Intel announces dual-core 'Clovertrail+' Atom processors
Intel has announced a new
generation of their Atom processors for smartphones and tablets. Known
better by the codename Clovertrail+, the new range of SoCs improve
considerably over the previous generation Medfield and also Clovertrail
processors.
Clovertrail+ SoCs will be available in three SKUs, with similar parts
but varying clock speeds. The fastest is the Atom Z2580, then the Z2560
and then the Z2520.
On the CPU side, the new Clovertrail+ adds an extra Saltwell CPU core, which is based on the same 32nm processing, while maintaining Hyper Threading (so now you get four threads). The clock speed on the Z2580 goes up to 2.0GHz, whereas on the Z2560 and Z2520 it's 1.6GHz and 1.2GHz respectively. With the extra core, Intel promises 2x CPU performance improvement over Medfield chips.
The biggest improvement, however, comes on the GPU side. Intel has discarded the previous PowerVR SGX540 in favor of the significantly more powerful SGX544MP2. To put it into context, this GPU is actually slightly more powerful than the one in Apple's A5X, which was found inside the third generation iPad with Retina display.
Once again, the clock speeds differ across the SKUs, with the Z2580,
Z2560 and the Z2520 getting 533MHz, 400MHz and 300MHz respectively.
Intel claims the GPU in Clovertrail+ is thrice as fast than the previous
PowerVR SHX540. The faster GPU also means the supported resolution now
goes from 1,024 x 768 to 1,920 x 1,200.
The memory interface in Clovertrail+ is still 2 x 32-bit LPDDR2 but at a faster 1,066MHz instead of 800MHz.
The baseband has been updated from XMM 6260 to XMM 6360 and now supports 3GPP release 9 with 42Mbps DC-HSPA+ (Category 24) and HSUPA category 7 (11.5 Mbps). However, there is still no LTE support.
Lastly, there is a new reference design for OEMs to sell. It uses the Z2580 chip with 2GB of RAM, XMM 6360 baseband, 16 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front camera. It runs stock Android 4.2, which may be modified by the OEM, as is often the case.
The first phone to be announced running Clovertrail+ is the Lenovo K900. You can check out our hands-on with the device, along with some benchmark tests over here.
On the CPU side, the new Clovertrail+ adds an extra Saltwell CPU core, which is based on the same 32nm processing, while maintaining Hyper Threading (so now you get four threads). The clock speed on the Z2580 goes up to 2.0GHz, whereas on the Z2560 and Z2520 it's 1.6GHz and 1.2GHz respectively. With the extra core, Intel promises 2x CPU performance improvement over Medfield chips.
The biggest improvement, however, comes on the GPU side. Intel has discarded the previous PowerVR SGX540 in favor of the significantly more powerful SGX544MP2. To put it into context, this GPU is actually slightly more powerful than the one in Apple's A5X, which was found inside the third generation iPad with Retina display.
The memory interface in Clovertrail+ is still 2 x 32-bit LPDDR2 but at a faster 1,066MHz instead of 800MHz.
The baseband has been updated from XMM 6260 to XMM 6360 and now supports 3GPP release 9 with 42Mbps DC-HSPA+ (Category 24) and HSUPA category 7 (11.5 Mbps). However, there is still no LTE support.
Lastly, there is a new reference design for OEMs to sell. It uses the Z2580 chip with 2GB of RAM, XMM 6360 baseband, 16 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front camera. It runs stock Android 4.2, which may be modified by the OEM, as is often the case.