Intel targets the smartphone market with new Atom processors

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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