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Motorola Razr i hands-on
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Motorola’s latest smart phone is the Motorola Razr i — an Android-powered mobile that packs a stonkingly speedy Intel processor.
Unlike most mobiles, which run on ARM’s chips, the Razr i plays host to an Intel-made processor that’s clocked at a wince-inducing 2GHz. Compare that to the monstrously fast 1.4GHz Samsung Galaxy S3, and it’s clear that Motorola’s new effort has the potential to be a very powerful slice of gadgetry.
Clock speed isn’t everything, so we’ll need to run the Razr i through our barrage of benchmark tests before we know just how fast it really is. For now, Intel claims its hyperthreading tech makes its chips quicker than rival processors.
Elsewhere the Razr i looks much like Motorola’s recent efforts, packing a 4.3-inch display and a Kevlar coating that should protect this mobile’s casing from handbag-based car key encounters.
Motorola claims this is an edge-to-edge display with “virtually no border”, though it looks to have a decent-sized bezel in the pictures above. We’ll have some hands-on impressions coming very soon, so stay tuned.
It’s powered by Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which isn’t the latest version. I’d hoped that — as Google is now in charge of Motorola — its new phones would come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Motorola says the phone is “upgradeable” to Jelly Bean, but in my experience that’s no indication that an update will be along any time soon.
Motorola isn’t the first manufacturer to oil up an Intel chip and squeeze it inside a smart phone — the Orange San Diego, revealed earlier this year, also plays host to an Intel processor, as does the ZTE Grand X IN.
The San Diego impressed in the power stakes, punching above its £200 price tag, though it was let down by a load of frustrating, fiddly software. Here’s hoping Motorola can do better when the Razr i comes out at the start of October.
Are you intrigued? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
Update: Added Rich’s hands-on video from the launch event.
