CES 2012: Motorola to build Android phone with Intel CPU

A Motorola smartphone with Intel inside is due to arrive in the second half of 2012, the two companies announced at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The phone will be the first product of a multi-year agreement that will extend to not only smartphones but tablets too, Intel said.

Although the firms didn't disclose much about what the device would look like, how much it would cost or what it wouldd be called, Intel did say that the first of its processors used by Motorola would be the new Atom Z2460.

No word yet on which carrier the handset will make its way to either, but in a meeting Tuesday night, Motorola Chairman and Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said the new phone would run Google's Android operating system.

Hopefully that means the first Motorola and Intel smartphone will be running Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Atom Z2640 is a 1.6-gigahertz processor with integrated graphics capabilities and low power consumption, Intel said in a statement.

The partnership is an important one for both companies, especially Intel. Motorola currently uses processors from both Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, two chip suppliers that have found a lot of success in the smartphone and tablet market. Intel's mobile chips, meanwhile, have had a tough time catching on with hardware makers as many have chosen processors from rivals.

Though Intel, the world's largest processor maker, has so far failed to match its dominant positon in the laptop and desktop market on the mobile side, a deal with Motorola might help boost its influence in smartphones and tablets -- particularly if Google's $12.5-billion purchase of Motorola Mobility is approved by federal regulators.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles in Las Vegas

Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+

Twitter.com/nateog

Images: (Top) Intel's smartphone reference design and (bottom) its Atom Z2460 processor. Credit: Intel

AT&T closes $1.9-billion purchase of Qualcomm spectrum

AT&T Inc. has officially completed its $1.9-billion purchase of wireless spectrum licenses owned by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc.

The deal gives AT&T the ability to offer service on wireless spectrum that covers an area of more than 300 million people nationwide, with more than 70 million of them in five of the top 15 metropolitan areas, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

The nation's second-largest wireless carrier announced the closure of the purchase Tuesday in a short statement on its website after the Federal Communications Commission approved the purchase Friday.

The FCC's sign-off on the purchase followed AT&T's decision last week to drop its attempted $39-billion takeover of T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

Until the AT&T backed off its bid to buy T-Mobile, the FCC was reviewing both the spectrum deal and the takeover together -- a move that was expected to push any possible approval into next year.

AT&T's new wireless licenses applies to the 700 MHz spectrum, which the FCC described in its approval of the deal as "underutilized" by the telecommunications industry.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+

Twitter.com/nateog

Photo credit: Lisa Poole / Associated Press

FCC approves AT&T's $1.9-billion purchase of Qualcomm spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a $1.9-billion AT&T purchase of wireless spectrum licenses owned by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc.

The purchase gives AT&T control over licenses that, according to the FCC, "cover more than 300 million people nationwide, including more than 70 million people in five of the top 15 metropolitan areas (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco)."

The FCC's decision on the spectrum deal was set to be delayed into next year as the regulatory agency was reviewing both AT&T's proposed Qualcomm purchase and the proposed $39-billion takeover of T-Mobile USA together -- that was until AT&T dropped its T-Mobile plans on Monday.

In its approval of the Qualcomm deal, the FCC stated Thursday that AT&T cannot use the spectrum in a way that would negatively impact other carriers using or roaming on nearby wireless airwaves.

The FCC said that, given that AT&T is the largest phone company in the U.S. and the second-largest mobile carrier, concerns of competitive harm were looked at, but any resulting harm wouldn't "outweigh the public interest benefits of this transaction," the FCC said in the order.

In fact, the FCC said it hopes the purchase will prod AT&T and its rivals to use the "underutilized unpaired 700 MHz spectrum" for mobile service, "thereby supporting our goal of expanding mobile broadband deployment throughout the country."

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+

twitter.com/nateog

Photo credit: Lisa Poole/Associated Press

HTC Radar 4G, on Windows Phone Mango, headed to T-Mobile

The HTC Radar is headed to T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest carrier announced Tuesday.

The Radar, which HTC first announced on Sept. 1 without naming a carrier partner, will run Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Mango and feature a 3.8-inch display with a 480 x 800 resolution. It also looks like it will have a slickly designed aluminum and plastic body, as many HTC smart phones do.

One thing we didn't know before, but isn't much of a surprise, is that the Radar will run on T-Mobile's 4G network -- specifically its HSPA+ 14.4 4G network, which means it will be on the lower end of the carrier's 4G phones in terms of speed.

Two details that have yet to be disclosed so far are a specific release date and a price for the Radar.

All T-Mobile is saying as of now is that the Radar will arrive in time for the holidays.

As for other details: The handset will be powered by a 1-gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and feature a dedicated camera button, which activates a 5-megapixel/720p camera with an LED flash on the back. A front-facing camera handles video chats.

The Radar will have 8 gigabytes of storage built in, 512-megabytes of RAM and come in at just under half an inch thick.

The specs aren't lousy by any means, but they also don't match the higher-end standards we're seeing of more RAM, faster processors and 8-megapixel cameras, so I'd expect this phone to come in at a price below $200.

When HTC announced the Radar, it also announced the Titan smart phone, which likewise is set to launch this fall. Like the Radar, the Titan will run Windows Phone Mango. And the Titan will feature the higher-end specs of the two phones, with a 4.7-inch touchscreen, 1.5-gigahertz processor, 1-gigabyte of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera.

However, T-Mobile won't be selling the Titan, said Kelsey Richards, a spokeswoman for the carrier.

As we get information on release dates and pricing, we'll keep you posted on the Technology blog, and we'll review the phones in-hand and on video too.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

Image: The HTC Radar smart phone running Windows Phone 7. Credit: HTC

FCC to review AT&T deals with T-Mobile and Qualcomm together

AT&T's proposed deal to take over T-Mobile USA and gobble up wireless licenses from Qualcomm Inc. will be bundled together and reviewed as a pair by the Federal Communications Commission.

The decision will almost certainly end up delaying the potential closing of the  $1.9-billion deal between Qualcomm and AT&T, which if cleared would give AT&T control over licenses that, according to the FCC, "cover more than 300 million people nationwide, including more than 70 million people in five of the top 15 metropolitan areas (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco)."

AT&T and Qualcomm were hoping to get their proposed deal approved by federal regulators and closed before the end of the year, Reuters said in a report on the FCC decision. The AT&T bid to buy T-Mobile USA, which is worth $39 billion, isn't expected to close until sometime in the first three months of next year at the earliest, the report said.

The FCC announced that it would review the two deals together in a letter sent to the companies late Monday, Reuters said.

Qualcomm said the FCC shouldn't delay approving its deal with AT&T because it isn't using the wireless spectrum that it's looking to sell to the telecommunications giant and the cash would allow the company to invest in what it said would be improved wireless technologies.

"The FCC should approve the pending AT&T-Qualcomm spectrum sale now because of the clear benefits to the public from the sale that stand on their own and are totally unrelated to the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger," Dean Brenner, Qualcomm's vice president of government affairs, told Reuters.

AT&T officials weren't available to comment on the setback. The FCC, however, said it made the decision to give it more time to scrutinize the effect the sale would have on how much wireless spectrum AT&T would own.

"We have concluded that the best way to determine whether either or both of the proposed transactions serve the public interest is to consider them in a coordinated manner at this time," the FCC said in its letter, according to Reuters.

The Justice Department is looking into possible antitrust concerns over the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger as well.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

Photo: The AT&T logo is seen in a RadioShack store in Gloucester, Mass., on Oct. 19, 2009. Credit: Lisa Poole/  Associated Press