Motorola Atrix 4G Review

Motorola is hitting the dual-core mobile world hard with the brand new Atrix 4G for AT&T. But, does the Atrix live up to the hype? We’ll soon find out as we dive into the full, exhaustive BriefMobile review of this ambitious device. We’ll be answering questions and ultimately deciding if this powerhouse is worth the price tag.

We’ve split the review process into a number of categories to clearly focus on each aspect of the device. You may scroll through the review continuously, or just skip right along to your desired section.

Feature Overview

• 4″ qHD display
  • TFT Capacitive touchscreen
  • 16 million colors
  • 540 x 960 pixel resolution
  • Gorilla Glass from Corning
• 1 GHz Dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2
• ULP GeForce GPU
• 1 GB RAM
• Android 2.2 Froyo (upgradeable to 2.3)
• 5 megapixel camera
  • 2592 x 1944 pixels
  • Auto-focus
  • LED flash
  • 720p video @30 fps
  • 1080p video (via update)
• Front-facing VGA camera
• Accelerometer
• Biometric fingerprint reader
• 16 GB on-board storage
• HDMI port
• GPS w/ A-GPS support
  • Digital compass
• Lithium 1930 mAh battery

Screen

The Motorola Atrix 4G features the first qHD display on an Android-powered smartphone. With a higher resolution, the Atrix screen offers a massive amount of extra screen real estate, which is very good for browsing the web or playing games. It’s a tough, competitive market for mobile device screens these days. The iPhone 4 has unmatched pixel density, while Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays feature incredible color quality and responsiveness. The qHD screen doesn’t beat the iPhone’s Retina Display or Samsung’s Super AMOLED. But, it is a beautiful screen nonetheless.

The sharpness of this screen is a little disappointing. With the higher resolution, we were hoping that text would look noticeably sharper. Instead, the PenTile Matrix display technology reduces screen quality across the board. Gradients look very choppy and blocky. Overall, the screen’s nothing to write home about when you’re placing it side by side with a Samsung Galaxy S or Apple iPhone 4. And, with the iPhone 5 as well as Galaxy S II coming this year, we’re afraid the qHD display will be ridiculously outdated within a short amount of time.

The screen may be one of the Atrix 4G’s best and worst features. If you want high-res… it’s awesome. If you’re looking for color quality, go elsewhere.

Speed

We expect this device to be fast. It is the very first dual-core smartphone for American buyers, and customers are eagerly awaiting a phone with no lag time, quick responsiveness, and unmatched power. But, is the Atrix 4G that phone?

In some ways, yes. The Motorola Atrix 4G offers unparalleled performance out of the box. For those used to earlier Android devices, you’ll see a markedly fast response time when opening and closing applications. That includes data-intensive applications like the Android Market. Games load quickly and play smoothly.

The Atrix 4G must be one of the fastest Android phones on the market. It feels a whole lot faster than the Galaxy S and much smoother than the Droid X or G2. Flash applications load noticeably faster, plus they scale better. We were able to navigate to The Daily Show‘s full episode website and watch the latest from Jon Stewart without stutter. We don’t think anyone will be disappointed with the speed of this device.

Fingerprint Sensor

Motorola’s slapped a whole new level of security on us with the Atrix 4G’s fingerprint scanner. Yes, biometric security on a phone is a little gimmicky. But, it’s actually a cool feature. Overall, it isn’t very useful, because it takes longer than swiping your finger across the screen. But, if you must have a password on your device, this is the way to go.

The sensor can detect both your left and right hands, so don’t worry about switching between to unlock the phone. Sometimes it takes two or three tries to scan properly. If you’ve ever tried a computer with a biometric fingerprint scanner, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

HDMI Output

With an NVIDIA Tegra 2 inside, this dual-core monster was able to power high-definition video playback on my 45″ HDTV. I’m proud of Motorola and AT&T for throwing a free HDMI adapter in the Atrix 4G’s box… I wouldn’t have expected that kind of generosity.

When you plug in your device to an HDMI interface, you’ll be prompted to open up Motorola’s Entertainment Center. I was disappointed that device mirroring was unavailable. I couldn’t simply play Angry Birds on the big display using the Atrix HDMI cable. But, the Entertainment Center is pretty handy. It’ll automatically detect your music, pictures, and videos and let you show them all on the big screen.

With an HDMI-out port and Tegra 2 inside, I was hoping to throw some of my ripped Blu-Ray movies on this device for HD playback elsewhere. But, the lack of codec support killed off any of my hopes for playing MKV files. Still, it supports XViD and DivX codecs. You’ll be able to rip your home DVD library and carry it anywhere, which is really nice.

Accessories

We’re going to leave out external Atrix 4G accessories, such as the laptop dock, because we feel the review should take a look at the phone itself. Make sure to check back at BriefMobile for more information on the Atrix 4G accessories!

Camera

The camera quality on the Motorola Atrix 4G was a lot lower than we’d hoped. Both the Apple iPhone 4 and the LG Optimus 2X outperform the Atrix 4G camera in photo and video quality. Pictures and video are decent, but we expected the camera to be a lot better with a super-high-end device.

On the front, the Atrix 4G features a nice video-calling camera. With a VGA resolution, our results were surprisingly good. Video chats on the Atrix look fairly crisp and clear.

