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Intel ports Android to run on Atom CPUs, goes after ARM
- lutorm 17y agoIt says Intel plans to port all mobile operating systems to Atom. Somehow I doubt Apple is in on that plan...
- archon810 17y agoIt's a direct quote from an Intel exec but yeah, doesn't make much sense in that context. She should have clarified whether it was all open source ones, or whatever they actually had in mind.
- buster 17y agoApple also made the switch from powerpc to intel, so i don't think it's unimaginable. I agree, that ARM has by far the upper hand in this segment, though.
- mooism2 17y agoAlthough Apple didn't buy a company to customise its own powerpc chips, did it?
- ShabbyDoo 17y agoWhat does this mean for Android developers? Instead of using the Google-provided emulator, will one be able to run Android inside, say, VMWare? I haven't tried the emulator in about two years, but I recall it being quite slow.
- dublinclontarf 17y agoHmmmm an Atom slate running on Android - It would be cheaper than the iPad, have decent, suitable OS for the task. Goodbye iPad?
- hackermom 17y agoNo, not goodbye iPad, not with Atom under the hood. An ARM slate running Android might be able to do it, though.
- archon810 17y agoWhat exactly is your argument here?
- jws 17y agoI'm not the object of "your", but I might propose: Atoms have a higher power/computation ratio than ARMs. Atoms are attractive because you can run desktop/laptop software, but that is also a liability on battery. You are starting with a vast and possibly opaque codebase that was not designed for energy efficiency. I wonder though, as processors become more efficient and screens get bigger at what point does the backlight power dominate and the CPU efficiency become subordinate? A quick googling suggests laptop sized LED backlights are ~2 watts.
- buster 17y agoAndroid offers pretty detailed power consumption statistics (as far as an operating system can tell, i guess). Currently it shows: Display - 46% Standby - 12% Handset inactive - 10% Android OS - 9% Android System - 8% Calls - 4% WLAN - 2% Rest is power consumption of apps.
- warfangle 17y agoWhich is why the new transflective screen technologies are a Really Big Deal (tm).
- c00p3r 17y ago"ports"? Reconfigures current linux kernel and recompiles with different version of gcc (or icc?) along with all userland? Big deal..
- mustpax 17y agoI'm rooting for RISC in this round of the RISC vs. CISC saga. X86 is so bloated and legacy ridden that it is great barrier to entry to the CPU/compiler space, and that's the way Intel likes it.
- melling 17y agoRISC will rise again! Seriously though, it will be great to have as much competition as possible. I want my next phone to be quad-core and run for a week on a charge. A lot of competition is the quickest way to get companies to produce their best work. Look at what Intel did once AMD gave them a good kick. The real trick is that both companies need to remain strong. AMD needs to get back in the game.
- zokier 17y agoIntel seems bit lost in the mobile markets. First Moblin, then Meego, now this. Do they ever get anything finished and shipped to end users?
- vetinari 17y agoMoblin _is_ Meego. Android is supported due to popular demand. Novel concept, right?
- jcromartie 17y agoFrom what I've seen, Atom has a long way to go to catch up with ARM in terms of efficiency.