Motorola aims to launch 2GHz smartphone by Christmas

Christmas presents under tree

Motorola is planning to launch an Android-powered "superphone" by the end of the year that will be twice as powerful as anything currently on the market.

Current top-end smartphones, including the newly launched iPhone 4, use 1GHz processors, but the new Motorola device will feature a 2GHz chip inside, creating the potential for a far wider range of applications than is currently possible.

According to news site Conceivably Tech, the ultra-powerful device was mentioned in remarks made by Motorola's chief executive Sanjay Jha at a conference in Chicago last week. According to Jha, the extra power would really set the smartphone free in the mobile business arena and he also predicted that businesses would soon be providing employees with high-end smartphones rather than notebooks.

Together with much faster access to information, a 2GHz smartphone would also offer massively improved multitasking of business applications, such as video conferencing tools and desktop utilities.

Jha wasn't saying much more about the device, but if existing rumours are true, it's likely to come with Nvidia Tegra graphics, Flash 10.1 hardware acceleration, 720p video output and a high-definition display.

It will also most likely feature the forthcoming Android 2.2 operating system, which contains business-focused features such as auto-account discovery and calendar sync for Exchange, as well as security touches such as minimum password settings and lock-screen timeout.

While Jha himself refused to discuss details, an unnamed employee was quoted as saying it will "incorporate everything that is technologically possible in a smart phone today".

As for the processor itself, at this stage it doesn't seem to exist certainly none of the major chip makers have anything nearly that powerful. Just last month, Qualcomm said it would be rolling out new more powerful mobile processors in the next few months, but at 1.2GHz and 1.5GHz they fall well short of what Motorola is believed to be claiming.