Orange Announces Intel-Powered Android Smartphone, Codename: Santa Clara

Well it looks like Europe will be the first country to get their hands on a Medfield-powered device as Orange just officially announced Intel’s Santa Clara (likely a codename). If you’ve seen any of our previous write-ups, you would most likely notice that the Santa Clara looks strikingly similar to the Medfield reference model as we have seen it before, both in specs and hardware design. The Santa Clara comes equipped with Intel’s Atom Z2460 processor, a 4-inch 600 x 1024 display, an 8MP rear camera, NFC capabilities and remains just under 10mm thick. The device currently runs Android Gingerbread but Orange plans on a timely ICS update shortly after the device’s launch. Not only should the Atom Z2460 processor provide plenty of umph to power the device, Orange’s HSPA bands can also provide browsing speeds of of 21.1Mbps down and 5.6Mbps up.
Some other notable specs include HDMI-out via the devices MHL port, built in gesture navigation and Orange’s HD voice calling feature. Since the Medfield is capable of operating with such low voltage requirements, they are also touting battery life with a 14 day standby period or eight hours of continuous talk time. This is a breath of fresh air when talking about download speeds similar to LTE because we all know how battery life is with today’s 4G devices.
Not only does the Santa Clara sport mid-range but respectable specs, Orange says the device will remain “aggressively priced” as compared to some of their other town-named handsets. You can expect to hear plenty more about this device in the coming weeks and when we learn of it’s launch date and price point we will be sure to let you know.