Intel planning low-cost chip for iPhone competition

With Apple scaring the heebie-jeebies out of most major wireless handset manufacturers (to a point) with the upcoming iPhone, some apparently think they can get a competing handset out to duke it out with Apple's new icon soon. With that notion, chip giant Intel wants iPhone competitors to feast at its house o'chips, as the chipmaker is readying a "low-power chip" that it is targeting at manufacturers that want to put out an iPhone competitor. Although Intel CEO Paul Otellini assumes that a power / performance angle on a new Intel chip would position an iPhone competitor's hardware cost to benefit ratio correctly, we suspect that it will take more than that to get under Apple's thick iPhone skin -- some sort of revolutionary UI for starters (and that cool, automatic orientation sensor can't hurt either). Any scrappy operations out there (put your hand down, Meizu) care to take a stab at it?

[Preston Ursini @ Mar 7th 2007 9:33PM]

Not that it is relevant, but Jobs is really holding a mac mini in that picture w/ the Sun Chips added on. Seems like a good picture to use back when there were rumors of Apple moving to the SPARC architecture before the Intel switch.

[ScOObyDoo @ Mar 7th 2007 9:35PM]

This seems really weird, since Intel just sold off its mobile devices chip division to Marvell...

[Tom @ Mar 7th 2007 9:52PM]

the automatic orientation sensor has been around since atleast 2003... my old 2 megapixel Canon S200 had it.

[Joe Smith @ Mar 7th 2007 9:55PM]

oh. my. god. that. photo. is. awesome.

[boe @ Mar 7th 2007 10:09PM]

While I don't want an iPhone, I'm glad it is out there as it will raise the bar for manufacturers like HTC. The iphone is MUCH thinner as a full touchscreen OS phone compared to anything HTC makes. It has a higher resolution than 95% of the phones HTC makes. I'm willing to bet it is USB 2.0 as opposed to the ancient USB 1.1 technology in the HTC phones. Frankly if I could run WM6 on an iPhone I'd snap one up! The iMate ultimates are much closer to current technology however you can't get them on Sprint or Verizon.

The OS doesn't excite me much as the WM6 phone will do most of what I want although I certainly never complain about improvements. I do need to add a lot of software to make it useful - e.g. MS VC, SPB Pocket Plus, adobe, spbtime, phmregistry, flash, vjcadella but on the plus side there is enough of a market base that the software exists. While apple claims it will be a closed system -I'd bet there will be a way to install custom apps within the first month of release. As you guessed, I'm neither a mac fanboy or an MS fanboy - whichever is better for the job. I run Windows but have an ipod. The Zune is crap - I don't have any loyalty though if MS came out with a better zune than an ipod I'd put my ipod on ebay in a second.

I think they'll have to make an iPhone with a keyboard eventually to satisfy those who want a keyboard. Myself, I'd welcome a phone that was much thinner for one that had a keyboard but you probably will have to make both to satisfy everyone - no need to leave either group wanting if you can gain more market share.

[WhoDatNinja @ Mar 8th 2007 8:48AM]

If Apple can somehow make a landscape mode virtual keyboard big enough for thumb typing (a la HTC devices) but still small enough to see what you're typing and then some, that would be great too. You don't need a lot of screen for text messaging as you can only send 160 characters at a time anyway.

[elan @ Mar 7th 2007 10:28PM]

Preston, way to nail that subtle Photoshop!

Great picture, I lolled.

[Alex @ Mar 7th 2007 10:33PM]

*sigh*

I think they meant computer chips guys!! LOL! DUH

[Slabba Ranks @ Mar 7th 2007 10:34PM]

Uhmmm, this might seem like a silly question but why can't Apple use the same chip in it's phone in future versions and still be one up on the competition?

[SimbaDogg @ Mar 7th 2007 10:48PM]

This is good, i like the overall functionality of HTC phones, but am neither a fan of their overall performance, or their sheer size.
QWERTY keyboard
+ Higher resolution display
+ Better processing power to run more intensive apps/web pages
+ Slim form factor
+ Reasonable price
= GREAT SUCCESS

[kadajawi @ Mar 7th 2007 11:19PM]

Hm... higher resolution? The Meizu M8 is supposed to have 720x480. It seems to be smaller than the iPhone. It _might_ be available August 2007. Resonable price... 4 gb version without camera will cost $195. And Meizu is a company that has proven that they know what they are doing... their players are of high quality (just search for Meizu M6 reviews...). Hell, they are even copied by other Chinese companies. Now if only their designers would be more self confident... Jonathan Ive has got that iPhone design right, hard to improve on that. Better make something different.

Nice photoshopping there.

[Arcaynn @ Mar 8th 2007 8:18AM]

I think I heard of a better phone: The BlackJack and/or Q9.

[boe @ Mar 8th 2007 11:04AM]

While the blackjack is pretty good, the resolution is too low, the screen is too small for viewing e-mail, spreadsheets, word documents and PDF files, the battery life is too short, the USB is 1.1 and since it is only a smartphone, without a touchscreen it is like having a car with no doors.

I do like the fact that the blackjack has a nice form factor and that it runs an ms platform but without touchscreen, it is extremely frustrating to use.

[len @ Mar 8th 2007 10:20AM]

The Nokia N800 has something like that, and it works surprisingly well. The neat part is how it automatically brings it up when you fat-finger the screen over an input box, distinguishing that from stylus clicks.

Still prefer a tactile keyboard, though.

[Zeke @ Mar 8th 2007 1:48PM]

Pssh.... the "Automatic Orientation Sensor" probably only works in San Francisco anyways...

[spartan_117458 @ Mar 8th 2007 2:11PM]

Let's see Motorola do something with this. They always have great designs for their phones, they're popular in the phone world (mostly thanks to the RAZR), and they (usually) have pretty high-quality phones. I think they're the ones with the best chance to do anything against the iPhone.

[adelossa @ Mar 8th 2007 4:36PM]

*looks at the picture*

Now I'm hungry for some sun chips

*goes off to the store*

[rektide @ Mar 21st 2007 1:11PM]

uh, selling your ARM division to Marvell might not have been the best plan then Intel.

x86 is not in the mW range, afaik. even the 80188 and 80186's SoC's i've used have drained not-insigificant power.