On Tuesday, Intel announced that it was entering the smartphone space and that Lenovo will be the first vendor to introduce a smartphone powered by Intel’s Medfield processor. Intel also had its manufacturer reference design on display at CES however, which we had a chance to play with. The current device runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and felt just as fast as other high-end smartphones we’ve played with recently, such as the DROID RAZR MAXX. The device was extremely thin and is capable of taking 15 8-megapixel photos in a single second — something no other mobile processor can handle at this point. Intel explained that the reference design is used to show manufacturers what Medfield is capable of, but that manufacturers can and likely will add their own tweaks to their devices. Motorola Mobility announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a multi-year partnership with Intel, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see the first Medfield-based smartphones hit store shelves later this year. Check out our gallery below for a closer look at the reference device.
