Is the RAZR i the fastest smartphone ever? Motorola says yes.

Last summer, Google acquired Motorola Mobility, in a deal worth a reported $12.5 billion. Now Motorola Mobility has partnered with chip-maker Intel to release a new Google-Motorola-Intel hybrid device dubbed the Motorola RAZR i. In size, shape, and hue, the RAZR i greatly resembles the recently unveiled RAZR M (more on that phone, and the RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD here). 

Witness the sleek black chassis, the 8-megapixel camera, and the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, which Motorola calls "edge-to-edge" – meaning, in this case, that there's very little border to the display. Almost all the exterior details match the RAZR M. The difference between the RAZR M and the RAZR i, of course, is the Intel Atom processor. According to Motorola, the Atom will allow the RAZR i to hit speeds of 2.0 GHz, the fastest ever on a smartphone. 

By way of example, Motorola says the camera app would launch in less than a second. 

"Intel’s goal is to provide compelling technology options that translate into great user benefits and experiences," Intel exec Erik Reid said in a statement today. "RAZR i is a great proofpoint in the collaboration and we’re thrilled to be working with Motorola to bring this edge-to-edge experience enhanced with Intel Inside to people around the world."

Of course, as Natasha Lomas notes over at TechCrunch, the RAZR i isn't the first Intel-powered Android smartphone. There was the oddly-titled Orange San Diego, which was priced for £200 in the UK, or roughly $300. And there's the ZTE Grand X IN (how about that mish-mash of upper-case letters and actual real words?). But Lomas rightly singles out the RAZR i as the first Intel phone from a "recognizable mobile maker." 

And when it comes to smartphones, brand matters a great deal. 

No word yet on when – or if – the RAZR i will launch in the US. But Motorola has set an October launch for "European and Latin American markets including the U.K., France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico." 

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