6 ms·

The Asus Zenfone 2, released 5 years ago, ran on x86 (Intel Atom) [1]. I know someone who was still using it this year Eventually switched but the phone still w

by jraph 6y ago

The Asus Zenfone 2, released 5 years ago, ran on x86 (Intel Atom) [1]. I know someone who was still using it this year Eventually switched but the phone still works. So, to the question: > Is there a phone on the planet that doesn't run ARM? Well, technically, yes ;-) This does not change anything to your point though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus_ZenFone#Second_generation_(2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus_ZenFone#Second_generation...

slimsag 6y ago
I used the ZenFone 2 for about a year ~3.5 years ago; it worked surprisingly well. It was impressive that it really "just worked" like a normal ARM device. There were some annoying software aspects (the Play Store only allowed me to download x86 apps even though it could run ARM apps), and the device was 100% a battery hog - but cool tech. Surprised Intel gave up on that effort.
- dannyw 6y ago
  Intel gave up because Atom for smartphones were sold at a negative price after marketing incentives. They couldn’t even get volume from manufacturers when it costed less than zero; because no one wanted to invest upfront R&D costs.
  - mycall 6y ago
    Intel should have made their own phones.
Nightshaxx 6y ago
I bought the Zenfone 2 which had an Intel processor, and had a similar experience to the sister comment. The only super annoying thing that happened was when Pokemon Go came out all my friends had it but it didn't support Intel. By the time they made it available for the intel phones (which was a few weeks) the game wasn't cool anymore. :/
justincormack 6y ago
There were a few MIPS Android phones too.
- panpanna 6y ago
  MIPS was pretty popular among early Shenzhen tablets. Then they just disappeared. Either MIPS screwed up or ARM did something really smart. My money is on the former...
  - baybal2 6y ago
    > MIPS was pretty popular among early Shenzhen tablets. > Then they just disappeared. Either MIPS screwed up or ARM did something really smart. My money is on the former... MIPS SoCs simply fell too much behind. They kept presence in the STB, and router boxes for some time, but even there they lost due to overall "deadness" of the entire ecosystem: Want latest compiler work, and mainline GCC support? Go for ARM Want to not to have to support your own Linux fork? Go for ARM Want more IP coming from a single vendor that just core, interrupt, controller, and DMA? Go for ARM Want to work with an IP vendor whose sales are not part time lawyers? Go for ARM When MIPS understood that they are losing, they simply gave up on competing, and improving. And in the end, the lunch went to MediaTek because it was the only SoC vendor that was ready to ship competitive SoCs with 4G baseband without rapacious licensing deals like Qualcomm do.
    - panpanna 6y ago
      Actually at that time MIPS suddenly came back to life and had a big push with improved designs and a few deals resulting in pretty decent MIPS socs. Performance was okay, battery life was good, and they were first to market with the latest Android release (I think it was 4.0 or 4.4). But then everything suddenly stopped and they left the market altogether. Edit: Regarding this: > Want to work with an IP vendor whose sales are not part time lawyers? Go for ARM One of the founders of OpenCores (RIP) told me that ARM lawyers contact him _within hours_ of someone pushing a design they dont like. While MIPS has a bad rep, ARM is probably more aggressive.
    - 6y ago

by jraph 6y ago

slimsag 6y ago

I used the ZenFone 2 for about a year ~3.5 years ago; it worked surprisingly well. It was impressive that it really "just worked" like a normal ARM device. There were some annoying software aspects (the Play Store only allowed me to download x86 apps even though it could run ARM apps), and the device was 100% a battery hog - but cool tech. Surprised Intel gave up on that effort.

dannyw 6y ago
Intel gave up because Atom for smartphones were sold at a negative price after marketing incentives. They couldn’t even get volume from manufacturers when it costed less than zero; because no one wanted to invest upfront R&D costs.
- mycall 6y ago
  Intel should have made their own phones.

Nightshaxx 6y ago

I bought the Zenfone 2 which had an Intel processor, and had a similar experience to the sister comment. The only super annoying thing that happened was when Pokemon Go came out all my friends had it but it didn't support Intel. By the time they made it available for the intel phones (which was a few weeks) the game wasn't cool anymore. :/

justincormack 6y ago

There were a few MIPS Android phones too.

panpanna 6y ago
MIPS was pretty popular among early Shenzhen tablets. Then they just disappeared. Either MIPS screwed up or ARM did something really smart. My money is on the former...
- baybal2 6y ago
  > MIPS was pretty popular among early Shenzhen tablets. > Then they just disappeared. Either MIPS screwed up or ARM did something really smart. My money is on the former... MIPS SoCs simply fell too much behind. They kept presence in the STB, and router boxes for some time, but even there they lost due to overall "deadness" of the entire ecosystem: Want latest compiler work, and mainline GCC support? Go for ARM Want to not to have to support your own Linux fork? Go for ARM Want more IP coming from a single vendor that just core, interrupt, controller, and DMA? Go for ARM Want to work with an IP vendor whose sales are not part time lawyers? Go for ARM When MIPS understood that they are losing, they simply gave up on competing, and improving. And in the end, the lunch went to MediaTek because it was the only SoC vendor that was ready to ship competitive SoCs with 4G baseband without rapacious licensing deals like Qualcomm do.
  - panpanna 6y ago
    Actually at that time MIPS suddenly came back to life and had a big push with improved designs and a few deals resulting in pretty decent MIPS socs. Performance was okay, battery life was good, and they were first to market with the latest Android release (I think it was 4.0 or 4.4). But then everything suddenly stopped and they left the market altogether. Edit: Regarding this: > Want to work with an IP vendor whose sales are not part time lawyers? Go for ARM One of the founders of OpenCores (RIP) told me that ARM lawyers contact him _within hours_ of someone pushing a design they dont like. While MIPS has a bad rep, ARM is probably more aggressive.
  - 6y ago