Hardware Design

We’re impressed with Motorola’s design on this phone. The shape gives it a nicer in-hand feel than the Samsung Captivate or other big-screen devices. On the front, there’s pretty much only screen, which means the device is a whole lot shorter than the average big-screen phone. It’s also a hair shorter horizontally than the Captivate. It’s technically a bit thicker than the Galaxy S phones, but we found that it felt very thin. In fact, it’s hard to even see the difference in thickness between the Captivate and Atrix.

The capacitive buttons on the front work extremely well, and the Tegra 2 processor makes them extremely responsive.

If you’ve got your phone plugged in to the power outlet, it’s a bit of a pain to type on the software keyboard, because the plug goes into the bottom side of the device. That isn’t a huge deal, though.

The worst part of Motorola’s Atrix 4G is the power button, which was combined with the fingerprint scanner. It’s in an awkward position and it’s difficult to push. Instead of a protruding power button, the scanner/power button on the Atrix intrudes into the top back of the device, making it hard to press in a hurry. I’m sure users will get used to the on-off function on the Atrix, but they shouldn’t have to get used to it.

Battery

Battery life on the Motorola Atrix 4G is exceptional. With the massive 1930 mAh Lithium pack in the back of this device, it’s no wonder the battery lasts multiple days on a single charge. With very heavy usage, we were able to push this battery sixteen hours before shut down.

You won’t need to carry a charger with you to the office with the Atrix 4G.

Software & Motorola Blur

The Atrix 4G may come with Android 2.2.1 Froyo pre-installed. But, that doesn’t mean customers will be served a completely stock version of the OS. In fact, Motorola has skinned and themed Android 2.2.1 with their custom Moto Blur interface. At first glance, Motorola’s theme doesn’t look bad. But, the more I pieced through the skin, the more I asked myself, “why?”

Let’s start with the homescreen. With the Atrix 4G’s higher resolution, Motorola felt it was necessary to size down the homescreen so that objects fit in at their native resolution for an 800 x 480 phone. But, any widget I tried from an external developer was able to stretch just fine using a replacement launcher. It’s a little annoying to have this big border around your homescreen since it serves no purpose.

When you’re swiping through your various homescreen pages, a little transparent bar pops up to guide you through your screens. The problem with this guide bar is that it fails to go away fast enough, and it hides your Application Drawer button. This can get frustrating when you’re in a hurry.

Overall, I was unimpressed with the widgets provided by Motorola. While some are useful, they seemed out of place on the Android platform and unmatched with the cartoon-ish green and blue buttons on the bottom of the screen. The fonts are ugly, and the overall design is lacking. I wish they’d done a better job making these widgets a little sexier. When you’re dragging a shortcut or widget to another screen, the sides of the display are lit up with a white wall. I wonder how well Motorola is paying their graphic design team. Ug-ly stuff.

The lock-screen on the Atrix 4G looks like a standard Android lock-screen with a Blur skin. But, I’ve found the fade effect to be a little slower than the one on my Samsung Captivate. It’s just slow enough to annoy me every time I check my device.

Individual applications are mostly fine. I wasn’t super exited about the fonts used in the Blur applications from a design perspective. But, usability was okay. It’s difficult to figure out why Motorola felt the need to take out the awesome Gallery application in Android 2.2 and replace it with one that’s a piece of junk.

Moto Blur is nowhere near as polished as Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC’s Sense. It detracts from the device in an unnecessary manner by replacing solid stock applications with worse Blur ones. The first thing you’ll want to do when you get the Atrix 4G is head over to the Android Market and look up a decent launcher.

AT&T and Motorola pre-loaded the Atrix 4G with a million bloatware applications. Luckily, a great deal of them are now removable. Just head over to the Settings >> Applications menu and uninstall them! Thumbs up to Motorola and AT&T for allowing the uninstallation of bloatware on this device!

GPS

Navigation and mapping worked extremely well on this particular device. Unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S line, you’ll be able to grab a satellite lock within seconds and maintain it while driving. If you want a solid navigation device for the car, the Atrix 4G works well.

With the Tegra 2 on-board, Google Navigation loads up quickly and responds within seconds.

4G Connectivity

If you’re anticipating HSPA+ 4G on the AT&T network with the Atrix, you should seriously look at the plethora of reviews on the net. In our testing in San Diego, there was no trace of HSPA+ speeds. We’ve heard that HSPA+ will be rolled out gradually, that it’s coming in March, and that it’s only in a few cities. We’re not sure which rumors to believe.

This device’s speeds were on par with the Apple iPhone 4 and Samsung Captivate. But, the iPhone 4 does have HSUPA enabled. The Atrix has it disabled by default.

Conclusions

Motorola’s got a solid release in the Atrix 4G. Although the Moto Blur skin and 4G speeds were roundly disappointing, the Atrix 4G is still the nicest Android phone on the market. It matches the speed and fluidity that once was reserved for the iPhone. Applications load quickly, operate efficiently, and close out quickly. There’s no standard Android lagginess. The qHD screen is extremely useful for reading emails and surfing the web… those extra pixels really do help.

With or without the sweet accessories available for this phone, it’s a really sleek and useful device. At less than two hundred dollars on contract, the Motorola Atrix 4G is worth every penny.