We’re all back at home this morning and I’ve been mulling over best of show all weekend. While we could take our love of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Minis to its obvious conclusion, considering that the candies eventually and inevitably turn into a sloppy mess when you hold them in your hand too long, we decided against it. Instead, we’ve chosen the unique and decidedly game-changing Motorola Atrix.
First, let me state that it was slim pickings out there. The show was, at best, a placeholder. Many of the major company events were actual snores (if you watched our live stream, you’d have seen that LG whipped out a fridge and washer combo and talked about Six Sigma for a bit, always a crowd-pleaser) and the only exciting event was the Motorola launch of the Xoom Honeycomb tablet and an odd phone that shouldn’t have captured our imaginations but definitely did: the Atrix.
The Atrix is a dual-core Android phone with a twist. The phone itself is fairly unremarkable but when paired with a keyboard and HDTV or the Atrix “laptop dock” the device becomes a netbook. The phone becomes the processor and everything is driven from the Atrix’s on-board storage. Although you’re not going to be running “real” applications, the built-in Webtop interface allows access to most mobile apps and, barring that, you can always run Android apps on a larger screen, adding offline and online productivity. Add in some Citrix support and you’ve got a winner.
Why did this win? Well, it was innovative and it was obvious. Many have tried and failed to do the same thing including Palm and a company called Redfly. However, no one has succeeded. What Motorola did is offer two separate potential paths for accessing your phone in a larger format – either via HDMI or via a separate piece of hardware. This means you don’t actually have to invest in a special peripheral if you don’t want to and, once you realize you love the Atrix’s feature set, you can upgrade to the laptop dock. You don’t have to use the Atrix’s most important feature, which is what makes it especially compelling.
We could have named any of the “me-too” tablets at CES but even Motorola’s own Xoom isn’t “real” yet because Honeycomb isn’t available and the rest of the devices seemed rushed at best. I suspect MWC and CTIA will bring us more compelling devices. As for the “smart” TVs if you’ve followed the market at all you’ll agree that sticking a web interface into a TV is a horrible idea. If there’s one thing TV manufacturers aren’t good at it’s offering updates for their devices. A TV is a monolithic device and updates aren’t a good idea when you’re talking about a consumer base that ranges from my Grandma to Bill Gates. The less you offer in a TV the better and to stick company-branded whozits, widgets, and whatzits on the screen is the last thing you want. A side-loading set-top box for those who need one (see Google TV)? Excellent. A built-in web interface? Absolutely not – at least not yet.
So that leaves us with the Atrix. I suspect what Motorola is really doing here is offering a new method for phone expansion akin the the all-but-dead Modu. However, what they’ve really done is breathed life into the same-old-same-old tired cavalcade of devices that tired manufactures rolled out at CES. For that, at least, we thank them.
I would agree that the phone does take a phone to another level. The problem I have is with the way it was all executed. After watching Engadgets second take on the phone I cant help but notice the lag the phone has when scrolling webpages with flash. The whole desktop experience just seemed slow and laggy. I think if they could get that under control then we might have something to talk about.
Non-perfect Flash performance is a problem only Adobe can fix. It’s the least important aspect of the device to me… Turn on “click to active” setting in the Android browser for the flash plugin and be happy.
I like having one device for everything in the future as an alternative to a total cloud-oriented approach (for switching between devices / uses).
Adobe Flash is processor and energy intensive. A slow flash is still better than Apple’s solution – No Flash.
Flash sucks on any platform… and Apple knows that
They do
This is where all the smart phones are going. Smart Cell Phones and tablets will be the only thing left. At home or office, all yo have will be keyboard, mouse and monitor. Eventually, tablets and smart phones will have powerful processors that will run all the apps you need. You will eventually be cloud computers to sync and backup your files. Just like the touch screen revolutionized the smart phone industry, voice recognition software will be the next big thing.
I don’t get it. If you can dock at a workstation. Why do you need to use the phone. Why can’t you just use the workstation itself.
When would be a case where you have your phone and there happens to be a monitor, keyboard and mouse, but there is no computer.
Its cool, but I don’t see it every being useful.
If there was some kind of projection coming out of the phone and it turns into a larger computer with virtual keyboard then that would be much more useful.
