With Lenovo partnership, Intel makes grab at smartphone market

Intel® has announced that it will put its Atom™ processor platform into the newly revealed Lenovo® K800 smartphone, signaling the chipmaker's continued focus on the mobile market.

The K800, which runs the Android™ operating system from Google, is Lenovo's first foray into the smartphone market. The handset will be released in China in the second quarter of 2012 on the China Unicom network.

The 4.5-inch phone includes an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and a front-facing camera for video calling. The K800 will also support near-field communication technology, enabling users to make in-store payments using their mobile devices.

By pairing the Atom processor Z2460 with Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology, the K800 is more energy-efficient than most smartphones on the market. The handset will also feature Lenovo's multitouch LeOS user interface, which provides users with a localized experience.

To date, Intel has struggled to make much of a dent in the mobile market. However, 2012 looks to be a big year for the chipmaker, which will see its technology incorporated into smartphones, tablet computers and the extremely portable Ultrabook™ PC.