Newsletter
The Motorola Atrix 4G is the most powerful smartphone in the market bar none and it will be available March 6th. Review units have finally began to arrive in all of their glory along with the laptop dock, HD multimedia dock, and Bluetooth keyboard so they can be fully tested and explored. The initial impressions of the phone are impressive, it has the typical high quality Motorola build quality and a beautiful 960 x 540 qHD 4-inch display. As shown above the boot screen immediately lets you know this is a beast of the dual core nature running Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor at 1Ghz.
Hardware
To start the phone features a new power button finger print scanner that powers and unlocks the device. If ever needed you can also use a chosen pin to unlock the phone. The Atrix shoots 720p HD video, has a full 1 Gb of memory so it can power the laptop dock and browser, to go along with a front facing camera for video calls. It features four touch sensitive control buttons along bottom an HDMI port, and additional noise cancelling microphones. Additionally it comes with 16Gb of onboard memory with the option of adding up to a 32Gb SDcard.
All of its hardware from its qHD display to the Tegra 2 processor are the best available on any Android phone currently. The Atrix will have no problem handling anything you throw its way. This great feature set comes in an attractive package with carbon fiber like backing for the slim 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.43 inches and lightweight 4.76 ounce superphone.
MOTOBLUR UI
Currently the Atrix is running Android 2.2.1 Froyo and will be upgraded to Gingerbread (2.3/2.4) some time in Q2. The MOTOBLUR UI has been loved and hated by many in the past though it has seen many improvements from its annoying original version and is enjoyable for the most part on the Atrix.
The UI has gotten even less noticeable and runs smooth and seamlessly the majority of the time. This is in part do the the tremendous power behind the device and to the credit of Motorola for listening to many of the complaints in previous versions of their skin.
Speaker/Calls
Call quality on this phone is excellent. Noise cancellation performed well and the speaker volume was loud and crisp. It uses the Motorola dialer which conveniently places your last call right above the number pad. Speaker phone also performed well along with music playback coming it at a reasonably loud volume with low distortion. All typical Motorola quality items.
Battery
The battery life on the Atrix is inline with other high-end Android phones and should be adequate for all but the heaviest of users, who may need to think about an extended battery. Under normal conditions you should make it through the day with a complete charging at night.
Laptop Dock
This is the feature that sets the Atrix above and beyone any other smartphone in the market today. The ability to use your phone as a computer when connected to the 11.6-inch screen laptop dock is an interesting proposition, while being another option if tablets just aren’t your thing. It features its own seperate battery and can charge your phone while in use.
Motorola has implemented there on OS version that is in use when connected to the dock. It gives you a display of your phone with all of its abilities on screen. So if you ever recieve a text or need to access an app from your phone you can do it directly using your keyboard and mouse.
There is also an integrated full featured Mozilla FireFox browser to explore the web in any way you see fit. You can use Quick Office, Google Docs, or any other web based word processor to get work done all powered through your phone. This is just the beggining of this new technology and more advancements should continue to roll out.
Multimedia Dock
The HD multimedia dock allows you to connect your phone to any HDMI supported t.v. along with the ability to plug in the mouse and bluetooth keyboard accessories. It can take care of the normal task of displaying your photos and videos that you have personally recorded onto the device. While also playing any content you have downloaded to your phone as well.
Wrap-Up
The Motorola Artrix 4G is the most powerful smartphone on the market and it delivers the experience that you would expect with such great hardware and numberous software customizations. The docks can be purchased as a bundle or later separately if you wish at a premium.
Motorola went in a new direction with this device and while it may not be suitable for all, it definitely brings something new to table.