Too expensive and too uncontrolled?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara this week to be interviewed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. One of the most interesting subjects he talked about was Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, and how it compares to its two main rivals, Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android.

As you might expect, he didn’t have many good things to say about his competitors. In fact, he called Android “wild” and “uncontrolled,” before saying the iPhone is too expensive and too controlled. Windows Phone, he feels, sits in a sweet spot between the two.

If you’re into benchmarks, you may be interested in the latest results from the Intel powered Santa Clara set to hit France in June. We’re all curious to see how Intel’s new Medfield chips perform and whether or not they will shake up the mobile market as they claim they will. A German blogger recently took the Santa Clara for a spin through Rightware and Vellamo, both of which are browser benchmark tools. Rightware tests the browser’s performance in JavaScript and HTML rendering. The Intel chip performed quite nicely, scoring a 89180 which is slightly better than the iPhone 4S (87801) but still well under the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (98272).