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Lenovo LePhone K800 launches, officially brings Medfield to China
At CES 2012, Lenovo was the first to announce a Medfield-powered smartphone: the K800. And while it was the first to be unveiled, it couldn't beat the Lava Xolo X900 to market. Lenovo's not too worried about that, however, as the K800 has arrived in China right on schedule, having originally aimed for a Q2 launch and later refining the timeframe to the end of May. The fruits of Intel's labor can be had for the grand 'ol retail price of RMB 3,299 ($524), which gets you a 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, Android 2.3, a 4.5-inch 720p display, an 8MP rear camera and 16GB of internal storage. We haven't heard any news of the phone reaching across the Pacific, but we're sure that won't stop the most insistent of you from grabbing a unit through alternative methods, right?
Lenovo to invest $800 million into new mobile device development facilities
The world's second (or third) biggest PC manufacturer has announced plans to invest $800 million in a new mobile product-centric facility. Lenovo wants to get closely involved with the lucrative world of smartphones and tablets, promising that several thousand employees at the new base in Wuhan will focus on new mobile devices for both China and overseas. Lenovo's pegged to launch the K800, one the first Intel-powered Android phones, at the end of the month, but this marks a concerted effort to advance both its tablet and phone collections -- and offer up more space for those other side projects.
Intel Medfield-packing Lenovo K800 to land next month, has an avatar in tow
Wondering when the Lenovo K800 will finally land? Or perhaps you're curious about how those Medfield processors will perform in real life? The answer to both those questions should be with us towards the end of next month -- according to Intel's Sean Maloney, who's hosting the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing right now. Announcing via microblogging site Sina Weibo, Maloney didn't go as far as fixing a date, but did go on to confirm that it will also be bringing the firm's new "Avatar Technology" with it (pictured after the break). What that is exactly, has yet to be revealed, but we're pretty sure / hopeful James Cameron's not involved.Update: Our sources indicated that the launch will be towards the end of May, but yeah, still exclusive to China.
Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious
If Lenovo's sticking to its promise, it should only be another two months maximum before its Intel Medfield-powered K800 smartphone debuts in China. Until then, we won't know the full potential of the 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 powering Ice Cream Sandwich, but we do have the next best thing for now: what we've just obtained are some benchmark results from a K800 prototype with Android 2.3.7, and while the graphics performance wasn't top notch this time round, the general score performance came close to that of the Galaxy Note (powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos chipset). However, the K800 did beat pretty much everyone -- including the brand-spanking-new One X and One S from HTC -- in the SunSpider 0.91 Javascript test, where it only took 1,270ms to complete! What remains to be seen is whether Medfield will really deliver a better battery performance than its competitors; so until we find the answer (along with improved scores) on a final unit, you'll just have to make do with our list of scores after the break.
CES 2012: Smartphones round-up
The Superbowl of smartphones? Why, that would be Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. But that didn't stop the mobile industry's heavy hitters from giving us a taste of the year in wireless to come at CES. With Windows Phones finally getting LTE, Intel's Medfield CPU making its handset debut, Sony synergizing under its mega brand umbrella and fringe manufacturers wowing attendees with stock Ice Cream Sandwich and super-thin profiles, it appears phone aficionados have plenty to anticipate. So, while you sit slack-jawed in front of that computer screen, let's revisit some of the highlights of this past week.
Lenovo K800 Intel Medfield smartphone hands-on (video)
Well it looks like we have a surprise guest at Showstoppers tonight. Lenovo just dropped by with its just-announced K800 -- the first Intel-powered smartphone to see the light of day. The beastly 4.5-inch 720p device sample that the company had on-hand is running a highly modified version of Android, and while the interface may not look familiar, the overall app experience shouldn't be much different from what you're used to. The official spec list includes a 1.6GHz Intel Medfield processor, Android 2.3, a TFT display and an 8 megapixel camera with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200. For now, the K800 is compatible with WCDMA HSPA+ and was running on AT&T's 3G network -- there's no word of LTE on this version, which seems logical considering that the 4G network is a bit hard to come by in Lenovo's native China, where the device is expected to launch first. Naturally, there's also 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS connectivity. We'll be bringing you more on what's undoubtedly the hottest gadget of the evening in the days to come, but jump past the break for an early look at the world's first Medfield smartphone. Update: With no access to Android Market, our benchmarking abilities were somewhat limited. We did manage to run SunSpider on the K800 though, which yielded a score of 1,971 -- just a hair faster than the 1,985 that we saw on the Galaxy Nexus.
