Intel targets the smartphone market with new Atom processors

By on May 5, 2010 at 9:21 AM
General May 5, 2010

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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor might be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of powerful mobile chipsets, but Intel is hoping to change that with the launch of its next-generation Atom processing platform. Better know as Moorestown, the Z6xx Series Family of processors pack an impressive amount of processing power, with clock speeds ranging from 1.5 GHz for smartphones to 1.9 GHz for tablets. Featuring a 45nm core with support for 3D graphics, decoding at 1080p and video capture at 720p, the CPUs also fully support Wi-Fi, HSPA and WiMAX. When it first went public with information about the Moorestown line, Intel was estimating up to 24 hours worth of use out of mobile devices, but…now that everything’s finalized, it looks like a 1550 mAh battery will be good for: 10 days of standby, 48 hours of music playback, 6 hours of talk-time, and 4-5 hours of web browsing and video playback. For those who can never get enough stats, Intel says the new chips are have a 50x reduction in idle power, 20x reduction in audio power, and a 2-3x reduction with video and web. Intel isn’t willing to discuss just who it is that has taken delivery of these chipsets and who has orders being fulfilled, but so far we know that the Z6xx Series Family of processors will be powering Android, MeeGo and Moblin devices at the very least…hopefully in the not-so-distant future.

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  • http://www.rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

    I look forward to seeing what a real processor developer can do. I am tired of qualcomm and their stronghold on the nuts of every CDMA based provider.

    I hope they’re good enough to create some competition in the marketplace. I’d love no lag smartphones that have a long lasting battery.

  • javiggan69

    It would be great if you can upgrade internal parts on phones just like a laptop. I know its not business for phone manufactures, but it is business for other companies out there that are trying to enter the mobile industry.

    • http://www.rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

      It takes more space to create through hole like sockets than BGA does. With the influx of people who think any physical space or weight on the phone other than the screen is too much, I doubt this will occur.

  • Mik

    The proof will be in the pudding, and it’s been talked about awhile now, so it has some hype to live up to.

    ARM/Snapdragon has a dual core on the horizon now with 45nm core and is more efficient then the Solo/Scorpion alone now at 65nm.

    ARM, flex up and go hard, and do it soon, don’t let that juggernaut run over your design and hard work.

  • Electrofreak

    Qualcomm actually has put a LOT of money and development time into Snapdragon.

    They DO have plenty of competition, it’s just that the competition for the most part doesn’t put the effort into development that Qualcomm does.

    Qualcomm completely reworked the ARM Cortex A8 into an entirely custom architecture for Snapdragon. No other ARM manufacturer has really attempted this.

    The closest thing is Samsung’s Hummingbird, which was modified by Intrinsity, which has just been purchased by Apple.

    Hummingbird is a strong competitor to current Snapdragons, partially due to a 45 nm feature size (as opposed to the 65 nm Snapdragons currently in phones), but also because of some very innovative modification by Intrinsity.

    Texas Instruments is also another major player, though they do not tend to significantly modify ARM’s design (at least not to the degree that the others do). They produce a 45 nm Cortex A8 like the Hummingbird, but it hasn’t really been picked up as an alternative to Snapdragon.

    Part of that is because Snapdragon really appears attractive to manufacturers. It contains integrated GPS and radio controllers which saves the manufacturer money. In addition, it manages to beat Cortex A8 (of the same feature size) in efficiency and performance in just about every way.

    Intel is going to have a HARD time besting what Qualcomm has accomplished. ARM architecture is designed specifically with power efficiency in mind, and has been for years.

    x86 has only started becoming significantly more power efficient in the last few years, but the architecture was designed specifically for performance, not efficiency.

    While I commend Intel for venturing into the market, it’s going to take a LOT of work before an x86 Atom processor can match a modern ARM processor (particularly one that has had as much development work as Snapdragon) in terms of power efficiency vs performance.

    • Badonkadonk

      Marvell also has developed their Sheeva line of cores that are instruction-set equivalent to ARM’s Cortex. There are no others; everyone else (TI and Samsung included) are direct ARM core licensees. They may make some improvements in P&R for backend timing improvements (which is what Intrinsity did), but the RTL is still the same, and the microarchitecture is the same for every Cortex A8 out there. Snapdragon really isn’t that much better in terms of IPC over Cortex A8, and MW/MHz is on par as well.

      The comment that “TI hasn’t really been picked up” is BS given the OMAP3430 is in the Pre, Droid, some HTC phones for China and others – they are being put in the same market as Sammy for stand-alone A8 APs; the people using Snapdragon are doing single-chip versus dual-chip architectures; no one would be stupid enough to pair an OMAP3430 with a QSD8650 just from a cost perspective, but pairing it with the MSM72xx seems like a sweet-spot for people.

      What I find interesting is Intel’s numbers all look great – when you’re using a 1500mAh battery… Qualcomm and others will quote you the same runtime and standby off a 1000 mAh bat, showing that Intel is *still* not in the range of power efficiency that ARM is. Give it another cycle for both Intel and ARM to hit 28nm and then we’ll start to see equity, both in ARM performance improving to the 2GHz range and Intel getting their active and standby power numbers under control. More’s the merrier.

