Intel showed us it could create a competent mid-range smartphone with decent processing power and battery life to spare, and then the company decided to create a somewhat slower SOC for poorer countries like Africa. Next month at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, however, the chipmaker’s pulling out the big guns: We’ll see a bunch of Android devices with the Atom Z2580, a much faster piece of silicon.
Intel will show off more dual-core Android smartphones at Mobile World Congress next month
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
Intel actually announced the chip a year ago, but it should be a major step up. Where last year’s Z2460 had a single-core processor with the aging single-core PowerVR SGX 540 graphics and only HSPA+ radio support, the new Z2580 has two CPU cores (with two threads each), two far faster PowerVR SGX 544 GPU cores, and a speedy LTE or faster HSPA+ connection in supported markets. Intel says it should have double the performance of the previous Atom across the board. We already spotted the Atom Z2580 in this Lenovo 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 at CES early this month, but the device wasn’t ready for a serious test. At MWC, we should be able to give you an idea how this latest Atom and the competition stack up.
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