Intel + Android + Lenovo = the K800 Phone
Intel announced that phones were going to start packing their “Medfield” Atom chip, and more specifically in the near future, partnering with Lenovo with the K800 – the first announced phone that brings Intel and Android together. Of course, this won’t be in the United States, but still, Intel is finally getting into the phone game and going up against ARM architecture processor. The phone itself has what I’d call decent features – it has all the basics like WiFi, Bluetooth and 1GB of memory. The weird part is that the internal storage space is limited to 500MB. But the 4.5” 720p multitouch TFT might be enough to get over that. The Medfield inside runs at 1.6GHz, giving us (well, giving China) an Android-powered device that will eventually be running Ice Cream Sandwich (currently their LenovoMagic UI) on an x86 architecture. That’s pretty significant, especially when you think of the ramifications. By having this particular Intel x86 architecture, WiDi is also a feature on this device. WiDi, as in Wireless Display, is a feature available on laptops running Intel’s i-series of processors, which allows you to throw whatever image is on your laptop onto a HDTV through a HDMI-connected wireless receiver. Maybe it’s more of a novelty on a phone for now, but I can see some uses for it, like sharing pictures at home or presentations at the office. At any rate, Intel + Android in handheld feels like it was a long time coming, especially when ChromeBooks run Atom processors.
5.1"? 21:9 Aspect Ratio? Is this a Tablet?
Next, the useless. We’ve seen tablets and laptop-tablet convertibles at 7, 10, and 13 inches. But if you’re looking for a smaller tablet you can look at Toshiba’s new prototype. A 5.1 inch screen and a 21:9 aspect ratio. I mean I guess it’s kind of the same concept as the iPod Touch, but much like that device I find it more or less useless. Personally I have an Android smartphone, what the hell would I need a 5.1” Android tablet for that has an awkward aspect ratio? And with smartphones, Android or Apple, being damn near everywhere, I don’t see this prototype going very far.
OLPC's XO 3
Just because we’re looking at a show that’s chock full of digital toys, that doesn’t mean that there can’t be any kind of devices there made in the name of altruism. This one was brought to us by OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) in the form of the XO 3 in conjunction with semiconductor Marvell. OLPC is an organization that works to provide low-cost, low power, connected laptops. Enter their XO 3, which has a hand crank as well as a solar charging lid, and allows children to be able to play and learn on a rugged rubberized unit. The tablet itself runs on SugarOS but can run Android. Thinking about the design it’s more cost effective to produce, since there’s no keyboard localization needed. One-model production can let the XO 3 be sent to more locations, with just a few software update pushes for localization.
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