Motorola Launches Its First Intel-Powered Smartphone

Motorola Mobility unveiled Tuesday its new RAZR i smartphone, the first to launch from the Google-owned handset maker with an Intel processor inside.

The new device sports a 4.3-inch, edge-to-edge display and has been dubbed by Motorola as the industry's first smartphone to reach speeds up to 2.0 GHz, a feat it attributed to its use of Intel's Atom chip. Tasks such as browsing the Web or snapping photos with the RAZR i's 8-megapixel camera will be noticeably faster thanks to Intel, Motorola said.

What's more, the power efficiency of the chip lets the RAZR i's battery life last nearly 40 percent longer than the battery life of the iPhone 4S. Motorola didn't offer any comparisons to the iPhone 5, which Apple launched last week.

[Related: Motorola Stages First Major Smartphone Launch As A Google Company ]

"Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device. 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," said Jim Wicks, senior vice president of Consumer Experience Design at Motorola Mobility, in a statement. "RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life."

The Motorola RAZR i is one of a handful of Intel-powered smartphones on the market today. Most smartphones run on ARM-based processors, such as those manufactured by chip makers including Samsung, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, but Intel has been making a push into the mobile market over the past few months, as more consumers start to adopt smartphones and tablets in lieu of traditional notebook PCs.

Intel-powered smartphones have already been announced by other handset makers including Lenovo and ZTE, but they are not expected to launch in the U.S. Motorola said the RAZR i will launch in the U.K., France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico next month, but it has not confirmed U.S. availability.

In addition to its Intel Atom processor, Motorola's RAZR i runs Google's Android 4.0 OS, arming users with access to the more than 600,000 apps available in Google Play. Near-field communication technology along with Voice Actions for Android -- a voice-activated feature comparable to Apple's Siri that can draft texts, perform Google searches and complete other tasks at the sound of a user's voice -- are also included.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 18, 2012