The CES show over in Las Vegas has been the platform for Intel to finally announce that they are indeed going to be entering the smartphone and tablet processor market with new chips aimed at competing with ARM’s current strangle hold on the market.

I have always found it quite amazing how ARM entered this market and managed to so easily shi* on Intel from a small height and then keep dropping those tech turds all over them from ever growing precipices.

The K800 is Intel and Lenovo’s first smartphone on Android:

The announcement at CES that there will be a new Intel powered smartphone built by Lenovo has been met with a fair degree of interest and looking at the new device it is clear to see why.

The worlds first Intel based smartphone is quite a nice looking device.

Lenovo have gone to some lengths to totally re-skin the device and make it a device that suits them. Running on Android, and seemingly only version 2.3, this is not that difficult to do being Android based, we have already seen Amazon do the same with their Kindle Fire, things may however change come release. As it may be running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich by the time it hits Europe and the US later this year.

Right now it looks pretty good, especially when you look at what is under the hood, from here you can see that this phone will be no lazy bones.

Lenovo K800 Specifications:

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• Android 2.3
• Intel Medfield
• 8MP camera
• 4.5″ HD 720p TFT screen
• WCDMA HDSPA+

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Watching the video below you can see that the device does look great but apparently suffers from that horrible and annoying lag that plagues this operating system, it almost looks like I am some kind of idiot when I use my Samsung S2, like some big fingered over eager freak.

But the fact is that this device currently lags, and I never know where I am when I want a lower area of a site or application on my Android device, this seems to hold true for this device too, despite the processor being so seemingly capable.

Lenovo build tanks?

Now we all remember the IBM Thinkpad’s which Lenovo took over and carried on with. Well design wise, they seem to have thought about keeping that crap looking casing that was apparently very tough.

So your phone may be happy to be dropped from a great height, but may not be getting many woo’s or ahh’s from your fellow comrades unless they do actually like the death star as a design aesthetic.

Indeed a little know fact is that the Thinkpad is the only laptop to be certified for use on the International Space Station, so maybe this smartphone might have found its niche already, now beam me up you spotty geek…;).

The Lenovo K800 will first appear in China and is expected to be released in the 2nd quarter of 2012, we currently have no other news on global releases beyond this.

Lenovo K800 summary:

Are you looking forward to this device or do you think that Intel have left it way too long to get into the fast paced mobile marketplace?

Or, is this all dependent on relationships with the right manufacturers, and in that case, is Lenovo a good choice?

We all know that first impressions count, and in all honesty, my knowledge of Intel getting in on the action has been met with lacklustre based on this device.

Surely technology releases are like comedy, it is all about delivery and timing!…dah dum!

Source: The Next Web

According to recent reports, Intel plans to re-brand its poorly received Atom brand, the brand responsible for chips in Atom based netbooks, net-tops and handheld devices, and other consumer electronics.

Poor brand image:

When the Atom range was released and started to became popular, Intel were battling with the rise of Smartphones and Tablets, so while we personally believe there was nothing inherently wrong with Atom processors they are most likely a victim of the times more than a poor processor range.

“Cedar Trail” to the rescue:

Looking at Intel’s roadmap for the future the release of the new range of “Cedar Trail” processors will aim to mitigate the damage that Atom has been inflicted due to being in the wrong range at the wrong time.

The range will be release in late 2011 (November) and will include the Atom N2700 and N2800 chips for netbooks.

Intel quashed reports of a rebrand:

This Friday a spokesperson for Intel has said that the new range of Atom chips will not constitute a rebrand and if the names of the chips are anything to go by we can understand that:

“There are no plans to change the Atom brand. We are on track to launch new Atom processors during the fourth quarter, with more new Atom processors during the first half of 2012.”

Intel will also be launching their new Medfield CPUs for Smartphones and Android tablets, these are due for release in the first half of 2012 and will aim to stem the dominance of other chip manufacturers who have well and truly taken Intel’s limelight in recent years with the rise of Smartphones and tablets.