Intel's first Medfield smartphone is Lenovo's K800, coming first to China Unicom in Q2 with Android 4.0
Intel's been promising a smartphone of its own for about as long as men have been walking the ground of Earth, but it looks as if its May 2011 claims of "early next year" are finally getting close to being "accurate." Here at the company's CES 2012 keynote, the Medfield-based Lenovo K800 was revealed as the first Intel-powered smartphone (boasting Android 4.0, no less), with Lenovo's home turf being pegged as getting first dibs. There's a 4.5-inch 720p display and rear camera with dual-LED flash but outside of a tip that it'll be shipping to China Unicom in Q2 of this year, everything else surrounding it remains a mystery. First off, it's downright amazing to hear Intel finally give us a date to mark down, but it remains to be seen how many phone manufacturers will drop their existing adoration for Qualcomm and NVIDIA in order to given Intel's (historically power-sucking) mobile chips a go. Follow along at our Intel liveblog here!
Logitech's Wireless Illuminated K800 keyboard boasts ambient light and proximity sensors, costs $100
It wasn't too long ago that we were pondering the relative scarcity of backlit desktop keyboards, so let's all warmly welcome a new entrant into this niche category. The K800 from Logitech picks up where the wired Illuminated Keyboard left off: it has the requisite inflated price, adjustable and intelligent illumination to please functionalists, and a dagger-like profile for aesthetes. Ambient light sensors will align the keyboard's brightness to your environment, while proximity detectors will only flip the switch when your hands are in position to start writing. There's also a Micro USB cable to refresh your battery when it starts running low -- it's rated for up to 10 days of wireless use -- but whether this whole package of smart convenience is worth the $99.99 we'll leave up to you. The K800 should be shipping out later this month, and you can find out more about it in the press release after the break.
Battle of the 3+ megapixel cameraphones
Comparing cameraphone image quality can be a tough nut; apart from obvious things like poor focus or grainy quality, it can be a pretty subjective beast. PhoneArena went wild with high end handsets to give us a "thousand-angle" view of what it takes to stand out in an über (notice the umlauted u? We don't do that often, so this is serious business) shootout between three 3 megapixel cams -- including the D900, K800, and N93i -- and the KG920 and N95 at 5 megapixels. Each handset is put through a series of grueling tests including shooting outdoors, night shots, and macro mode with points awarded based on how they fare in each challenge. We won't spoil the read for you, but as a hint the winner rhymes with "okia." Hit the read link to check it out.[Thanks, Orhan C]
Flash that Sony Ericsson K800 into a K810
Controlling handset envy is always a challenge in this business -- without fail, manufacturers inevitably introduce your phone's successor just as soon as you work up the courage to plunk down that rather sizable wad of cash. Fortunately, there's a hacker out there for virtually every model from every manufacturer, cooking up ways to keep the phone fresh well beyond its maker's intended shelf life. Such is the case here: yes, Sony Ericsson would like us to toss our K800s in the trash and pick up the re-upped K810, but seeing how our K800s still have that new phone smell on 'em, that seems just a bit silly. Users have discovered that the K800 hardware embraces the K810's firmware with open arms, bringing with it the latter's cooler themes and improved media player, and all you have to do is pay a few bucks to get it flashed. Not a free lunch, but about as close as it gets. Cool, eh? Heck, it's so simple, it barely qualifies as a "hack."[Thanks, David]Update: Hold up! The results are in, and it sounds like the upgrade will cause the keypad lights to stop functioning properly -- a dealbreaker in our books. [Thanks, photonphox]
Sony Ericsson rumors aplenty