@yosef – You probably use a separate laptop and desktop at work and copy files back and forth on floppy disks. It’s cool because there’s no synching required between the devices. Granted, it’s currently only as powerful as a “netbook”, but if you could pull the brains out of your laptop and stick it in you pocket, that could be a game changer.
I’d actually argue that it’s more powerful than a netbook, just more limited in scope. Pretty much the phone is what I would hope to see Google Chrome become.
Think about the proper blending of Android and Google Chrome. As much as I love my CR-48 (and it has replaced my laptops that I normally bring with me, the ability to really be able to do everything from a single device is appealing. I can’t say how many times I get a text, and have to pull my phone out of my pocket to communicate, wanting to instead use my keyboard for a more seemless experience. SMS2PC does accomplish such for me but only with a Windows/Mac/Linux based PC not with my CR-48 and it won’t. The advantage of this is clear for any person who is constantly on the go.
Agree with Yoseff. What an old ways to do business. If you have access to a coputer these days no need for this capability in a phone!
I have used this thechnology through a Sprint 2G capable phone about 10 years ago.
What is new here. Think about Motorola….
Game changing?
It’s cool and all. What it can do. Surely jizz up all the geeks out there but game changer?
Game changing devices to me involves adoption at the general consumer level. I don’t see other competitors trying to do same as the Atrix coz consumers demand such a device. The iPad was a game changer coz Apple finally figured out how to implement a tablet that general consumers would embrace thus other manufacturers rebooting their tablet efforts after the iPad came out.
Best of show? for this?
Come on guys, the Tegra has HDMI, has USB OTG support. All Motorola did was creating a dumb docking station, something which LG, Samsung, Dell or other companies can whip within days, it’s a very simple circuit board, and calling this Best of show???
You also said that Xoom isn’t “real”. Excuse me, but so does Atrix, you cannot buy it today, only within the next few months, so I don’t get your logic..
“As for the “smart” TVs if you’ve followed the market at all you’ll agree that sticking a web interface into a TV is a horrible idea.”
You prefer the Atrix which sticks a TV onto a web interface.
This is an impressive piece of machine! Great specs and is not looking that bad.
This phone is an example of Miniaturization, all in one type of device. People are getting tired of having a TV, Blu-Ray/DVD, streaming box(Roku, WD HDTV), surround sound, cable box, laptop and possibly a tablet in their living rooms. This can replace your streaming box, netbook and that tablet in the Living Room. Especially considering how small living spaces are currently. Also say you have a computer/laptop at home and someone else is using it? You can plug this into the dock and browse the web/facebook with a full desktop experience.
I believe this is where the future is going. One device instead of two or three.
Computers are now becoming dumb terminals, again. Your information is stored in cloud. I can also see a need for dumb computers with the OS being on USB sticks with your personal information, although I think we have passed this point.
The laptop dock is for Businesses, travelers, and students.
Expect devices like this to tie into the Unique Online ID that Obama Administration is pushing. The end of the home computer & media center devices is coming to an end. I can’t wait to see this type of device evolves into the next five plus years
I was sketching ideas for a ‘Pocket. Computer.’ based on the same concept (ironically, to be made by Moto if I could get them to do it!), but what is required for this to take off is for locations where people are likely to want to ‘jack in’ to build dumb displays and keyboards into their premises or craft. For example, LCDs and fold down keyboards in aircraft, train seat and SUV seat backs. Cafes could build displays and (robust coffee proof!) keyboards into the walls.
That way, you only need to take your phone with.
I also think they need to look into ditching HDMI for a pure wireless (DNLA?) solution so physical connections can be dispensed with for the sake of reliability, although that will lead to power consumption and security issues.
For those following Apple, there is a rumour they are working on something ‘game changing’ based on using an iDevice as a ‘mobile’ Mac client through some form of cloud integration and/or a similar concept to the Atrix, although I believe the former to be more likely.
Put the peanut butter cups in the freezer. It’s amazing! That should alleviate your concerns.
You’re welcome.
I’m sure I’m alone in this but I found Microsoft’s ability to put their latest OS on a SOC just fantastic. This could lead to phones just like the Atrix but when docked in desktop mode instead of running a stripped down linux distro it could run full on Windows. A real computer in your pocket. Maybe even Windows Media Center when docked to your TV.
This, not the Xoom, should have been best gadget at CES.
