I’ve already asked this question about 8 month ago, but the thread is closed now and I was wondering if things have changed since then.
Are there any smartphones with an x86/x64 CPU available at the moment? I mean in a way that you could simply install a desktop Windows or Linux on it natively (not just a VM).
Here is the old thread: Are there any x86/x64 smartphones?
edit: link broke because of domain change Are there any x86/x64 smartphones?
very unlikely. Arm processors are, and might always be, more power efficient and better suited for mobile devices that rely on a battery most of the time.
Intel did go into the direction of developing a (if i recall correctly) x86 atom processor, but recently announced to stop doing that.
You can install Linux because it supports the chipset, windows might be tricky but could work too now that they also have versions for raspberry and such. It might be tricky to install due to vendor restrictions, but can certainly be done just google linux smartphone install and plenty tutorials will pop up
And yes, those would run native.
The Asus Zenfone 2 has an x86-64-based Atom processor. I had one for a while before I accidentally punctured the battery. But it's an extremely powerful phone, especially considering you can get models with 4GB of dual-channel RAM. I hear you actually can run Windows on it, but it doesn't exactly run like greased lightning.
I don't care about special Linux/Windows versions that run on ARM because you won't be able to run a single x86/x64 based program on that. I also don't care about power efficiency. If the battery doesn't last long enough I will simply strap a big LiPo to the back of it.
I just need a portable device that runs a standard Windows and/or Linux OS like Debian or Windows.
My main issue is that I write almost every program that I use on my own because I refuse to install software from a company that I don't know or don't trust if I cannot check the source code.
And I will not rewrite them to work on ARM because I don't have the time. I mean I don't even have the time to learn how to do it.
edit:
From what I heard, no one has managed to natively run a desktop Windows on the Zenfone 2 yet.
So you are saying you trust Microsoft .. that did just recently implement something in their compiler to analyze your programs? https://www.infoq.com/news/2016/06/visual-cpp-telemetry
@edit: is suggest you rewrite your programs to use a more generic language (I know that aint possible for every program, but with minor distribution checks you might be fine)
I have looked into this myself as just an experiment but gave up when it became an impractical idea. Watch the latest tech they talk about a new project thats out that does the whole phonedockslikeapc thing.
I would give up on the idea though of a Phone that docks into a PC, since companies aren't even fitting much compute power in tablets nevermind smartphones (You can't find a tablet with a decent dGPU built into it nor are there many tablets with a decent CPU that is more than an underclocked i3). As far as phones go, Atom CPUs are even too much power for phones supposively (honestly, it should be good enough), not to mention Intel gave up on the Atom parts. So ARM won the mobile market for being superior when it comes to battery life and being open source, which makes me wish ARM had better support.
I am still waiting for the day when Microsoft shoves a probe up our anuses.
I never said I'd trust Microsoft. I simply know how to keep them from spying on me.
And by the way, I never use Visual Studio and I always compile against the good old Windows XP compatible runtime lib.
I don't really need much horse power. An atom with at least 4gigs of ram would be fine.
Asus ZenFone 2 Laser 32GiB runs for $229 on Newegg right now. it's Intel Atom Based. and has support for Cyanogenmod, which is incredibly rare in X86 based processors.. though to be fair Intel has the only X86 chips in phones on the market. though it has 3GiBS of RAM which is still good for a phone in that price range.
From what I read, the Zenfone 2 has an x64 CPU (not an x86) and is available with 4GB of RAM..
The problem with that phone is that I haven't seen anyone successfully running Windows on that phone natively. I only found reports of people getting it to run inside of a VM.
the problem with running full windows on a phone/tablet is that they don't use a real bios and even if a they did have one. phone screens aren't designed with the ability to change resolutions in mind so you'd likely have scaling issues. not to mention the lack of drivers means you likely couldn't use the touch screen never-mind a keyboard/mouse. though some newer versions of intel cpus(haswel+) support touch screens without a driver.
that said the atom chipset in the asus zenfone has about the power of a celeron laptop from 2008. so windows would run fine on it if you could get past the issues and install it.
Well, who cares about the bios. When a bios has loaded an mbr and jumped to 0x7c00, the bootloader takes over anyways.
I'm sure there is a way to make Windows render every in a lower resolution and scale that up to the native res... or something like that. And if not, I'll simply write some GUI wrappers that scale fine.
Yeah, drivers are probably the biggest problem. Someone might have to write them.
I don't quite understand what a CPU has to do with pnp drivers. Am I missing something?
I assume you are talking about the CPU not the chipset.
Can you elaborate on your claim? Microarchitechture has improved a lot since 2008. I mean celeron in 2008 was what? 65nm? ... Moorefield was 22nm. That alone should be a pretty significant performance boost (assuming same clock speeds).
Not to rain on your parade, and I'm not an expert programmer by any means, but wouldn't it make a lot more sense to try and write all your programs in Python (or another scripting language)? It's pretty hard to find a platform that won't run a Python program. Even Android will run some Python stuff, and you could install an ARM version of Linux on pretty much any cheap piece of Android hardware.
But if you were, you would know that Python isn't all shiny and good. It has a shitton of disadvantages. And you can't just write anything in Python.
Also, you can't just translate C++ to Python.
And it's not like I could just rewrite over 10 years of programming work in a day, in a language that I have barely even touched yet.
Okay, fair enough. My mistake.
I understand that, I didn't expect you to translate them all in one day. I meant maybe you could start writing any new ones you have in Python instead of C++. It was only a suggestion, I did not intend to sound condescending or make light of your problem.
If you need a quick, temporary solution until you can get your hands on a true x86 phone, you could use RDP (or SSH if your program is command-line) on a traditional ARM Android device. Definitely not a permanent solution, and I know firsthand that RDP on Android is unpleasant, but it might be at least a half-solution until you could get a ZenFone to do what you wanted.
https://www.asus.com/us/Phone/ZenFone_2_ZE551ML/specifications/
It uses.
Intel® Atom™ Quad Core Z3580 (2.3GHz), PowerVR G6430, with OpenGL 3.0 support
Intel® Atom™ Quad Core Z3560 (1.8GHz), PowerVR G6430, with OpenGL 3.0 support
Yes, they are both x86.
Well theoretically it can..
scaling on Windows is absolute ass.. you're going to have a horrible time using that on a 5.5 inch phone..
I wouldn't run it with the phones native resolution. I would either reduce the screen resolution or I would use a tool that simulates just that.
That is still incorrect. And the phone was already mentioned.
the z3560 and z3580 both have include x86-64 instructions, you can find them part of the way down on this page.
Additionnally CPU boss has it listed as the same.
Also lenovo offers some phones based on the atom core too, ill add a link below
http://www.dhgate.com/product/lenovo-k900-5-5-inch-ips-screen-smartphone/169068732.html?utm_source=pla&utm_medium=GMC&utm_campaign=hkmurata&utm_term=169068732&f=bm%7c169068732%7c105001-CellPhones%7cGMC%7c246818428%7cpla%7chkmurata%7cUS%7c105001-CellPhones%7cc%7c%7c&gclid=CNv4jc_Xv80CFQIKaQodFUgJ2g