Our Verdict
A lot of excitement beleaguer the Motorola Atrix at the Consumer Electronics show in January . It appeared to be not just another earpiece , but the groundwork of a new conception that might deliver the mobility of a smartphone and the superior usability of a laptop computer in a single product .
After using the Atrix itself for a daytime or so , I came away impressed with the earpiece — particularly the big businessman of its C.P.U. , the clarity of its display , its no - hard - edges design , and its compact shape . Frankly , it ’s a phone I would buy .
But I ’m giving abject marks to the Modern smartphone / laptop computer combo equipment that Motorola proposes with the Atrix . I like the thought of a close soldering of the two devices , but the execution in this instance is poor .
Still , the Atrix itself is a strong gain to AT&T ’s growing occupation up of Android telephone . The headphone is one of the first AT&T phones to be branded “ 4 G ” , and the connection upper I saw from the phone , while not quite 4G - like , were much fast than the 3 G speedswe’ve measured from the AT&T mesh in the past .
Design
The Atrix is surprisingly svelte at 0.4 inches thick . It is 2.5 inches wide and 4.6 inches tall , and weigh rough 4.8 ounces . The front of the sound features a 4 - inch qHD ( Quarter High Definition ) touchscreen presentation , with a set of physical push beneath the screen door for menu ( contextual ) , home , reappearance , and hunt . At the top are the proximity sensing element and the front - look photographic camera . On the right sharpness of the phone , you ’ll find only the mass cradle ; on the left bottom sharpness are the HDMI and USB porthole . A received 3.5 mm headphone jack occupy the top sharpness .
The Atrix is the first phone I ’ve seen that has a fingermark recognition domiciliation build into its back . As with many laptops , you may limit up the phone to stay on locked until it discern your alone fingermark slide . The surface also serves as an on / off and sleep / Wake Island release , if you pick out not to use the fingerprint recognition feature . Also on the back are a 5 - megapixel camera and flash , and a pocket-size verbaliser port at the bottom .
Docking and ‘Webtop’ Functions
Many people have it off the mobility of a smartphone but dislike the difficulty of performing of import project on such a pocket-size interface . cover this number , Motorola plan the Atrix to slue into a Motorola “ laptop wharfage , ” which is really just a shell containing a projection screen , a keyboard , speaker system , and a touchpad . you may not utilize the laptop computer unless the phone is docked in place . Part of the cause that the Atrix use a brawny treble - nucleus central processing unit is so that it can run full - sizing apps on the enlarged user environs of the laptop computer screenland .
When docked in its expansion slot at the ass of the laptop , the Atrix automatically found a Webtop app that offers a larger and more functional intro of its subject and features for the laptop ’s big silver screen . For case , it can run a full - sizing Mozilla Firefox web browser or display fat content like Flash graphics on the larger screen . Meanwhile , handily , the telephone set ’s battery gets a kick from the powered laptop computer .
you could apply the laptop to hold in various headphone function , as well . you could make call that automatically use the speakerphone function , for instance , and you could write and air schoolbook messages . The screen background app also provides an expansive substance abuser interface for wield task and reading and responding to tocopherol - mail .
Another appurtenance enables you to do all of these thing with your desktop estimator display and keyboard . The smaller “ multimedia system dock ” connects with your monitor and keyboard via the USB porthole on its back . you could secure the multimedia dock into your HDTV via an HDMI connection to play high - timber content from the earphone on the with child screen .
you could see a short video recording of the Atrix ’s docking functionshere .
All of this versatility sound good , but I was disappointed when I actually used the smartphone - powered laptop . The Webtop app loaded just as account after I commit the phone in the slot at the back of the machine . Unfortunately , I found navigating ( via the touchpad ) through the various windows and view on the Webtop user interface to be awkward and unwieldy . I had trouble locating and clicking icons and other controls cursorily and accurately .
The keys on the keyboard , while easier to use than the software keyboard in the phone , feel plasticky and not very solidly built . I had trouble stupefy my fingers to conform to the shape of the keyboard ; and when I did come up the right headstone , my fingertips often slide off the fluent fictile surface .
I also find the HSPA+ cellular connection to be too slow for the computer graphic rendering requirement of the turgid screen . When I hit the Facebook ikon at the bottom of the projection screen , a Firefox browser app launch and take me to the Facebook page , but entirely load up all of the computer graphic on the page took perhaps 10 seconds . It would have been faster to use the Facebook nomadic app on the phone .
In short , I credibly could n’t work with this Webtop surround on a day-to-day basis .
OS and user interface
The Atrix ship with Android 2.2 ( Froyo ) , not with the more recent Android 2.3 ( Gingerbread ) . So the phone does not patronise SIM vocation , near - field communications ( NFC ) for mobile payments , or the enhanced front - look camera engineering that Gingerbread offers . Still , Android incline on the dual - core processor is a very nice ( and antiphonal ) surroundings to work in .
you’re able to say a full review ofAndroid 2.2here .
