Motorola's Atrix 4G phone impressive, but laptop dock isn't
Motorola's Atrix 4G phone impressive, but laptop dock isn't
The Motorola Atrix 4G, one of the year's most anticipated gadget releases, is an impressive smartphone.
But the attention-grabbing feature a laptop shell accessory that turns the phone into a bare-bones netbook misses the mark.Equipped with a 1-gigahertz dual-core processor, the Atrix is easily the fastest and smoothest-running smartphone I've used, a lineup that includes the Motorola Droid X, HTC Evo and Apple iPhone 3 and 4. The "dual-core" chip essentially gives the device twice as much processing power to open and run applications as the single- core processors found in other smartphones.
The Atrix also isn't bulky, a growing issue with the latest smartphones, many of which come with 4.3-inch displays. The Atrix has a 4-inch touchscreen, which I believe will be the sweet spot because of the growing popularity of the iPad and other tablets that fill the void between the smartphone and laptop. The next release of the iPhone is rumored to come with a 4-inch screen. The iPhone 4 has a 3.5-inch display.
The Atrix features rear- and front-facing cameras, runs on Android 2.2 and is tied to AT&T service. As I've written previously, AT&T's existing 4G service is actually upgraded 3G. That means the Atrix's Internet speeds aren't as fast as Sprint's and Verizon's 4G. AT&T plans to launch 4G LTE service similar to Verizon's within the next few months.
The most disappointing aspect of the Atrix is the laptop dock, which costs $300 when purchased with the phone ($500 on its own). The phone plugs into the back of the dock, which is a laptop shell that features an 11.6" screen and full-size keyboard. The shell has its own motorola battery, but everything you see on the screen is coming from the phone.
There simply doesn't appear to be enough processing power and memory (1 gigabyte of RAM) in the phone for it to also serve as the brains of a laptop. I took the dock on a recent business trip, and while it sufficed for Web browsing and minimal note-taking, I found myself wishing I had my MacBook. Everything just loads slower when the Atrix is used as a laptop, and the features are fairly limited.I can recommend Atrix but not the "lapdock" at this point. The dock is cool, but it either needs a big price drop (to $100) or to be coupled with a more powerful phone to warrant a purchase.
The Atrix sells for $200 with a two-year AT&T contract.
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