Ooh, now then, here’s something I’ve not heard a great deal about for, well, ages (since last September, in fact): Intel’s Medfield processor. Last we heard, Intel had developed a phone with one inside, to use as a reference design, but nowt’s happened since then.
Well, nothing visible to us consumers, anyway, ‘cos this new rumour (reported on by Unwired View) implies that quite a lot has been going on, behind the scenes. Y’see, it seems that someone is about ready to release a Medfield-powered smartphone on the UK market, and that someone is allegedly Orange. It seems to be based on that reference design that Intel showed off, and it’s purportedly called the Orange London…
The rumour started when someone, saying they’re a regular taken of Orange surveys, noticed the phone had been slipped into the survey, presumably while Orange were being careless. Now, of course, that does sound ever so slightly fishy, ‘cos it’s easy enough for someone to claim they’ve seen something online, and then photoshop it, but let’s assume for a second that it is on the level. If that’s the case, what can we expect from the specs?
Well, we’re looking at 1 .6GHz Medfield processor, for starters, which is faster than the HTC Sensation XE, although it’s only single core; however, there’s a big “but” there, and it’s that this single core chip is faster than most multi-core chips, at least in the browser. We’re also looking at an 8MP camera (with zero shutter lag), a 4 inch screen, and 16GB of internal memory. If the rumour’s true, that is, but the question is: is it true?
Well, as things stand at the moment, all I can honestly say is, “Er, don’t know, could be, I suppose…”
Y’see, this reference design has been out for a while, an manufacturers (most likely Chinese manufacturers) will have got their hands on one to work with. And Orange use OEM manufacturers to make their own brand phones. So, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that this is true, and there’s certainly nothing in the specs that mark it out as being obviously false.
So, we shall have to wait and see…
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