While ARM and Qualcomm have released some excellent mobile GPUs, we wish Nvidia would start making smartphone chipsets again, or at least allow GPU designs. AMD has dipped its toes in again, why not Nvidia? For the time being, we can only recall phones powered by Nvidia. The GPU maker isn’t the only one to drop the competition either, Texas Instruments was once a hit.
And then there’s Intel. Still a major supplier of laptop, desktop and server CPUs, Intel’s time as a chipset maker for mobile devices left no such legacy. It started well, and surprisingly it started on ARM.
Intel licensed the ARMv5 instruction set and built on it to create Xscale. The first chips were the PXA210 and PXA250, running at 200MHz and 400MHz respectively, and were aimed at personal digital assistants like PDAs (from a modern perspective, we call them “smartphones without a phone part”).
Intel was targeting high-end PDAs, and by 2002, that meant pocketable devices that could decode video and MP3 and had features like wireless connectivity. Here are some interesting numbers about these chips
- The PXA210 cost $17, the PXA250 was $39.20 (in 2002 dollars).
- The PXA250 consumes 256mW at 200MHz and 411mW at 300Mhz.
- While the PXA250 measured 17x17mm and came with a 256-pin ball grid array, the PXA210 was cut to 225 pins (using a 16-bit data bus instead of 32-bit).
The PXA250 manages the likes of the Samsung i700. It had cellular connectivity (2G with GPRS data), a 240 x 320px capacitive touchscreen, a single VGA camera, and an MMC card slot. I was running Windows Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition (which has very little to do with the later Windows Phone).
The Samsung i300 is fun. Not a PDA, this runs a Windows Mobile 2003 SE smartphone. It was a svelte thing, measuring 20mm thick, and had a huge (for the time) amount of storage – a 3GB microdrive.
The Samsung i750 was also a phone, however, unlike the i300, it had a touch screen. Smaller 2.6-inch touch screen protector, but still. While the sliding design allows you to hide the keyboard, the front is adorned with an impressive array of hardware buttons. The i750 was 22mm thicker, but it didn’t have a microSD. Instead, it used one of those newly designed microSD cards for extra storage.
Samsung i700 • Samsung i300 • Samsung i750
Motorola had some curious designs in those days. The Motorola A1200 was conventional with a clear flip cover that protects the touchscreen display (and prevents accidental touches). This display was slightly smaller than the i750 at 2.4″.
The Motorola Q8 went after the BlackBerry demographic with a hardware QWERTY (2.4-inch landscape) below the display. There were also flip phones like the A910 – not as sharp as the Razr, which surprisingly ran away from Microsoft’s flagship. Instead, a Linux-based operating system. The E680 was another example of a Linux phone.
Motorola A1200 • Motorola Q8 • Motorola A910 • Motorola E680
O2 XDA tools are also in this list. The O2 XDA II, for example, had a “big” 3.5″ display (still 240 x 320px though). So was the i-mate PDA2, a fairly standard device. For an occasional ball design, check out this little laptop called the Qtek 9000.
By the way, do these feel like they have something in common? In addition to the XScale chipsets, we mean. That’s right, they were all made by HTC during the ODM days.
O2 XDA II • i-mate PDA2 • Qtek 9000
Blackberry also used XScale chips – they appeared in some very popular models like BB Pearl 8100, Pearl Flip 8220, the Curve 8300 and others.
BlackBerry Pearl 8100 • BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 • BlackBerry Curve 8300
Although there are Windows Mobile devices like the Treo 500v, Palm used XScale chips in most of the company’s PalmOS.
Palm Centro • Palm Treo 500v • Palm Treo 650 • Palm Treo 680
In the year In 2006, four years later, XScale was sold to Marvell, ending Intel’s ARM adventure.
Okay, let’s talk about the phones you were thinking of when you started reading – the Android phones powered by Intel Atom chips.
It was an early adopter with the likes of Motorola RAZR i 2012. This Atom Z2460 with two x86 CPU cores (2GHz, 32-bit) and PowerVR 544MP2 GPU.
Motorola RAZR and XT890
This was a very common arrangement – Intel CPUs were designed for larger devices with active cooling, so scaling it down to smartphone form became a challenge. The company could only fit 2 CPU cores, but they were fast – some of the best single-core performance you could find at the time.
But since there were only two of them, multi-core performance was inferior to four-core ARM designs (the first of which also appeared in 2012). Atoms supported hyperthreading, which meant that each CPU could run two hardware threads simultaneously, but it wasn’t as good as actually having twice as many cores.
