Las Vegas – Intel CEO Paul Otellini used his International
CES keynote to give a broad overview of Intel’s latest projects.
The majority of the talk centered on Intel’s flagship
project, the Ultrabook. Otellini took the audience through the Ultrabook’s
capabilities and gave a peek at some upcoming changes that will be built into
the device. This includes adding touchscreen capability, better security, and
design changes that will have the clamshell design convert into a tablet.
The big news of the keynote was Dell’s introduction of the
XPS 13 Ultrabook. Jeff Clarke, Dell’s global operations VP, showed off the new
device, saying the 13-inch model fits into the same footprint as one with an
11-inch screen and is essentially capable of delivering the same type of always-on-and-ready experience of a smartphone, but in a mobile computing platform.
Pricing was not announced, but it will be ready for orders
in February, Clarke said.
Intel also brought out pop star Will.i.am who is now
conducting a 12-city, worldwide tour to promote Ultrabooks and help with
several philanthropic projects.
Otellini discussed Intel’s work in the smartphone space and
brought out two collaborators, Motorola Mobility and Lenovo, each of which will
roll out an Intel-based smartphone in the coming months.
Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said his company and
Intel have entered into a multiyear agreement to develop phones, the first of
which will be available by late summer.
Lenovo’s Liu Jun, mobile Internet and digital home
group senior VP, showed off the K800 smartphone, which will hit the Chinese domestic
market during the second quarter. A U.S. release date was not announced.
Otellini participated in a demo that showed off the
capabilities of the Intel smartphone reference design, which gives vendors the
ability to come out with a phone and simply add their own unique features. The
basic phone design uses the Android OS and has an 8-megapixel camera, 1080p video,
six hours of video play, eight hours of talk time and 14 hours of life on standby.
There was also a brief overview of a tablet reference design
that uses the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
