Hands On @CES with Intel Smartphone Reference Design

One of the biggest and most interesting things to come out of Intel's Keynote yesterday was the Smartphone Reference Design it was showing off. Hitting the floor today I made it a mission to get a hold of this device. Here is what I got.

The phone runs on a Z2460 Intel Atom Processor based on 32nm technology and also supports Hyper-Threading. Add in Intel's XMM 6260 Platform supporting HSPA+ 21Mbps and this thing is blazing fast in all areas. The phone includes Intel's Advanced Image Signal Processor and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator as well for full 1080p playback in stunning quality while not quickly eating the battery.

Some other technical specs include:
- 4.03" High Resolution Touch Screen
- 8MP Camera, 1.3MP Front Facing Camera
- HDMI, with Full 1080p Playback.
- Accelerometer and 3D Gyroscope Sensors, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC
- A custom and optimized build of Android.

The Power Consumption stats come in at:
- Standby 14 Days
- 3G Voice Call up to 8 Hours
- 1080p Playback up to 6 Hours
- 3G Browsing up to 5 Hours
- Audio Playback up to 45 Hours

Spec breakdowns aside...the time I spent with this phone left me wanting more. It is fast, Plain and Simple. The Atom processor is going to be a great platform for Motorola and other companies to get and tweak off of the current reference design.

Running a demo of im360 a program that lets you experience video in full 360 degrees. You could see how well the processor handled heavy load apps, it ate up the videos and remained as cool as if the phone was off. Moving onto the browser the optimized version of Android shined and the HSPA+ impressed as it flew through web pages...This was doubly impressive because hardly any devices seem to be able to use networks effectively on the show floor.

The folks at Intel were keen to show off a few features of the camera as well. The 8MP Rapid Shoot was an impressive display, firing 15 photos in just a few seconds it did a great job of dealing with heavy motion as a fellow CES attendee did his best Bruce Lee impression. All of the pictures looked crisp and clear even with all the mixed movement of the camera and the subject.

Since the keynote yesterday, I have been wondering what "Optimized Version of Android" consisted of so while I had the chance I did a little system digging on the phone and found it to be running a 2.3.7 custom build of Gingerbread. While I imagine and hope that some of the high end phones that will be developed later will be running an optimized version of Android 4.0 ICS. Either way the base hardware is impressive and with the battery life being shown, a quality build from Motorola on Intel's platform could lead to some very promising phones worth waiting for in the near future.

Intel's Smartphone Reference Design

The Power Plant

Additional Features

Battery Stats.

Browsing a little TechSpy.

About the Phone. Gingerbread 2.3.7

Battery Usage.

Showing off the Graphic ability as well as the HDMI out.

Bruce Lee Impression

Rapid Shoot in Action.

im360 App in Action, an impressive display.