The mobile market will soon welcome the first Intel Medfield-powered phone - Xolo X900. The new device will hit the shelves on April 23. The mobile market has been expecting the Lenovo K800, which was unveiled at CES 2012 in January, to be the first Intel-powered phone to hit the market. Intel's Sean Malony announced last week that the K800 launch is expected to take place in May. But Intel CEO Paul Otellini said earlier this week that the company intends to launch a Medfield-powered phone as soon as possible.

Otellini's statement triggered speculations that not K800, but a totally different device will be first Intel-powered phone. And now, all speculations have been put to rest as the company has issued a press release, saying it has partnered with Lava International Ltd, an Indian mobile maker, that will manufacture and launch the world's first Intel-powered phone - the Xolo X900.

The novel innovation, which is destined for the Indian market, is based on Intel's smartphone reference design while it comes with a 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 also known as Medfield. The device will also feature Intel Hyper Threading Technology while the list of associative features of the launch model includes 4040 MHZ graphics, a 4-inch 1024 x 600 display as well as a full 1080p HD video for encoding and playback. The list also includes a 1-Megapixel front-facing camera and an 8-Megapixel rear-facinf camera as well as support for HSPA+ crowned with 3G connectivity.

Intel is already promising an OTA update to Ice Cream Sandwich even before the launch of the device, which will ship with Android Gingerbread. "The first smartphone with Intel inside is now available to Indian consumers," announced Mike Bell who is serving as Intel Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. "The boundaries of personal computing are expanding. As we enter the India market with our first smartphone from Lava, the device not only showcases the rich capabilities and user benefits of Intel computing, but also highlights the exciting possibilities of what's still to come," expounds Bell.

The phone will be availed at a launch price of INR 22000 (approx. $450). The phone will be available a day after its launch i.e. on April 24. There have not been any announcements of the availability of the phone outside the Indian market.

(reported by Gugulethu Nyoni, edited by Dave Clark)