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Intel-based Lava Xolo phone measures up, says report

Intel-based Lava Xolo smartphone keeps pace with ARM rivals, says report.

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
Intel-based Lava Xolo X900.
Intel-based Lava Xolo X900. Lava

The first phone based on Intel silicon keeps pace with rival devices using chips from longstanding mobile standard bearer ARM, a report said Wednesday.

"For Intel, answering the looming ARM threat is obviously hugely important for the future," said review site Anandtech.

"So how did Intel's first attempt fare? In short, reasonably well," the site's Brian Klug wrote.

For the first time, a commercial smartphone is packing Intel silicon, the Atom 'Medfield" Z2460. India-based Lava announced the Xolo X900 this week.

Lava

Benchmarks showed the X900 keeping up with market-leading Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2, Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, Apple iPhone 4S, and HTC One S.

And most of those sport dual-core processors. Intel's phone is single core but includes its Hyper-Threading technology, which, in some cases, can emulate a dual-core chip.

"The Atom Z2460 in the X900 is a competent dual-core Cortex A9 competitor with competitive battery life and power draw...If Intel's goal with both Medfield and the X900 was to establish a foothold in the smartphone [chip] space and demonstrate that it can indeed deliver x86 in a smaller form factor and lower power profile than ever before, then it truly is mission accomplished," Klug wrote.

But Intel has a few more steps to take before it delivers an industry-leading smartphone chip, according to Klug. "There is however a big difference between middle of the road and industry leading, which is really the next step that we need to see from Intel."

And expect to get more evidence of Intel's growing presence in the phone market when Lenovo announces the K800 shortly and then Motorola brings out a phone based on the same Medfield chip this summer.