The Motorola ATRIX 4G used to hold the title as the world’s most powerful phone. That was until the Samsung Galaxy S II came took the throne. Even though the ATRIX is no longer the most powerful phone on the market it is still by far one of the best and the only phone we can think of that poses serious competition is the previously mentioned Samsung Galaxy S II.
That said, while the Galaxy S II is a formidable opponent, the ATRIX 4G has something up its sleeves that the Galaxy S II is yet to match, the ability to power a netbook. So how does it perform? Read on to find out all the details of this PC powered smartphone in our Motorola Atrix Review.
Pricing
Motorola Atrix 4G
- This is an all in one powerful device
- PC Power from Your Smartphone
- Android Operating System
Starting at Only $24.99
Motorola Atrix 4G
- 5 megapixel camera
- Designed for productivity in all areas
- Tons oc connectivity options
Starting at Only $99.99
Specifications of the Motorola Atrix 4G:
- General:
- AT&T 4G HSPA+ service with 4G LTE on the way
- Ships with Android 2.2 (Froyo) Operating System however 2.3 Gingerbread update is available
- 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor
- 16 GB internal memory and memory expansion via microSD card slot up to 32 GB
- Enhanced MotorBLUR User Interface provides advanced social networking features
- Fingerprint sensor for enhanced security
- Text to speech capabilities
- Display:
- 4 inch qHD capacitive touchscreen
- Versatile music and video playback with MP3, WMA9, and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, MPEG4, and H.264
- Virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype technology
- Accelerometer plus proximity and ambient light sensors
- DLNA capable enables sharing videos and movies wirelessly with a compatible HDTV or other DLNA device
- Pre-loaded Blockbuster Mobile App for full length movies same day as DVD release
- Camera:
- Rear facing 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and auto focus
- Face detection and geo-tagging
- Front facing camera for video chatting
- Captures full HD 720p video
- Micro USB 2.0 port
- Communications and Internet:
- HTML browser support as well as full Flash support
- Pre-loaded Google Mobile services
- Onboard GPS for navigation
- Wireless-N WiFi and 4G Mobile Hotspot capable
- User friendly Bluetooth connectivity
Design & Features
The specifications of the ATRIX 4G read like the dreams of a computer nerd. At the heart of the ATRIX is a dual-core Tegra 2 ATOM processor that has a clock speed of 1GHz. There is another 1GHz of TAM and support is included for 3D graphics hardware acceleration. Internal memory is 16GB and the microSD or microSDHC slot supports cards up to 32GB in size.
The screen is no less of a champion as well. At 4-inches it is not the biggest display, but it’s 540 x 960 pixel qHD display panel is something to be reckoned with. Yes it is capacitive and there are multi-touch, light and proximity sensors as well as Gorilla Glass technology to protect against scratches.
Rounding out the features is Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 5-megapixel camera that has dual LED flashes, auto focus, geo tagging and will record 720p HD clips at 30fps. The front facing camera is a 0.3 VGA camera that is suitable for video calling.
Connectivity includes Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, WiFi 802.11n, microUSB, 3.5mm headphone hack, HDMI v1.3 out, DLNA and A-GPS. Cellular network is GSM, UMTS and HSPA on the 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 as well as 2100 bands. EDGE data as well as HSDPA 14.4Mbps is supported with HSUPA 2.0Mbps rounding up the spec sheet.
The Atrix 4G comes with an impressive ecosystem 
of Motorola ‘smart’ accessories that transforms it into a laptop, pc desktop, home theater, or portable GPS devices. These accessories include the Motorola Laptop Dock which combines with the Motorola webtop application for a true laptop experience complete with full Firefox browser and more! Other accessories include Motorola HD Multimedia dock, the Motorola Entertainment Center, and the Motorola Vehicle dock.
Last but not least, Motorola claims a full 9 hours of battery life on 3G talk time and up to 250 hours of standby time, more about that later.
Performance
We were amazed with the performance of the ATRIX 4G. There was hardly a program or task we threw at it that it didn’t perform madly impressive on. The only hiccup we encountered was with the playback of Flash content at 1080p. If you are playing back Adobe Flash content, you might want to keep it within the 720p range. However, the loading of webpages was fast and scrolling is only rivaled by that of the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4.
The same can be said of the camera. We were once again impressed by the shots we were able to take with the 5 megapixel sensor. It’s understandable that 8 megapixels would have been nice instead of a 5 megapixel sensor, but Motorola did not disappoint with the camera so we can forgive their use of a smaller CMOS. As for video recording, it was good. Not exceptional but good none the less. We would have wished they would have given full 1080p video shooting capabilities but once again, we wouldn’t make a big deal about it.
Motorola claims that one should be able to get a full 9 hours of battery life out of the ATRIX 4G. They are not lying. In our tests, we recorded a 8 hours and 35 minutes of usage with 3G on. That included video playback, talking, texting and web surfing which we might add is way more intensive than sitting on a phone talking all day.
Conclusion:
Is the ATRIX 4G a good phone? No! It is a great phone! In fact, this is one of the best phones we have ever used and Motorola should be proud of their accomplishment. No doubt you will be proud of your purchase and with few phones able to compete with the ATRIX 4G, it is in a class by itself. If only Motorola had left off motoBLUR, we would have almost no problem with this. Thankfully, Android allows you to change your skin so that is a plus.
