Intel shows off working Moorestown MID device

[AppleInsider]

Intel on Monday showed off a prototype handheld based on Moorestown, its upcoming Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform designed to enable a new generation of ultra-thin, touchscreen devices with extensive battery life.

Presenting at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei, Intel vice president Anand Chandrasekher said Moorestown will consist of a system-on-a-chip (SOC), codenamed "Lincroft," which integrates a 45nm processor, graphics, memory controller and video encode/decode onto a single part.

The chip will connect to a southbridge I/O hub codenamed "Langwell", which supports a range of I/O ports to connect with wireless, storage, and display components in addition to incorporating several board level functions.

When it arrives sometime in the 2009-2010 time, the Moorestown platform will introduce a more than tenfold reduction in idle power consumption when compared to Intel's first-generation MIDs based on the Intel Atom processor, Chandrasekher said.

Intel is targeting Moorestown at the smartphone space, claiming the technology will serve as a catalyst for new developments that will extend the full Internet experience into into a new generation of handsets with advanced wireless communications.

The platform will support a range of wireless technologies including 3G, WiMAX, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and mobile TV. Chandrasekher said Intel is collaborating with both Ericsson and Option on new 3G HSPA data modules that will come in 25x30x2.x mm small size and provide an "always connected" Internet-based experience.

In the videos below, the Intel exec can bee seen demonstrating the first working Moorestown-based handheld, which Engadget claims is "little more than a validation board running fresh from the factory, three-dayold Moorestown silicon in an Intel lab." A similar device had been flaunted by the chipmaker in recent years, though those versions are said to have been non-functional mockups.





At one point, it was reported that Apple would embrace Intel's MID platform as the foundation for its own next-generation mobile Internet device, sometimes referred to as a next-generation Newton handheld or Internet tablet.

Intel's vision of a next-generation mobile Internet device looks something like this.

However, the company's recent acquisition of chip designer PA Semi to build proprietary ARM chips for iPhones and iPods may signal a change of direction on the part of the electronics maker.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[JeffDM]

The Data Club™. When you're done looking up what you need to know, you can club people with it. And then bludgeon them with The Data Club™.

[backtomac]

They ought to name it B.A.D. As in one Big Ass Device.

I agree with Jeff. You could hurt somebody with that thing.

[DimMok]

Is that a MID in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me....

[MacTel]

That's one ugly device. It appeared that they might be using a pen when drawing lines on the device. Man, that things ugly.

[coolfactor]

I so thought I was looking at a stretched iPhone!

When was that first video recorded? The full Internet is already in my pocket, on my iPhone. Sounds like they're trying to spread FUD, unless that's a very old video.

[mugwump]

I run dual screens. Thinking about a third one for my elbow.

[zunx]

For this:

Next Apple moves will be Books and Games…
http://spidouz.wordpress.com/2008/09...ooks-and-games

REVOLUTIONARY!

[daniel84]

Some of those maps and battery and wi-fi icons looked very similar to the iPhone. The device, however, looks like an iPhone with an erection.

[mebbert]

I thought the device looked really nice. Perhaps a little too long, but I like having a lot of screen real-estate.

Regardless of that though, his point was that the new chipset will allow for far less power consumption and will allow for smaller devices with full functionality -- the iPhone still isn't a completed mobile platform.

[PG4G]

And the computer still isn't a completed desktop platform either.

The issue: tech evolves. The iPhone product will too.

I'm just hoping this type of thing spurs Apple to not get lax in their innovation and evolution of the iPhone platform.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

While this demo looked great and the intel is providing better silicon, my question is...What OS where we looking at?

Its not Windows anything.
Its not Linux.
Its looks very Mac OSish.
I suspect it is Flash or AfterEffects

This is the problem intel faces, no one but Apple can currently deliver that kind of mobile experience. By the time a clunky imitation makes it to market, we will be ohhing and ahhing over Mac OS Mobile 3.0.

[sequitur]

As the keyboard is split, it may make it easier to thumb type.

[mebbert]

Originally Posted by sequitur

As the keyboard is split, it may make it easier to thumb type.

Agreed. I thought it to be a good idea.

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by sequitur

As the keyboard is split, it may make it easier to thumb type.

It's a demo, what it's doing is irrelevant. The only news here is that Intel claim to have an x86 SoC (well, So2C) that is very low power, although the question is whether or not it is going to be in the same power consumption ballpark as established proven ARM SoCs.

[Kolchak]

Finally, a handheld with a Panavision screen! Or is that CinemaScope?

[SpamSandwich]

As Hattig noted, this does not represent a real product, it's only a demo of possible uses to inspire companies to do something better with it.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

As Hattig noted, this does not represent a real product, it's only a demo of possible uses to inspire companies to do something better with it.

Indeed.

It's going to come down to the software and the exact form factor, and while this thing is (comically?) longer than an iPhone, it actually looks and acts pretty much like an iPhone.

A better way to look at this would be that this silicon, with the AndroidOS, is what iPhone competitors will be using most likely. It probably won't look much like this stick thing at all.

[backtomac]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

As Hattig noted, this does not represent a real product, it's only a demo of possible uses to inspire companies to do something better with it.

If Apple were smart they would make something like this only smaller.

[robb01]

Apple Smart?/ Nah...


_____________________

[GregoriusM]

Originally Posted by mebbert

Agreed. I thought it to be a good idea.

The device is too long/wide though.

A person would have to be moving his/her eyes back and forth too much while typing with the two halves of the keyboard so far apart.

I like the idea of what is basically a larger iPhone, but not that long/wide.

[THT]

Intel was showing a dummy of this device 6 months ago or more. I like it. It's a really really svelt UMPC or MID. While it may be long, I think it behooves Apple to make a "halo" type device like this. A larger, longer screened version of an iPhone or iPod touch would fit nicely in between the iPhone/iPod touch and the MacBooks.

[palegolas]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

While this demo looked great and the intel is providing better silicon, my question is...What OS where we looking at?
Its not Windows anything. Its not Linux, Its looks very Mac OSish, I suspect it is Flash or AfterEffects
This is the problem intel faces, no one but Apple can currently deliver that kind of mobile experience. By the time a clunky imitation makes it to market, we will be ohhing and ahhing over Mac OS Mobile 3.0.

Yeah the concept video looked real nice, but it's probably only just that: a concept video. I think however that many many software developers around the world would be able to deliver a great mobile OS that could function like in the concept video. But it would take guts for the mobile device makers to embrace a team of software designers that challenge to surpass Apple. It's fully possible though. There ought to be lots of developers working on this already, ever since Apple started stealing market share in the mobile device/phone market with the iPhone, making everything else seem prehistoric.

[MacGregor]

The large screen doesn't impress me so much - it is nice if all you need is a long thin slice of a map and little need to look North or South - but the split keyboard makes me just want to see Apple make periferal plugins to the current iPhone - plugged into the pin connector and such, with physical keys. That way I can decide if I want to carry something 6 inches long or not as my needs change.

C'mon Apple, let hardware developers have access to the 30-pin slot!!!

[lfmorrison]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

While this demo looked great and the intel is providing better silicon, my question is...What OS where we looking at?

Its not Windows anything.
Its not Linux.
Its looks very Mac OSish.

From what we've seen, I don't we can say with any certainty what OS IS or ISN'T being used. We could be looking at an extensively skinned version of Windows CE or embedded Windows XP. Linux has so many different operating environments available it's difficult to keep track of them all, and most of them are also highly customizable. It could also be an interactive web page served up through any OS via a reasonably full featured web browser operating in full screen mode.

I suspect it is Flash or AfterEffects

Not so much an OS as a presentation layer IMO.