As I wrote 2 days ago, for those who may care, is that this smartphone represents a device that is both cloud-based and a server, metaphorically speaking.
http://brianshall.com/content/smartphone-isthe-cloud-computing-deviceand-server
What’s the price?
I would agree that this was the best in show. All the other phones, TVs, Tablets didn’t bring anything really new to the table.
Not only does this phone have the top of the line phone guts, it also has a built in desktop interface (not just using android on a computer screen like some people seem to be suggesting).
Other then this I might say the Playbook or Xoom could have been best in show, but we all already knew about those.
This is almost exactly what I’ve been waiting for. My main issue is that the device is complicated by running Android + custom Linux for the netbook/dock. Using Honeycomb to handle everything would simplify things as it’s optimized for screens larger than smartphones. And it’s not as if Motorola lacks early access to Honeycomb. Also, they’re saying it can’t handle 1080p or even 720p video despite having a Tegra 2 chip, possibly because the custom-Linux side doesn’t run Flash. Kudos for using industrty-standard connectors, HDMI + USB host. If they were spaced apart in a standardized way (along with 3.5mm miniplug) you’d have an answer to iPhone’s army of docking devices.
All Iphone/Ipad loyalists it’s time for change.
There will be a change, and probably sometime this year. It will be the next iPhone, and just like before, all the others will try to copy it.
One simple question: what happens if you get a call, or need to make a call, while this phone is docked?
I agree that this thing wins the prize for out-of-the-box thinking in an otherwise ho-hum conference, but the the practical use cases for the device open up a lot of questions (as Yosef and other commentators have noted).
I’d love to hear more about the idea use cases for the phone.
The standard phone screen is presented as an app on your taskbar, you can make calls and answer calls like you would on a laptop, or seemlessly pickup the phone from the dock and answer the call.
Played with the device a bit, pretty sweet.
>> The phone itself is fairly unremarkable
Atrix uses NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 chipset, has 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 5MP rear camera with LED flash, a front-facing VGA camera, a fingerprint reader for secure unlocking, a 4-inch display with a resolution of 960×540, supports HSPA+.
Seems pretty remarkable to me.
100% agree this is best of show. XOOM running 3.0 is pro. But the Atrix has so many other applications and I see this becoming ver big and saving businesses a ton of money over the long run.
So when you are in webtop mode, what happens when someone calls you? Can you still use it as a phone?
Yes , you can multitask and take phone calls while in webtop or Citrix. The speakerphone works or a bluetooth headset.
I won’t waste another penny on buying ANY of the new technology out there because they will turn right around and make another gadget. In my opinion its all junk, phones use to last for 5 years when you bought a nice one and now you can expect them to screw up in less then 6 months. Thats what they want … they want you to keep on buying and buying. No way… I’m not signing another cell phone contract and I won’t let these cell phone companies control my life. Look at the money you spend per month on family plans because they have everyone convinced that they can’t live without a phone these days. Nope… not me I’d rather save the $100 – $200 bucks a month that everyone is dishing out like it’s a drop in the hat. You people go ahead and keep on buying this crap… within just a few months they will have another “better” phone … and then you’ll want that one too… what a waste… Go pick up your kids or go find your friends and get into real life with them. All this technology is destroying face to face communication. Time to save money people… not spend it.
What’s with the tirade?
Nobody is forcing you to buy anything.
As for technology “destroying face to face communication”, last night I used FaceTime to watch my niece do a song and dance she will be performing in a play which I will not be able to attend. It was wonderful, and I would never have seen it without this horrible, horrible technology.
I agree with you, too much stuff to buy, then soon to be outdated….NOTHING compatible with ANYTHING anymore!!!! I’m sick of it too!!
Is your cabin still on the market, Ted?
Amen!!! Could not have said it better…too much is way too much…..my grandmother raised awhole lot of kids and there were no drugs, tv, telephone, etc……they used elbow grease!!! And the kids were all loved and cared for!!!Things are
way to technical and continue to get worse…good luck everyone
Definately is one hell of a device… Between this an the Xoom Motorola have definately made an amazing comback.
I got to write up a few of my own experiences at
http://motorola-atrix.net/motorola-atrix-indepth-from-ces/
Can you tell me about the price? I want to buy it.
amen to exactly what jeanne said!!!
Price is as-of-yet unannounced.
