Intel And Safaricom Announce Yolo, Africa's First Intel-Inside Smartphone

Intel and Safaricom have announced Africa's first Intel-powered smartphone, the oddly-named Yolo. The handset is being launched in Kenya, and is aimed at customers who are looking at buying their first smartphone with a budget in mind. The Yolo will be priced at Kshs. 10,999, and will include 500MB of free data.

Yolo will be the first Intel-Inside smartphone available in Africa, and is based on the company's Intel Smartphone Reference Design. Inside you'll find an Intel Atom Z2420 1.2GHz processor with Hyper-Threading technology. The display measures in at 3.5-inches. There's a microSD slot for memory expansion, FM radio, and HSPA+ with Intel's XMM 6265 modem.

Safaricom's General Manager of its Consumer Business Unit Peter Arina offered this statement. "We're redefining what cost-conscious Kenyans can expect from a smartphone. The Intel-based Yolo smartphone strikes a unique balance between price and performance – we consider it to be a real breakthrough. It's great news that Kenya will be the launch country in Africa for smartphones with Intel Inside and we expect a great reception from our customers."

Other specs include a 5-megapixel camera that can record in up to 1080p HD; it offers burst mode for a 7-frame capture in one second. For those interested, McAfee can be enabled for data protection. The announcement doesn't mention a release date, but hopefully it'll happen soon. The clock's ticking, and you only live once.

[via Intel]