Intel Unveils Moorestown and the Atom Z600, The Fastest Smartphone Platform?
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 4, 2010 11:54 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Intel
- Atom
- Mobile
- SoCs
Putting Power in Perspective: Estimated Battery Life of a Moorestown Phone
I wanted to get Moorestown hardware in time for the launch but unfortunately nothing is quite ready yet, so we’ll have to rely on Intel’s data.
As I just mentioned, Intel expects a Moorestown phone to idle at 21 - 23mW. Paired with a 1500mAh battery that’s 10 days of standby time. Intel claims that Snapdragon phones idle at 25mW. If that’s true then Moorestown is competitive.
Audio playback is expected to consume around 120mW of power (for the entire platform, not just the silicon). Intel estimates that’ll get you around 48 hours of continuous music playback. Intel was quick to add that this is better audio playback battery life than anyone else on the market today, although both TI and NVIDIA are promising better battery life than that with their next-generation SoCs (OMAP 4430 and Tegra 2).
| Moorestown Battery Life (Figures by Intel) | |||||
| Total Phone Power Consumption | |||||
| Idle | 21 - 23 mW | ||||
| Audio Playback | 120 mW | ||||
| 1080p Video Playback | 1.1W+ | ||||
| Web Browsing (WiFi) | 1.1W | ||||
| 2G Phone Call | 550 mW | ||||
| 3G Phone Call | 1.2W | ||||
Intel’s video playback estimates are lower than the competition, Moorestown is expected to only provide 5 hours of continuous HD video playback compared to 10 hours on an iPhone 3GS. That comes from 1.1W+ platform power consumption during video playback.
Intel estimates that Moorestown based devices will last about 5 hours when browsing the web on WiFi. Talk times are expected in the 4 - 5 hour range over 3G, and 8 - 10 hours on 2G.
If these numbers hold true in shipping Moorestown devices, I’d expect to see anywhere from iPhone to iPhone 3GS levels of battery life. Audio decoding seems good, while other aspects like video playback aren’t so great. Web browsing power consumption really varies based on the test. I measured power consumption on my iPhone 3GS and saw 1.1 - 1.3W while loading the AnandTech front page. That would imply Moorestown platform battery life could be competitive.
As soon as I can get my hands on some actual hardware I plan on verifying all of this data myself. Intel claims that the top 5 handset manufacturers see power consumption in the 750mW - 1.5W range, so Moorestown should find itself right in the middle of all of them.
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strikeback03 - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
No, I think he is asking for Windows 7, not Windows Phone 7. WHich I can see being useful on a tablet, but not at all on a phone. It would take so much effort to turn the standard version of Windows 7 into something usable on a phone that I would imagine if x86 does take off in smartphones Microsoft would be better off just making a completely new OS that can run windows programs.logdrum - Saturday, November 20, 2010 - link
There are Moorsetown tablets running Windows 7, As long as the chipset has a PCI bus Windows 7 heck even Windows 2003 server shuld install. The smart phone do not have a PCI bus therefore you cannot install Windows 7logdrum - Saturday, November 20, 2010 - link
It is not a limitation of x86. Windows needs a PCI bus to install and run. There is no PCI bus in Intel embedded systems or ARM for that matter. Having said that you can install VMware on the Linux OS and install Windows as a Virtual Machine. Some people even say hacking the firmware of the embedded hardware to fake a PCI bus so Windows would install. It could be done. Take one of those WindRiver classes on fastboot and kboot and maybe you could make it happen.logdrum - Saturday, November 20, 2010 - link
I am talking here purely x86 Windows, the one on desktops and netbooks and even tablets. Tablets have a PCI bus usually. The phone factor of Moorsetown does not have,jaydee - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
Dual-boot Windows 7 and Android on a 10" tablet. Please?arnavvdesai - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
I think getting 3 out of 5 will be very hard for Intel, especially Apple because that company has sunk so much of its own money into chip IP. Apple is not content with just getting the best hardware out there in ARM world but wants to actually design the chip around its own OS so I dont see them using the Atom series.Intel says Win7CE & Win8CE are both out so that leaves them in a bad place. However, Microsoft is working on a micro OS kernel inside its labs called Menlo( I am not sure about the name) which Intel could try and effectively market to. Basically in Menlo Microsoft is trying to shrink NT to super small size and footrpint.
DanNeely - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
Intel offered the ability to create custom atom SOC's via TSMC fabs about a year ago. It was withdrawn due to lack of interest; but if apple was interested I'm certain they'd make it available again.aguilpa1 - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
People will forgive lots of things if the thing just looks HOT and works as it should. It has been a long time since I have been wowed by any of the new smartphone devices, including the iphone. It is sleek and well built but a little to chunky and roundish for my taste. However they get the style look down.geniekid - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
Would it be possible to leverage Moorestown in a way that yields 2x the battery life with the same performance as today's top end smartphones? Most 3GS/N1 users today would rather have more battery life than HD playback ability. Unfortunately, as I think about it, I believe that the battery sucking features of the phone are the peripheral devices - wifi/3g radio, camera, display, things which are outside the scope of Moorestown.Mike1111 - Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - link
If the Z600 only support 1024x600 or higher, how come the Aava reference platform has 800x480?And even though I think the performance is very good, Z600 is still too big to compete in the Smartphone market (3-4 chips instead of 1)? I don't see how that could work with something as small as the iPhone 4th-gen's mainboard, which is incredible tiny.
Also Intel talks about combining Lincroft and Langwell into one chip, but no official word on memory in the same package? Only Anand speculates about it.
But if they Intel can integrate at least these three chips into one package with Medfield and offer some additional improvements plus @32nm, and have actual Medfield smartphones on the shelves by the holiday season 2011, Intel can finally start to compete in the smartphone market.