Motorola Mobility has introduced the Razr i, a slick smartphone that is powered by an Intel x86 chip rather than a RISC-based ARM processor.
Although the device is limited to select European and Latin American markets, one can’t help but ogle the specs which are pretty sweet indeed.
The Razr i features an edge-to-edge Super AMOLED 4.3-inch display, an Atom chip clocked at 2.0GHz, an instant-launch 8-megapixel camera (10 pictures in less than a second), support for NFC tech and a long-lasting battery that claims to be “40% more powerful” than the competition.
An aluminum frame surrounds the display which is made of Corning Gorilla Glass, while the back is covered by DuPont KEVLAR. A splash-guard coating offer protections from spills, even on the electrical boards inside.
“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device,” said Motorola exec Jim Wicks. “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 smartphone runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which will be upgradeable to Jelly Bean at some point in the near future. Indeed, Intel recently completed porting the ARM-friendly Android Jelly Bean (4.1) to run on its mobile x86 architecture.
At this stage, porting Google’s popular OS is a necessity for Intel, as Android is natively coded for RISC-based devices powered by ARM chips, rather than x86 processors. Although the port is official, Santa Clara has yet to confirm when the updated OS will roll out to the few Intel handsets on the market.
As we’ve previously discussed on TG Daily, ARM architecture has long been the leader in the smartphone market. Santa Clara, while dominant in the PC world, has yet to make much headway in the lucrative segment.
“We estimate Intel has been able to capture only 6 percent to 8 percent of market share in the mobile handset processor revenue business – with its small success in this area mostly due to the company’s acquisition of the wireless business of Germany’s Infineon Technologies,” IHS iSuppli analyst Craig Stice explained in a recent analysis.
Indeed, Santa Clara still hasn’t launched a smartphone in the US, limiting its “Intel-inside” handset roll outs to France, the UK, India, China and Latin America.
