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Xolo X900: Meet Intel's first smartphone

Well, you can meet and greet if you're a customer of India-based Lava International, that is. Intel-based smartphones are also due soon from Lenovo, Orange, Motorola, and ZTE.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Lava Xolo 900.
Lava Xolo 900. Lava

As expected, the first smartphone powered by an Intel processor launched this week: the Lava Xolo 900.

Intel and India-based Lava International today announced the general availability of the Xolo X900, built around the Intel Atom Z2460 processor. The phone will be available for purchase in the India market on April 23 at a street price of approximately 22,000 rupees, or about $420.

Lava also announced a partnership with Croma, a national Indian chain of megastores, which will sell the X900.

In addition to the 1.6GHz Atom processor with a 400MHz graphics chip clock, the phone features full 1080p HD video encoding, an 8-megapixel camera with burst mode, HSPA+ 3G connectivity, and a 4.03-inch LCD screen.

At launch, the X900 will run on Android Gingerbread, but an over-the-air software upgrade to Android's Ice Cream Sandwich is planned "shortly," the companies said.

Intel claims battery life of up to 5 hours with 3G browsing and 8 hours of talk time.

Smartphones running on Intel processors from Lenovo, Orange, Motorola, and ZTE are also due in the coming weeks and months. While the launch of Lenovo's K800 is soon -- it'll probably be the next Intel-based phone to become available -- all of the others are slated for later this summer or in the second half of the year.

Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, is trying to refocus its chip design and manufacturing efforts on smaller devices like smartphones and tablets, markets where it has been virtually absent.

Lava Xolo 900
Lava Xolo 900 Lava