Motorola RAZR i announced - first 2GHz smartphone
RAZR sharp
Motorola has just revealed a new Android handset - the Motorola RAZR i. It's noteworthy for being the first smartphone to pack a 2GHz processor under its hood.
Not just any 2GHz processor, either. The microprocessor powering the RAZR i is, in fact, an Intel Atom chip (these chips are normally associated with laptops, you see). By contrast, the vast majority of smartphone processors are based on ARM hardware.
The RAZR i will also feature a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge Super AMOLED Advanced display and a super-fast 8-megapixel camera.
How fast? Try ten-photos-in-a-second fast. Yep, that fast. It can also boot up in under a second, and it sports a dedicated shutter button. We really don't know why more Android manufacturers don't include such a feature.
The RAZR i will launch with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, but you can expect a Jelly Bean update in the near future.
Mighty AtomBut, really it's all about that Atom chip. It may be a single-core processor, but it is capable of hyperthreading, which means it can achieve similar multitasking feats to current multi-core CPUs.
Atom chips are also built using a smaller 32nm manufacturing process, which makes for a more compact and power-efficient end product than the likes of the Tegra 3 chip (which is built using a 40nm process).
It's all getting a bit technical, we know. Suffice it to say, the Intel Atom chip is supposed to be very powerful and extremely power-efficient - two things that are music to the ears of a smartphone owner.
"Together with Intel, we're redefining what people can expect from a mobile device," Motorola Mobility's Jim Wicks says. "A camera that launches in an instant, web pages that load blazingly fast, and a device that's the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand."
The Motorola RAZR i should debut sometime in October, so we shouldn't have long to wait to see how it performs against such big hitters as the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X.
It's also perfectly timed to provide a handy alternative for those folks who want a compact 4-inch (ish) smartphone with oodles of power and a decent camera but don't want to give Apple their pennies.