Two years later, Asus used the same generation of Atom chips for the first time in the ZenFone. These were still using the slightly improved Z2500 series chips from 2013 (still 32nm though).
Asus Zenfone 4 (2014) • Asus Zenfone 5 A500CG (2014) • Asus Zenfone 6 A600CG (2014)
The next-generation Atom Z3000 series has been upgraded to quad-core CPUs, partly due to the drop to a 22nm node. These were used on the likes of the stylish Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe and Zenfone Zoom ZX550. As discussed in the previous article, the zoom had a soft zoom of 28-84mm periscope telephoto lens. This technology was lost for a few years, but it is coming back.
Asus Zenfone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML • Asus Zenfone Zoom ZX550
Intel chips have also been seen in Asus’ convertible PadPhone series – these can fit into a tablet dock when you need a bigger screen. Confusingly, it was a tablet with phone functionality called the PhonePad 7 (unlike the PadPhone, this can’t be turned into anything). Although the Transformer Pad can be turned into an Android laptop.
Asus PadFone mini (Intel) • PadFone mini 4G (Intel) • Fonepad 7 (2014) • Transformer Pad TF103C
Dell had tablets that turned into tablets like the Venu 10 7000. The thick cylindrical part on one side could fit into a keyboard dock. The tiny Space 8 7000 was intended for standalone use, but it also had an unusual design with a front-facing speaker. These were fun follow-ups to the traditional spot 7 and 8.
Dell Venue 10 7000 • Dell Venue 8 7000 • Dell Venue 7 • Dell Venue 8
In the year In 2015, Acer released the Predator 8 – as you can tell by its design, this was a gaming tablet. It was powered by an Atom x7-Z8700 that featured four CPU cores (no hyperthreading) and an Intel-developed GPU.
Designed for home multimedia consumption, the likes of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 were quite common with its built-in kickstand and powerful speakers.
Acer Predator 8 • Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10.1
Nokia N1 It looks and sounds pretty standard in 2014, but what makes it unusual is that it was developed after Microsoft acquired Nokia’s Devices and Services division. It also runs Android, although that’s a bit odd when you consider that Microsoft released Android-powered Nokia devices (the Nokia X series) a few months ago.
Nokia N1
The combination of Intel CPU and Microsoft Windows is so common that it is nicknamed Wintel. So where are the Intel-powered Windows tablets? Well, Microsoft was trying to break away from its dependence on Intel (and x86 CPUs in general) by developing Windows RT to run on ARM. This brought us tablets like the Nokia Lumia 2520.
Since Allview didn’t quite buy into the whole “Windows on ARM” thing, there were also some Atom-powered Windows tablets. One was a bit of a transformer – it ran Windows 10, which made more sense than trying to get a laptop experience out of Android 4.4 (we’re looking at you Asus). Allview has made a KitKat tablet (Viva i10G), though thankfully it hasn’t gone the Transformer route.
Allview Wi8G • Allview Wi10N PRO • Allview Viva i10G
There are many more Atom powered tablets – from Xiaomi, Samsung, HP, Micromax and others.
Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 • Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 P5210 • HP Pro Slate 10 EE G1 • Micromax Canvas Tab P690
Here’s a device we didn’t expect to pick up the Intel chip – the Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45. Yes, a smartwatch. An expensive one at that, starting at $1,200/€1,100 for the 41mm model. It had a titanium case and ceramic bezel around the 1.39-inch AMOLED display (covered by sapphire glass) and an Intel Atom Z3000 series chipset running Android Wear OS 2.1. Oh by the way, that price we quoted was a starting point, slap enough diamonds on this puppy and it could easily grow into 6 figures.
Tag Heuer connected modular 45
The last device we want to mention is this beauty – Nokia 9000 communicator. Intel didn’t technically use the chip, but rather an AMD-made 486 running at 33MHz. You can read more about the power of communication in a previous Flashback post.
Nokia 9000 Communicator (Image credit)
As you know, things dried up around 2014/2015. Attempts at mainstream adoption failed and only Audible designs were relegated to use Intel chips. The company eventually stopped making Atom chips for smartphones and tablets, and manufacturers moved on anyway.
Intel owned the modem division until it was sold to Apple in 2019. Apple itself fell away from Mac computers with the introduction of Apple M chipsets.
Intel is now completely out of the mobile game, but it’s had bigger issues to worry about in recent years (build stalled, led by TSMC). Android still supports x86, though you’re less likely to see it in action. Windows 11 can run Android apps, even those meant for RM devices, but this is enabled by emulation – Intel Bridge technology, developed by (you guessed it) Intel.