Jan 29
2011
Motorola Atrix
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This 4g phone has more interesting features than I’ve ever known a phone to have. Not only is it an amazing android 2.3 phone with *very* impressive specifications (including a dual-core tegra2 dual core cortex a9 processor (basically 2 iphone 4’s on a chip), up to 14.4Mbps 4g network service (assuming you have 4g in the area), 1gb ram (a ton for a smartphone), 16gb internal memory (plus a microsd card slot) 4″ qHD display, 5mp/1080p full hd rear camera, vga front camera for video calls, fingerprint scanner, and a sizable 1930mah battery). But incredibly impressive specifications aside, the awesome doesn’t stop here… (please read on) |
| Not only can we use this device as an *amazing* smartphone for the pocket, at launch, there will be a smart dock available that allows you to plug a keyboard, mouse, monitor into it and suddenly it becomes a net top desktop with Firefox, and quite a few other apps (including any normal android app). |
| This same accessory can also be used to power a multimedia user interface enabling you to plug the dock into an HDMI port on any tv set and enjoy hardware accelerated 1080p video playback of media that you have stored on the phone. The dock even comes with an infrared remote that can control a “lean back” “10 foot” GUI from the couch. |
| But wait there’s more! There will be another accessory available which is the Motorola Atrix Notebook Dock. which is basically a notebook-looking device that allows you to basically turn the smartphone into an ultra mobile net book with it’s own battery driving a display keyboard and track pad in a very portable package. The phone charges while it’s docked in either the net top or net book style dock so if you care to use it that way, your phone is always being topped off. |
| The only drawbacks that I’m seeing at all with these docks are that though the architecture provides plenty of power for minor web-surfing, video playback, or use of any of the android mobile apps, it really isn’t useful for more power-hungry apps like photo / video editing, and also I would have very much liked to have seen a camera in the notebook dock for Skype calls or taking video notes. I’m also curious exactly how much heat is generated and how much battery life we’ll see out of such a device. Preliminary specifications from Motorola state a 9 hour talk time on 3g with a 250 hour standby time, which sounds rather impressive for that kind of hardware, but i’ll believe it when I see it… |
| Personally, I’m not entirely convinced yet that I would purchase one of these over a next-gen iPhone (yes I’m personally a bit of an iPhone fan boy as I love their OS and the applications that are available on that platform), but I just can’t ignore the *huge* innovation a platform like the Motorola Atrix brings to the table. Then again, who knows what apple has up it’s sleeve as well in these ever-changing times.
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| If you are interested in checking out additional information about this amazing device, Please check out the following:AT&T’s Motorola Atrix product pageMotorola’s Atrix product pageEngadget’s hands-on CES coverage of the Atrix– With a nice collection of photos, a video demonstration, and a pretty good article explaining features in more detailEngadget’s more in-depth CES video demonstration– Showing off some of the finer points and featuresGizmodo’s initial Atrix coverage
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And of course, last but not least – Motorola’s official Atrix Promo video: |