Along with the standard Android apps , you get Vlingo ( which let you use representative command to control purpose of your headphone ) , inhabit TV via the AT&T U - verse roving app ( each channel is fee - based ) , and AT&T Navigator ( NavTeq , $ 9.99 per month )
The Atrix , like other Motorola smartphones , hasMotoblur societal media overlaysoftware run on top of Android . The software is meant to produce an neat presentation of your social medium feed ( such as Facebook updates and unexampled tweets ) , as well as your Gmail substance and middleman . This part of the interface was useful for observe me connected to and up - to - date with my circle of friends , and it was nonobtrusive to the of the essence functions in Android .
Voice calling
I was impressed with the mike , voice speaker , and voice computer software in the Atrix . I placed a call from a busy sidewalk at bang hour to a colleague using a demesne line inside the building , and she report that my vox was loud , clear , and full - corporal , with only the slightest tinge of background traffic noise . Motorola clearly put some money into using high - calibre microphones for the Atrix . I suspect that some high - quality noise cancellation software is at work inside the sound , too .
On our 2 - minute call , my colleague and I find none of the static , drop - out , or fade normally connect with a weak cellular phone - sound signaling .
Camera
The Atrix sports a 5 - megapixel camera with automatonlike focal point and an LED newsbreak . I was pleased with the tone of the photo I shot . The first thing I notice was the truth of the motorcar - focus : The photographic camera seemed to adjust chop-chop as I moved the lens system further off from or closer to my subject , accounting for and correcting my intentionally sloppy proficiency . I noticed no motion blur in the images , and the resulting photos seemed perfectly focused , with sharp colors .
The phone does n’t have a strong-arm button for snapping photos , but it does utilize the volume rocking chair clitoris as a zoom in / out controller , which seemed perfectly innate ( and rather clever ) to me .
I was similarly impressed with the 720P HD video I shoot with the sound . The telecasting look decipherable and smoother than video I ’ve seen shoot with some smartphones that have 8 - megapixel cameras , conduce me to believe that a powerful processor and a mellow - quality exhibit ( both present here ) are more important to proficient video than is the resolution of the crystalline lens .
I also like the way of life the computer software organize my photos . The telephone set displays images in a carousel ; to scroll through them , you just drag them to the remaining or right . Each image carry a lilliputian “ i ” in the bottom right box ; tap it , and all the information about the picture — location taken , time , resolution , data file size , tags , and so on — look on the screen . you may click the ‘ tatter ’ recording label to lend more shred to the image .
Performance
Working in tandem , the two 1GHz C.P.U. nitty-gritty can attain processing speeds of up to 2GHz . That extra power was plain as I used the phone . The Web browser app was very reactive to my movements and locomote through graphic - copious internet Sir Frederick Handley Page swimmingly and speedily . And when I used the earpiece to teem video recording via a libertine Wi - Fi connection , the picture ran smoothly at all times . I also noticed that I could establish new apps quickly , even when several others were already running .
Data speeds
The Atrix 4 G run on AT&T ’s 3 G HSPA+ internet . AT&T mark the meshing and relate devices “ 4 gramme ” because , the society says , the internet pump out “ 4G - similar ” speeding , include download hurrying of up to 6 mbps . With the FCC - approve Ookla tool install on the Atrix , I essay the meshing connection of the telephone set from several fix around San Francisco , and found the download speed were systematically in the locality of 2.7 mbps . Only in my trial at our offices south of Market Street were the readings lower , averaging around 1.7 mbps .
Upload speed up across all five of my testing location averaged 0.3 mbps ( 300 kbps ) , a very 3G - same result . Of even more concern were the latency times I saw . The Ookla instrument systematically measured about 300 milliseconds of internet response time — the time it guide for a packet to move from the gimmick to an online waiter . That ’s roughly six time the latency seen in Verizon ’s LTE connection and about a third higher than the response time in Sprint ’s WiMax connection . The gamey latency number combined with the second-rate upload speed could halter the smooth performance of apps like television chat and peregrine gambling .
Battery life
With all of the grievous lifting that the Atrix is designed to do ( shooting and playing gamy - definition video , fly the coop a full - size web internet browser on a large display , multitasking , and so on ) , it ’s a good matter that Motorola put in an extra large battery . The 1930 - mAh bombardment , Motorola says , is expert for 8.8 60 minutes of talk meter and 264 hr of standby time .
I did n’t have the time to perform a full barrage fire test , but I charged the phone to 50 percent of battery capacity when I get test the earphone 13.5 minute ago , and the battery is 30 percent charge now . Idle sentence answer for for 62 percentage of that usage , with the remainder ( rounded to the near percent point ) going to the cellular wireless while in standby mode ( 24 percent ) , the display ( 10 percent ) , voice calls ( 4 percent ) , and the Wi - Fi radio ( 2 percent ) .
From this selective information , I figure that the shelling in the Atrix would last for between 1.5 and 2 days of my normal custom , which consists of about 20 minute of arc of talk of the town time , 10 minutes of Web browse , no video viewing , and perhaps 15 minutes of atomic number 99 - mail work .
you’re able to preorder the Atrix 4 gravitational constant for $ 199 with a two - year AT&T service contract bridge start February 13 . A bundle of the Atrix 4 G and the laptop sorrel can be had for $ 500 , again with a two - year religious service declaration .
[ Mark Sullivan is a senior associate editor at PCWorld . ]
