Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone (AT&T)
by Motorola.
This review is from: Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)
When I first saw the Atrix, I was mesmerized and had to wait a few months to get my hands on the phone. The specs of the Atrix is awesome and I have hope that the phone will live up to the promise that has been made. I have never used an Android phone before this one, but have used the Iphone since it came out and have the Iphone 4. I have used the Palm III, treo, BlackBerry ect... you get the point.
What comes with the phone? You get the phone, USB cord, A wall plug and the HDMI cable, instruction manual and battery. Everything one need to step off into the Atrix Android world.
One thing the iPhone user will notice that the Android software is more difficult to use. It may take a few hours just to get the basics down, but after the few hours a whole new world starts to open up. Unlike the Iphone who's software is easy to operate, the more you learn about Android, the more powerful the phone becomes.
Just a quick comparison Iphone 4 VS Atrix, the Iphone 4 display is way clearer and the screen is a little more responsive. The Artix has a user replaceable battery and the phone can be taken a part and fix for a lot less money than the Iphone. Now, I have never tried to take apart either phone, but the instructions and professional review of the taken down is on line.
One thing I would like to say is that the finger print reader works very well.
The world of Apps...
In Apps, Apple wins. Not much else to say there. The Apps that I use mostly are iHeart Radio (does not work on Atrix), Scrabble (Not found on Android store), Farkle (Android has but quality is lacking), Bloomberg and Fox News.
Wall Paper...
Android leaves Apple in the dust. The active wall paper cannot be beat by apple, you can have multiple home screens with live wall paper. I love knowing the time, temperature and forcast. If you are like me, the Android system, cannot be beat.
Ease of use...
Apple is a lot simpler to use. Just like pen and paper is easy, but if you are in the computer world, than a pen and paper just won't due, and this is where the Android system comes in. I cannot honestly say which system is best, Android or IOS. If you want simple, but lacking power, Iphone is the way. If you are a person who likes to play, Android is the choice.
Display:
The display is bright and colorful, but the diplay is not nearly as nice as the iPhone 4. The lack luster display is noticed especially noticed when reading texts and PDFs.
Camera and Flash:
The camera takes pretty good pictures. The LED flash works really good. I was able to take a picture in a nearly dark room and the subject came out clear and in focus. The LED flash filled the entire room. As a side note, there is a forward facing camera. I have not used and more than likely won't.
Speaker:
Very loud and clear when using to make calls, talk radio and listening to music. It is a small speaker so you will not get a lot (if any) bass from this little speaker.
Operating System:
I have never used Android before, so I have ability to describe between the Android, the Moto Blur, and if ATT messed it up I can't tell. The user of the Atrix must use the one app store that ATT backs, and the icon for the store comes preloaded. It would be nice to have more access to more stores, like Amazon, but if you get this phone, you are going to be stuck. The few apps that I have downloaded all seem to work fine and most of them were free. It would be nice it ATT did not pull the apple store garbage with this phone though.
The Atrix comes loaded with lots of software, commonly known as bloatware, but you get a lot of it. The software that runs on the computer is called "Motorola Media Link", this is kind of like "iTunes" in the sense that the Media Link software is a way for your computer to communicate with the Atrix. This nifty program will take you itunes music (Not DRM protected) and place the music on your new phone. You can also transfer your pod casts too. The Media Link is automatic and does not need to be messed with. I had no problems with the installation or use of the software. The Software is stored on your phone and will try to load on any computer that the Atrix is hooked up to.
Some of the really things about the Atrix that I like is the Micro SD slot (32BG max) for added memory and the user can remove the battery without having to go find apple support. I was also able to keep my unlimited data package, although a lot of AT&T customers have not been so lucky. AT&T also offers their $5.00/ month warranty on the phone as compared to the Iphone, and you do not have to hook the phone up to a computer the first time you use it. You do need to sign up for a MOTO account, nut it only takes a few seconds and you are able to use you new cell phone.
Things I do not like. I do not like the feel of the phone. My Iphone 4 feels better constructed and feels like it will not easily slip out of my hands, unlike the Atrix. I have not yet dropped the phone. The battery seems to take a long while to receive a charge too.
Big minus for the phone is the Lap top that you can purchase with the phone. I cannot see why I should spend 400.00 for the "dock" that is nothing but an empty screen. And then you have to pay ATT and extra ten per month for "tethering" the dock that is nothing but a screen to you phone. The price is too high for the extra ten you have to pay per month. You can can a netbook that has more power and does more things for the same price.
Why did I give the Atrix only 4 stars? The Atrix is a good phone, but the lack luster construction of the phone and the steep learning curve do not make up for the other great features that the phone has to offer.
Update: 02/28/2011:
I have now used the Atrix for a few days so it was prudent to give an update.
Battery life:
The battery life is not to great. After getting the battery at 100%, I then took the Atrix to chuch where I used Bible Reader app as my bible. At the end of Sunday school and main service, the phone was down to 60%, after the evening service, the phone was down to 10%. Lack luster battery life is normal. The Iphones have poor battery life, and the Atrix bettery life is even shorter. There is a lot of heat build up during use and when charging. The phone charges slowly when charging from a computer USB with the display off, and does not charge at all it seems with the diplay on. I purchased a Micro USB car charger and it works wonderfully.
GPS Function:
I do not use the AT&T navigation, but the "Navigation" function that comes with the phone. The Android device does a wonderful with the GPS. Apple's GPS function and mapping capabilty always made the Apple Iphone a lst choice in trying to use as a GPS. The Android does a very good job with GPS, it is not on the level with a stand alone Garmen, but I do use a GPS alot to find customer houses and I would not hesitate to use the Atrix as my main GPS device. The GPS also has an option to use voice for the inputing of an address. It does work faily well, but the voice input for a destination (restraunt name)does not work as well.
When traveling to your destination, you can turn the screen of the GPS off and you will still get voice commands. If you are using the media player function through your cars stereo system, the music will mute and the directs will come through your car speakers.
DLNA Services
If you are like me, you have tons of videos sitting on your hard drive or network attached storage. The Atrix will find the media and play the media. I was able to stream several videos of differing formats with no problems at all. Honestly, I really do not think you will be uising the device as a 3" television set, but it does work. Apple does the same thing, but you must have iTunes and/or AppleTV.
A nifty little function that I have notice after owning the phone for several weeks, the DLNA service will try and link to your home media server where you are within the range of your "in house" network..
Ring Tones:
You can use and song or sound loaded on your phone as a ringtone. Easy to use, and it is free.
Update 3/9/2011
Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone
I tried to get Netflix on the phone and much to my surprise, Netflix does not have an App for the Android devices yet. So as an Atrix user, I am stuck paying an extra ten dollars to AT&T for their TV service. According to sources on the internet, Android will have an App adventually but it will be a marketed to new phones. You will see the phones labeled as "Nextflix compatable". Bummer
Update 03/16/2011
Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone.
Phone is still owrking great. Had to turn the phone off and then back on yesterday. For some reason the phone would not update web based apps like stock market, bloomberg and weather. Turning the phone on and off solved the problem. I also purchased the otterbox defender for the Atrix... sweet phone case.
The Atrix does appear to have better reception when placing calls. i could not make a phone call at my work using the Iphone 4 but no problems with the Atrix.
Update 3/23/2011
Took the phone on a trip of several hundred miles to see how the GPS would function, the phone did a great job. The phone did stop responding when trying to accomplish several tasks quickly. I was not able to turn the phone off to reset the phone. I actually had to take the battery out. You can look at that problem as a possitive and negative. The battery had to be removed to reset the phone, but at least the battery is user accessible unlike the iPhone...
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