Hands on: Motorola Razr i

The Motorola Razr i lands amidst a vicious battle between the likes of the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X and Nokia Lumia 920. Does its edge-to-edge display give it the edge in the smartphone arena? 

Design and build

Crafted from diamond cut aircraft-grade aluminium with the now-familiar Kevlar back, the Motorola Razr i is a pleasure to hold.

With a sleek design that tapers off towards the bottom, the Razr i feels sturdy in the hand and is built like a tank.

It's not a featherweight (thanks, no doubt to its impressive 2,000mAh battery) but it's a reassuring weight that tells you it can take a few hard knocks – and then some.

Screen

Moto's engineers have somehow managed to cram the same 4.3in display found in the Razr into a much smaller body, largely thanks to its edge-to-edge display which is a godsend for bezel haters.

Its screen produces the rich blacks we've come to know and love from Super AMOLED tech and its qHD 960x540 display serves up crisp images and video.

OS and power

The Razr i arrives running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, not Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (though an update is on the way) – but the real story here is in the silicon. Intel's Atom processor powers the whole show – making the Razr i the first smartphone to hit 2GHz.

We didn't see any problems flipping through Android apps and browsing, but a full review will really test Intel's chip once we put it through its multitasking paces.

Motorola's non-intrusive Android skin is nothing to complain about, with a few nice looking circular widgets, and its SmartActions feature is a handy way of automating the device depending on the situation you're in, from auto-silencing , disabling your notifications and creating your own rules depending on what you're doing.

Camera

The Motorola Razr i has an 8MP camera with a much-appreciated dedicated button, and the camera app springs instantly to life once it's pressed (even from standby). But starting up isn't the only thing this snapper does quickly – its burst mode can fire off 10-shots-per-second, which Motorola claims is faster than most DSLRs can handle.

After testing it out a few times it's safe to say that Intel's silicon can certainly pack a punch, as we captured a plethora of photos in less time than it'll take you to read this sentence.

The Razr i constantly prompted us to turn on HDR mode for better quality images, and in the dim red lighting of the event, we're glad we listened. Photos came out brighter and more vibrant, though we'll reserve our final judgement on the Razr i's image quality for our full review, when we'll be testing it in a variety of different lighting conditions.

First impressions

First impressions of the Motorola Razr i are positive. It's easy to forget that 4.3in screens are perfectly acceptable in a world dominated by ~5in behemoths, and Motorola has managed to cram a larger screen and impressive battery into a premium body that's very pocketable, and impeccably well-built.

This article originally appeared at Stuff.tv