Review: Motorola Atrix 2 Offers Same Performance As Original At A Better Price

Name: Motorola Atrix 2

Carrier: ATT

Price: $100 (w/ two-year contract)

The Back Story:  Back in March, we got a hands on the Motorola Atrix 4G, and like each other reviewer, we crowned it a fastest and many absolute Android handset on a market. The initial dual-core smartphone not usually delivered ridiculously quick estimate speeds, though it did something no other smartphone has ever done: double as a mobile laptop interjection to Motorola’s netbook-like accessory, a Lapdock. Six months later, a now Google-owned handset maker has developed and constructed some-more winning phones like the Droid Bionic which is now duking it out with a HTC Rezound for a many absolute smartphone honor. With a holiday deteriorate quick approaching, Motorola looks to keep a pretension during home by introducing the follow-up to a ATT powerhouse: a Atrix 2.

Donning a incomparable form factor, matching estimate power, improved 4G speeds, and an measureless appendage line-up: Can a supplement dwarf a strange and take out a competition? Or will a phone’s incremental upgrades leave it descending brief of a throne?

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• Best ATT understanding in town: You competence remember the Atrix 4G and a concomitant laptop wharf regulating for scarcely $800 when it launched progressing this year. It’s protected to contend Motorola schooled from a selling mishaps, as it totally repelled a mobile universe by slapping a unbeatable cost tab of a singular Benjamin onto a inheritor of a many cherished handset. The beauty of it all is that consumers can hook on a few accessories with their squeeze and a sum will still volume to reduction than a strange Atrix 4G bundle.

• Larger, stunning display and absolute camera: Motorola welcomes a bigger and brighter shade by plastering a 4.3-inch qHD arrangement onto a Atrix 2—resulting in improved pixel density, colorful images, and crook resolution. Websites and 2D games demeanour great, while print galleries gleam on a clear screen. Speaking of photos, a Atrix 2 boasts a new 8MP camera that captures high-quality images and annals 1080p HD videos. Up-close shots and film clips develop in frail detailing, and a additional sharpened modes taken from a Droid Bionic such as Panorama Mode totally raise a photog experience.

• Improved network coverage and battery life: Though we would of desired to see a handset run on ATT’s LTE network, subscribers are stranded regulating a carrier’s HSPA+ network for now. Fortunately, Ma Bell has upgraded a 4G tie on a comparison network that now pushes download speeds of adult to 10Mbps and 1.7Mbps for uploads. Wireless coverage was spot-on via many of a Tri-State area, too. Another mentionable walk comes from a phone’s appetite endurance, squeezing a good 8 to 10 hours from a 1785 mAh li-tion polymer energizer during a full workday—two hours some-more than the Atrix 4G.  And for good measure, Moto enclosed appetite government apps and options to safety juice.

• Upgraded UI and special features: Mobile critics aren’t too lustful of Moto’s revitalized interface, though we’ve schooled to accept MOTOBLUR the manufacturer’s UI and a latest additions. The phone’s coolest duty is a in-pocket showing system, that automatically thatch a phone once intuiting it’s in your pocket. Moto also took a autocracy of including craving facilities like On Device Encryption and Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync. Aside from a customary Google and ATT bloatware, users can take advantage of a ZumoCast app: an disdainful Moto cloud-based use that provides entrance to media files on your desktop.

• Huge appendage collection: The Atrix 4G was a initial Android phone to unequivocally welcome absolute add-ons with a Lapdock and HD Dock. This time around, Motorola is bringing a newer chronicle of a flagship appendage to a marketplace and giving it a sleeker and lighter look. Tagged as a Lapdock 100, this extended indication weighs in during 2.2 pounds, sports a smaller 10.1-inch screen, supports two-finger scrolling, and is pronounced  to be concordant with destiny handsets. The association is charity a same accessories apartment as a Droid Bionic: including a concept unstable charger, HD station, car navigation dock, a accumulation of Bluetooth headsets and speakerphones, and most more. Check out a Atrix 2’s full accessories choice over during Motorola’s website.

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• Buggy program and camera stutter: The browser and Google-based apps crashed during some critical multitasking, and a practical keyboard wasn’t as manageable to a submit commands as other Motorola handsets. In addition, a webdock UI seemed indolent during times. The camera’s automobile concentration also lagged, holding dual to 3 seconds to aim objects before gnawing images.

• CPU performance: NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 CPU was deliberate a cream of a stand in processor appetite when spotlighted in a Atrix 4G. Yet instead of upgrading to a 1.2 or 1.5GHz dual-core, Moto staid for a 1GHz TI OMAP 4430 chip, that produces near-identical speed and appetite benchmarks as a strange handset. In other words, don’t pattern most of a boost in processor efficiency. 

• Low on memory: The Atrix 4G packed on 16GB of inner memory, where as a supporter comes with half a volume and leaves usually 4.4GB adult for use. You’ll find a pre-installed 2GB microSD underneath a hood, though that doesn’t leave most space for media storage. Expect to deposit in a bigger memory card.

Final Say: Simply put, a Motorola Atrix 2 is ATT’s best deal. An extraordinary screen, improved network coverage, good battery life, and a latest Gingerbread and UI updates for usually $100? It’s a no-brainer for subscribers in hunt of a cost-efficient and energetic Android handset. But is a phone a outrageous ascent from a initial model? Not quite. In fact, some competence disagree it’s zero some-more than the Atrix 4G with a new pattern and teenager tweaks. On tip of that, it’s apparent because Motorola neglected a some-more absolute dual-core or bigger memory: to accommodate a unbeatable cost tag. That choice, however, places a Atrix 2 next heavyweights such as the Droid Bionic and a arriving Ice Cream Sandwich-ready, Galaxy Nexus. Still, consumers are removing a heavy-duty smartphone that’s some-more modernized than a infancy of a Android inclination on a marketplace during an implausible price.

Tags: motorola, atrix-2, 4g, smartphones, at-t, android, dual-core