Over in the US, the first Motorola Atrix review posts have started popping up online – as you’d expect for a phone set to go on sale in just four days’ time. But with the Motorola Atrix also headed to Orange in the UK later this year, we though we’d bring you a taste of what to expect from this jumbo phone and its curious laptop accessory. Read on for the experts’ views in our Motorola Atrix review roundup.
Design and build
American reviewers were unanimous in their view that this was probably the weakest aspect of the device, with the plastic finish of the Motorola Atrix only pleasing, not wowing. At 4-inches and 117.8×63.5×101.mm, it’s a fairly standard size for a modern smartphone.
Most positive of the reviewers was Engadget‘s Joshua Topolsky, who said that “the body of the phone is largely plastic, but don’t let that bother you too much — it’s put together so solidly that it feels like a much pricier material.”
From our own hands on time with the Motorola Atrix, we’d have to say that the best we could describe it as is “inoffensive”. But then maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Also worthy of note is the unusual fingerprint scanner on the front: however Topolsky found that “in practice it’s a little frustrating” – better to stick to the pin lock Android 2.2 offers instead for security, we reckon.
Screen
As the first Android phone to move up from WVGA 800/854×480 resolutions, the Motorola Atrix has caused both excitement and trepidation. Will Android apps work fine? Do they look good? You’ll be pleased to hear that the Motorola Atrix’s 960×540 capacitive screen stunned reviewers.
“The 960-by-540 screen is truly beautiful; it’s sharper than any other you’ll find on a phone, with the exception of Apple’s 960-by-640 Retina Display on the iPhone 4. Colors look rich both indoors and out. This isn’t a standard Android resolution, but in my tests, I didn’t see any problems with third-party Android apps,” said PCMag‘s Sascha Segan.
Android 2.2 and performance
It should come as no surprise that the Nvidia Tegra 2 system on a chip inside blew away the competition, courtesy of its humming dual core 1GHz processors. “To put it simply, this is one of the fastest (if not the fastest) Android phones we’ve ever used.” Engadget said. “CPU and memory access benchmarks ran faster than any other phone I’ve seen…This processor is wicked, and can take anything Android can throw at it.,” said Segan.
Reviewers too enjoyed Android 2.2 running atop it – even though a newer build, Android 2.3 is now available to manufacturers, and even despite Motorola’s much maligned “Motoblur” software skin, which attempts to pull together your Facebook and Twitter feeds in a way that Android does now natively anyway.
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CNET‘s Bonnie Cha writes: “Though we weren’t huge fans of Motorola’s custom user interface when it first launched, the company has toned down the UI quite a bit and enhanced the customization abilities, so that it’s much more useful and reduces the information overload aspect of the previous version.”
Android veterans will be pleased to know however that this laggy launcher can be easily removed with a quick download of the free LauncherPro app from the Android Market – more of an issue is Motorola’s attitude towards Android updates in Europe, and we’ll have more on that for you in our own Motorola Atrix review in due course.
Laptop and HDMI dock accessories
Here’s where the reviewers were split: the Motorola Atrix boasts some impressive optional accessories, a laptop dock and a HDMI dock. When plugged in, both fire up a linux-based OS, showing Android apps from the phone within a scalable Window and letting you browse the web with a desktop Firefox browser.
Engadget, while taken with the netbook-ish laptop dock’s looks and keyboard, wasn’t impressed. “In all, the software story in the Webtop environment is not all that pleasant. It’s a sluggish, somewhat sloppy experience,” wrote Topolsky.
PCMag enjoyed it however: “Firefox works just fine…There’s all sorts of smart integration, though: you can click on phone numbers in Firefox to dial them with the docked Atrix, and if Firefox tries to download an Android app, it installs it on the Android side. That’s nice.”
But for the $500 (£310) pricetag, Segan preferred getting the same experience on the cheaper HDMI dock – which you can plug a keyboard and mouse into. “This makes the Atrix a viable extra home PC. Typing on a full, USB keyboard is a breeze,” he wrote.
Call quality and battery life
While we’ve bemoaned the fact that certain manufacturers are putting smaller capacity batteries in their high end smartphones (We mean you, HTC), Motorola has gone the other way and stuffed a massive 1930mAh juicer inside the Motorola Atrix. And it’s paid off, matching the power hungry needs of the Tegra 2 hardware and massive, sharp screen.
“On the battery side, the Atrix 4G packs an impressive [battery], and even though Android is data intensive, we found ourselves squeezing more than 24 hours out of the device on a single charge with fairly heavy use,” said Engadget.
The call quality, something Motorola is known for, was also up to par with Moto’s own Milestone 2: “Not only is the earpiece on this phone loud and exceptionally clear, but the speaker on the back delivers crisp, full-bodied audio when listening to music or on a speakerphone call,” thought Engadget.
Verdict
PCMag and Engadget were in agreement that the Motorola Atrix is quite simply one of the very best, and certainly most powerful Android phones yet.
Engadget dubbed it “awesome”, while Segan said that “even without turning into a desktop or laptop, the Atrix is a top-of-the-line smartphone for the techno-elite.”
CNET weren’t so keen, only giving it 4/5, but rest assured, we’ll let you know which way we sit in a Motorola Atrix UK review in the coming months.
