Intel shows off working Moorestown MID device

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    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?.
  • Reply 2 of 24
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    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.
  • Reply 3 of 24
    dimmokdimmok Posts: 359member
    Is that a MID in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me....
  • Reply 4 of 24
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    That's one ugly device. It appeared that they might be using a pen when drawing lines on the device. Man, that things ugly.
  • Reply 5 of 24
    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.
  • Reply 6 of 24
    I run dual screens. Thinking about a third one for my elbow.
  • Reply 7 of 24
    zunxzunx Posts: 620member
    For this:



    Next Apple moves will be Books and Games?

    http://spidouz.wordpress.com/2008/09...ooks-and-games



    REVOLUTIONARY!
  • Reply 8 of 24
    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.
  • Reply 9 of 24
    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.
  • Reply 10 of 24
    pg4gpg4g Posts: 383member
    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.
  • Reply 11 of 24
    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.
  • Reply 12 of 24
    sequitursequitur Posts: 1,910member
    As the keyboard is split, it may make it easier to thumb type.
  • Reply 13 of 24
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post


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



    Agreed. I thought it to be a good idea.
  • Reply 14 of 24
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sequitur View Post


    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.
  • Reply 15 of 24
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    Finally, a handheld with a Panavision screen! Or is that CinemaScope?
  • Reply 16 of 24
    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.
  • Reply 17 of 24
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    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.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    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.
  • Reply 19 of 24
    robb01robb01 Posts: 148member
    Apple Smart?/ Nah...





    _____________________

  • Reply 20 of 24
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mebbert View Post


    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.
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