Sunday 16 December 2012

Motorola RAZR i with Intel Atom inside

My trusty Galaxy S is getting old. Not in a sense that it's getting dated, no - it literally is getting old and is slowly dying. The GPS never worked anyway, the SD card already borked out once (luckily, Samsung fixed the issue for free despite the fact that the phone had Cyanogen on it), the proximity and light sensor are dead, the phone speaker is dead (only loudspeaker works)... In other words, it has seen better days.

I wasn't really on the market for the new phone though because i don't usually get me a piece of new technology until the old one is completely dead and unusable, but the ad about Motorola's phone with Atom caught my attention. I didn't like the Samsung Galaxy line aesthetically (S II sucks, S III sucks, Note is more like a tablet, everything else is for cheapskates), didn't feel like buying a Google phone (somehow the "pure" Google experience doesn't include updates to the OS, so the only perceived advantage of a Google phone is out of the window), didn't like those HTC's and LG's...

So i saw this RAZR i and figured - whtat the hell. Updates aren't happening regardless of which phone i pick, this phone got good reviews and there's even a remote chance that something from the x86 world will be ported to it - so i took the plunge.

I've read in quite a few reviews that this phone was fast. It really is fast. I guess Atom makes wonders - it really is that fucking fast. No shit. You know what, i'm not even going to bother rooting and installing CM - i did this on my Galaxy S just because the stock ROM was unbearably slow. I'll keep the stock ROM, i don't give a fuck. I still got my somewhat working Galaxy S, so i can satisfy all my tinkering needs with it.

Now, i don't care much for Angry Birds compatibility, all the apps i needed work perfectly. Kudos to Motorola and Intel for keeping the ROM almost entirely clean of custom crap! Seriously, there's like, one or two Motorola-specific apps, everything else is plain vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich. And those apps are awesome - the office suite, which allows me to view documents (didn't try editing yet) and PDF's out of the box, and the "Smart Actions" thing, which is a lot like "Easy Profiles" i used on my Galaxy S, but without the hassle.

Aesthetically, this phone is marvelous. Kevlar and Gorilla Glass rule. The battery isn't changeable without unscrewing it, but the screws are there, so it's not a monolithic piece. The screen is SuperAMOLED, it's big and comfortable to use, the Android buttons are all software, with hardware buttons only on the sides (power, volume and a hardware photo button). The phone feels great - nothing cheap about it at all. Frankly, with almost vanilla ICS, fast Intel Atom, great looks and great display, this is quite literally the best phone i have ever held in my hands. Even if i will never get any updates for it, i don't care. It's that good. Great work Motorola, great work, Intel.