was ported to the x86 architecture for this purpose, but can still run ARM applications - how exactly this is implemented has been left open by Intel so far, a CPU with the code name "Medfield„.
According to a first Hands-On Report on Golem.de the system runs relatively smoothly: the CPU runs at 1.6 GHz; instead of a dual-core design, Intel uses a single-core atom with hyperthreading, so that the operating system assumes two cores. Intel has had the optimization done by members of its Windows team who have experience with x86 optimization. This should already give a very comfortable execution speed, and Intel has also got the power consumption problem under control: the battery life should be in the range of other similarly fast smartphones. An interesting feature: Intel also supports its own technology, Wireless Display, with which Full-HD videos can be wirelessly transferred to corresponding devices. Intel couldn't present this feature yet, but it is definitely a feature that distinguishes Intel's smartphones from other Android smartphones.
First devices are supposed to come from Lenovo (the K800) and Motorola. The former is only supposed to be launched in China, there is no further information about the Motorola device yet. All in all it is positive that there is another competitor to ARM.
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