When the Motorola Atrix 4G Android handset was announced earlier this year at CES 2011, Motorola promised that the versatile functionality of the handset was going to be a hallmark of smartphones in the future. Motorola designed a Lapdock feature which turns the Atrix into an 11.6 inch notebook, an HD Station which offers multimedia and basic desktop PC functionality, and a Vehicle Dock that allows for hands-free GPS directions and hands-free Google voice search in your vehicle. While Motorola’s prediction of this type of multi-functionality in smartphones did not come true, the second iteration of the Atrix, the Motorola Atrix 2, also adopts this versatile outlook.
New customers as well as individual and family account customers who are eligible for an upgrade can buy the Motorola Atrix 2 for only $49 with new two year contract.
Just as the original Atrix could port into the Lapdock accessory, the Atrix 2 can also become a bare-bones notebook or laptop. And the processor on the Atrix 2 is more powerful and quicker than that of the Atrix, and translates into a quicker performance on the Lapdock laptop. Weighing about half as much as a comparable laptop or notebook, the Lapdock is actually a keyboard and 11.6 inch screen that adds 8 hours of battery life to the Atrix 2.
The Atrix 2 simply snaps into the back left of the Lapdock, and then you open the top like a conventional laptop. Motorola’s web top application immediately powers up, and Atrix 2 users are presented with a full-fledged Mozilla Firefox web browser. A standard PC QWERTY keyboard familiar to any laptop owner allows for data input. Android’s 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is on board the Atrix 2, and the processor powering this handset is a dual core 1.0 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP4430 chip. A PowerVR SGX 540 graphics processor is on board, as is 1.0 GB of RAM memory.
At only $49 for most customers, the Motorola Atrix 2 is a solid buy and a workhorse to boot.
The handset itself has a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen, supports 16 million colors and offers 540 x 960 pixel resolution. A light sensor is built-in, and changes your display according to how much ambient light is present, and a proximity sensor allows for auto shut off when the device is not in use. The Motorola Atrix 2 is available exclusively on AT&T’s 4G mobile broadband network at a retail price of $49 with a two-year activation.
November 5, 2011 at 1:05 pm
The Motorola website says the new Lapdock 100 will have a 10.1 inch screen. Do you have the full specs on the lapdock compatible with the new Atirx2 phone yet?