Intel shows off working Moorestown MID device
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.
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.
Comments
I agree with Jeff. You could hurt somebody with that thing.
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.
Next Apple moves will be Books and Games?
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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.
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.
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.
As the keyboard is split, it may make it easier to thumb type.
Agreed. I thought it to be a good idea.
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.
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.
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.
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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.