Member shaliron over at Esato appears to have done some serious homework compiling a list of all known Sony Ericsson handsets in the pipeline, complete with nifty color coding to indicate verified, debunked, and new intelligence. We encourage Sony Ericsson fans and non-fans alike to go check out the real deal, but in the meanwhile, we've put together a Reader's Digest peek here at some of the highlights. First up, the music-oriented Walkman series could be growing by a solid six devices in the coming months, topped off by a successor to the UIQ-based W950 codenamed "Maria," a (possibly UIQ-based) clamshell dubbed W910, and the oft-discussed Ai. The camera-focused (no pun inteded) Cyber-shot series will be enjoying a bumper crop itself: a successor to the K800 is allegedly already in the works, "Sofia," packing a 5 megapixel shooter, UMTS, and QVGA recording, while a possible Handycam-branded M600 variant would obviously reign supreme for its video capabilities. Other highlights include a promise that HSDPA will factor into the company's 2007 plans, a wide-scale migration of the FastPort connector to the sides of the handsets, and a shortening of the span from announcement to release of UIQ-based models (a move we applaud). As we said, there's plenty more juicy tidbits to digest over at Esato -- but even with what we've presented here, it's safe to say Sony Ericsson's shaping up for a killer '07. Any UIQ or 3G love for the US of A, folks?
Sony Ericsson gets its licence [sic] to kill
The name's Ericsson, Sony Ericsson. Everyone's favorite purveyor of Walkman and UIQ-based phones seems to have paid good money to get their kit into the latest James Bond flick, Casino Royale -- and they intend to take full advantage of it, coming to the table with limited edition James Bond versions of the 3.2-megapixel K790 and K800 Cyber-shot phones. Truth be told, we think that diehard 007 fans might come away a little disappointed with the offerings, seeing how the only thing that makes them special is their new color -- silver -- and some bundled Bond-themed media (wallpaper, ringtones, and the like). Frankly, we'd expect a Bond phone to be lethal, but we suppose there might be some legal implications involved in putting that kind of thing on the market. At any rate, if silver cameraphones are your thing, better hurry: Sony Ericsson only plans on making them available through the fourth quarter to line up with the movie's release.[Via Mobiledia, thanks Allen]
The N93 and K800 shootout for best camera quality
There's an old saying that the best camera is the one that you have with you, and it's no surprise to see the camera phone phenomenon take off so rapidly within the last half-decade since everyone seems to carry their phone with them. Until recently, the convenience of a camera with your phone has distracted people from the generally low quality output that camphones produce, but now that Sony Ericsson has stuck the CyberShot brand onto the K800, and Nokia has produced the N93, a phone that has a distinctly camcorder style design, consumers are expecting more from their shooters. Luckily for us, Fosfor Gadgets has compared the quality of the pictures from these flagship camera phones so that we don't have to. The verdict is that both have good cameras, but the K800 comes on top thanks to a decent flash, better output (less noise, more detail), and a simpler camera mode (just pull back the lens cover). The N93 has the advantage of a 3x optical zoom where the K800 has none, but the camcorder style design is cumbersome, and the absence of a flash makes it unusable at parties -- which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how much you want to regret in the morning.
Sony Ericsson K790a "Wilma" sees FCC approval
It comes as no surprise to see that Sony Ericsson was looking for a little FCC love for the K790a variant of their "Wilma" Cyber-shot branded phone, sporting 3.2 megapixels of picture-takin' happiness behind its sliding rear cover. With support for GSM 850, 1800, and 1900, this is a phone T-Mobile and Cingular users can really sink their teeth into -- and given SE's strategy of selling direct off its website, we can all cross our fingers that this thing might be showing up in American hands before too long now that the ceremonial FCC blessing ritual has taken place.
