Ina Fried

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Motorola Details the RAZR i, Its First Phone With Intel Inside

Motorola is using a London event today to show off its first phone powered with an Intel processor.

The RAZR i packs a 2GHz Intel processor and a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen — the fastest such chip ever included in a Motorola phone. The added processing power is particularly useful when taking pictures. Among its photo abilities is a way to take 10 pictures per second.

“I think we all know that everybody is using these devices to replace their camera,” said Motorola’s Jim Wicks. “People are really wanting the power of the processing that Intel provides.”

Along with the Intel chip, the RAZR i features an aluminum case with a Kevlar-coated back, near field communications abilities and the Ice Cream Sandwich flavor of Android.

The device is the first fruit of a multiyear partnership announced at January’s Consumer Electronics Show — ahead of Motorola’s deal to be acquired by Google. Although neither company indicated any changes to the deal, Wicks declined to comment on any future plans for Intel-based phones.

Motorola is the best-known cellphone maker to adopt Intel chips. China’s ZTE and Lenovo are using Intel chips in a small number of products, while France’s Orange, India’s Lava and Russia’s MegaFon have also introduced phones based on an Intel-created reference design.

The RAZR i bears a strong resemblance to the Droid RAZR M phone announced earlier this month for Verizon. The two devices look nearly identical, though Intel’s model doesn’t support high-speed LTE networks, such as Verizon’s.

Motorola said it will ship the RAZR i in various European and South American markets starting in October.

Wicks said that both the RAZR i and RAZR M get similar battery life — about 20 hours when performing a Motorola-crafted variety of tasks, including a mix of Web use and calling.

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work