      • Electrofreak

        You’re right, Marvell is the only other manufacturer that chooses to license the instruction set and create a custom chip, but until they produce a product that manufacturers are willing to buy, they’re not really worth mentioning.

        Read my post again; the 3430 isn’t a 45 nm chip, and can’t clock at 1 GHz, and thus isn’t a Snapdragon competitor. I was referring to TI’s 45nm OMAP 3600 series, which hasn’t seen widespread adoption like the Snapdragon has, despite the fact that the 3640 clocks at 1 GHz as well.

        Snapdragon isn’t Cortex A9 kind of awesome, but it’s definitely a step above unmodified Cortex A8.

  • Electrofreak

    (Previous post was supposed to be a reply to Louis Rossman, Post #1.)

    • Mik

      I like the fact that the Scorpion is a hybrid A8/9.(Dual thread) was forward thinking on Qually’s part.
      And a big Yes to TI, always loved their spirit and effort.

      Thinking Big Q took some heat from ARM over the previous generation of A11′s, rightly so too. Single thread core with a serious thirst.

      Intel let ARM go, now they want to squish them, figures.

      • Badonkadonk

        All Cortex A8 are dual-execution, and Scorpion does not run dual-thread – there is nothing under the hood substantially different in microarchitecture from Scorpion to Cortex, and while Scorpion has a higher IPC than A8′s, the A9′s are better than Scorpion. It’s an interesting horse race, to be sure, but comparing Scorpion or Sheeva to ARM is like comparing AMD to Intel – fundamentally the same cores, some just perform better in different scenarios.

      • Electrofreak

        You can’t say that there’s nothing substantially different in architecture between a processor that does in-order execution and one that does some out-of-order execution.

        Cortex A9 will be be the real deal, full out-of-order execution support, and yes, they will outperform Snapdragon, but they’re still almost a year away from seeing their way into any products.

        Intel is going to have their work cut out for them when Cortex A9 comes out.

  • Meego

    All I have to say

  • http://www.apexcarpentryinc.com/blog Utah carpenter

    Competition is great, it will lead to lower prices and better products. I would like a real touch pad that does everything a netbook does.

    • Jarrett

      If this processor comes to fruition you might get your wish, because from the sounds of it 3-4 battery life would be the norm………. just like a NetBook. Who knows, you might even be able to get the Malware and virus parts of the NetBook also. Happy hunting.

      • Dara

        Jarrett…

        Good to see you back with your own name.

        Still trying to pass off what you’ve learned from Apple’s advertising as an actual understanding of technology I see. The only thing it seems you understand less about is sarcasm.

        Nokia actually made an Atom netbook, it has a real world battery life of 10+ hours.

        They will be one of the first ones out with a Moorestown-Meego phone. I will be one of the first to figure out how to run down its battery in 4 hours and stretch it to 48, but that choice will be mine and you’ll still be a lemming.

  • Meego

    All I Have To Say Meego+ Nokia+ Intel = Dream Team Imagine a Xenon Flash Carl Zess 12 megapixel camera or higher like the N8…with Meego running a upgraded more polished user friendly Version of a Maemo 6 ish Ui. Running Flash 10.1…wtih a 3.7 inch to 4.5 capactive screen..with a intel processor 1.5ghz to 1.9…1080p resoloution. dolby digital surround sound like the N8 HDMI port. Front facing camera. 32Gb of on board storage upgraded with sd card an additional 32gb. Free OVi Maps Car and walk navigation that you can use in any country with no internet connection required. that comes with a car stand for the navigation and kickstand for when its on a table with true open source which could run full lunix applications idk about you guys but thats sounds like my dream phone

    • Dara

      You and me both.

      Let’s just hope that in this generation, Nokia isn’t so shy about slapping that xenon flash onto their phones.

      There are people who would probably try to fight an armed mugger if they were asked to hand over their N82.

  • Badonkadonk

    Intel still neglects to point out that their Moorestown platform is 2-3x the size of the equivalent solution from QC (or others – ST-E, Marvell, etc) and that their power numbers aren’t really that great when comparing the same sized battery. Forward progress? Yes. ARM Killer? Definitely No.

  • Dara

    It looks like we won’t have to wait long.

    Intel is saying that a Nokia Moorestown-Meego phone will be out before years end.

    http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/32897/intel-meego-device-before-christmas

  • http://www.kitchenerwaterloo-realestate.com for sale by owner kitchener

    Intel is hoping to change that with the launch of its next-generation Atom processing platform the Z6xx Series Family of processors pack an impressive amount of processing power, with clock speeds ranging from 1.5 GHz for smartphones to 1.9 GHz for tablets. Featuring a 45nm core with support for 3D graphics, decoding at 1080p and video capture at 720p, the CPUs also fully support Wi-Fi, HSPA and WiMAX the blog is helpful & knowledgeable.

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