Motorola Atrix – The future of mobile devices?

Touted as the “World’s most powerful smartphone and the future of mobile computing”, the Motorola Atrix has a lot to live up to. First unveiled at CES 2011, Motorola promised a revolution, and judging by previews, the Atrix sure seems like an amazing device. It is scheduled to release on March 6th, 2011.

The Atrix currently runs on Android 2.2, with an upgrade for Android 2.3 slated for release later in 2011. It introduces a new concept called “Webtop”, which can turn the smartphone into a fully functional laptop computer. Here are the technical specs:

* Runs on NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor (Dual-Core 1GHz Cortex A9 + GeForce ULP)
* HSPA+ at 14.4 Mbps (Where Available)
* 1GB LP DDR2 RAM
* 16GB Internal memory, expandable by microSD 32GB (Total of 48GB)
* 4-inch qHD display (540 x 960)
* 5.0MP with Dual LED Flash, 4x Digital Zoom and Auto Focus, 720p video capture @ 30fps
(Full 1080p video capture will be supported via Software upgrade post-launch)
* VGA Front facing camera for video calls
* TriColor LED Notification Light
* Multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Fingerprint Reader
* 1930 mAh battery
* 117.75 Long x 63.5 Wide x 10.95 Thin (millimeters)
* Supports WCDMA 850/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1900/1800, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz & 5GHz 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR

The Atrix is loaded with a lot of power, Motorola have their eyes firmly set on displacing Apple as the leading smartphone manufacturer. Offering features like Full HD video playback, including formats like DivX and XviD; a fingerprint scanner on the power button to prevent unauthorized use; USB device support, which allows the connection of external hard drives to increase storage; 4G network support; Gorilla Glass, which is used for the scratch and shatter resistant touchscreen and many more bells and whistles, the Atrix seems to do everything right. The only problem consumers might find in the phone is the 5MP camera, which is rather lackluster, compared to devices like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, which offers an 8MP camera.

The most interesting feature is Webtop. A separate laptop dock will be available, which will look like a thin netbook, complete with an 11-inch screen, separate battery, full keyboard and a trackpad. Connecting the Atrix to this dock will enable its use as a fully functional laptop computer with a PC version of Mozilla Firefox with Adobe Flash, ready to use. A similar PC dock will also be available, which will allow the Atrix to be used on a regular monitor. The expanded version used on laptop or PC mode will use a modified version of Linux. What remains to be seen is whether the Atrix performs well in the real world, considering the complications that can ensue from running dual operating systems in different modes. Another interesting feature is that on laptop or PC mode, a separate window can be opened, which will act as just as the smartphone mode and will allow launch of Android apps. This will be an emulated version of Android running on a custom Linux OS.

(The Motorola Atrix laptop dock)

A natural concern would be the battery life, considering all the features the Atrix has, but Motorola claims a standby time of about 240 hours, and usage/talk time of about 8 hours, which is quite impressive.

All in all, the Motorola Atrix is *the* device to look forward to in the future and it just could be the next big thing!