Lenovo unveils first smartphone, powered by Intel (live blog)
At his CES keynote, CEO Paul Otellini announces that Intel chips will run Lenovo's first smartphone, Android devices by Motorola, and ultrabooks. Oh, and a heavily scripted will.i.am turned up, too.
LAS VEGAS--Lenovo will launch its first smartphone--one powered by Intel chips--in China in the second quarter, CEO Liu Jun said during Intel CEO Paul Otellini's CES keynote.
The Lenovo announcement was followed by news of a new Intel-Motorola partnership, a look at Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processor, and a cameo appearance by an overly scripted will.i.am.
The Lenovo phone is 10 millimeters thick and will run on China Unicom's network. It has a 4.5-inch screen, an 8-megapixel camera and offers 8 hours of 3G talk time, with 14 hours of standby. Otellini said the phone is the first example of Intel's smartphone reference design, which he said outperforms many popular phones now on the market.
Intel, the world's leading chipmaker, has long driven innovation in the PC market. And now the company is looking to move into mobile devices, such as smartphones, "ultrabooks," and tablets.
Otellini and Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha announced a "multiyear, multidevice partnership" to build Android devices powered by Intel chips. There will be Intel technology in Motorola phones this summer, with a commercial launch to follow. The executives offered no further details.
Intel said Monday that as many as 60 ultrabooks will be available this year based on its latest mobile processors. But this keynote made it clear that ultrabooks are just one part of Intel's strategy to take its microprocessors mobile.
You can check out the transcript of our live blog of the event (complete with photos) below.