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Motorola launch Intel-powered smartphone

Tuesday, September 18 15:17:14

Google's Motorola Mobility unveiled its first smartphone handset to be powered by an Intel processor today, featuring a wide screen and longer-life battery to better compete against Apple's iPhone and Samsung.

The Razr i will launch in Argentina, Brazil, Britain, France, Germany and Mexico in October, as the first handset of a multi-device agreement between the two groups.

With a 4.3-inch display and Google's Android platform, the Razr i is similar to the Razr M unveiled earlier in September for U.S. consumers, but its brain is an Intel processor instead of a chip made by Qualcomm.

Choosing Intel's chips is unusual in the smartphone and tablet industry, where energy-efficient processors made by Qualcomm and Samsung using technology licensed by British group ARM Holdings are widely favoured.

Intel dominates the PC industry but has been slow to adapt its powerful processors to work well in battery-sensitive mobile gadgets and is now rushing to catch up.

Motorola's Andrew Morley, the general manager of Britain and Ireland, said the new chip enabled users to switch quickly between accessing the web, playing games, sending texts and activating the camera. The screen has virtually no border, so it also compares well in size to other rivals.

"This chipset gives us exactly what we want to launch in these markets," Morley told Reuters. "It gives us the ability to create a compact device, it gives us speed and it's a mid to high tier, mass market device.

Motorola says the battery is 40 percent more powerful than Apple's iPhone 4S and the camera can take 10 shots in under a second. There were no comparisons available with the new iPhone 5, which hits the shops later this month. (C ) Reuters