Finding the best in electronics is just a click away – Http://www.savecreatively.com/onlinesavingsshop.aspx
I LIKE TO KNOW COULD IT USE DOWNLOAD FOR VIEDIO PHONE AND VIEDIO RELAY SERVICE ON MOTORAL- ATRIX ALIKE Z4 OR PURPLE3 ? PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
I’m proud to say I don’t understand anything this guy wrote about (except for peanut butter cups) nor most of what everyone posted. I’m perfectly happy with my ordinary telephone and e-mail. I have regular TV sets with multicolored holes in them that I don’t know what to do with. Ignorance is bliss….and saves money!!
I’m so behind in understanding any of this technology language. I won’t be running out to update anything anytime soon. My old iMac is still running great and I love my G3 iPhone.
Just another gadget to pick the money out of your gullable pocket. Christ, have any of you kissed a girl? IT’S A PHONE! Get over it and get a life.
learn to spell. —– Idiot. Just used your comments to DeAdra… It’s gullible, not gullable..
BAHAHAHA
This phone isn’t showing anything new! if I wanted to look at documents that are in my microsoft words or Excel, I would just use my computer! teens and young adult that are going to be using this phone, Are going to be using it for networking, web browsing, gaming, watching movie and Listing to music and really care about is how Durable and fast the phone is, the resolution of the screen, How much memory it can hold and how many megapixels the camera is! not accessing their microsoft documents!!
If the consumers there targeting are business people then the phone may work out! other then that I think its going to be a flop. . . .
I am sole sold. I am purchasing 6 for every member or my family
learn to spell. —– Idiot.
i would like to know what this phone cost Thanks
Google it then, geez.
Has anyone noticed that every single smartphone on the market, including this one, is trying to be/look like the iPhone? Why not just buy an iPhone? Just sayin’…
Which explains why iPhone is desperately trying to get friendly with other carriers to boost waning sales ( they are in 3rd place behind Android in US, and 4th place world-wide ), getting a front facing camera, wifi-hotspot, multitasking capabilities (barely) —all of which copy Android.
there is no other product can top apple product
RIM, Android and Nokia.
It’s a mobile phone, and that’s what people want, mobility. Tell me what it can do on the go that say, the iPhone can’t do. Who cares what it can do when plugged into a keyboard? Does anyone agree with me?
No. Compare the specs, please. IPhone 4 is outdated already.
this is a prime example of too much for a non-market. as some of the commenters noted, its awkward having to connect so many items, and who wants to carry all that for very limited usability as a computer? its an evolutionary dead end frankly and as the writer said, CES pickings were pretty slim…so why not just take the biggest change item and tout it? They obviously dont get it.
Read it and weep the I-Phone is going down!1
Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s the only thing the iPhone can’t do, but this is a new year…
There are quite a few things that the iPhone can’t do. My 3 year old G1 had more capability.
If you are concerned about phone service cost
contact me and learn how to get free unlimited national service. ramsey156@aol.com
To bad it has flash! Flash sucks!
And every verizon customer knows they would rather have an iPhone, So suck it!
I don’t, my business doesn’t, and none of my friends do. In fact, I’ll be dumping VZ for the Atrix on AT&Tafter I get the hands-on info in spring.
Well thats odd because most of my friends and co-workers love the iPhone. And really have no complaints so…
Your comment is kind of odd. Most people I know with iPhones have issues that are more than mere inconveniences and that Apple refuses to acknowledge or fix. A number of these issues have made headlines. I guess your friends have low expectations when buying a phone and are swayed by massive advertising blitzes and a weird fruity logo. Coming from a previous 3G owner.
i have the HTC EVO 4 G phone it does everything i want,dont see any reason to get a different phone,but then again thats just me
Love the big screen of the EVO. I’m hoping that more superphones go with the big screens as they are much better for game playing and video viewing.
Nice phone, too bad AT&T 4G network wont be released until later this year! I have a Iphone now, wont have another one!
I agree with you, Shay. I have some misgivings about switching to AT&T and am waiting to hear more about the performance of this phone once it’s released. But going back to the iPhone at this point would be like downgrading.
All who call this device useless,
Do not limit your mind to the possibilities of this device. Many of you are thinking in a “habitual” manner. By this I mean, you ask yourself, ” How does this device better my current practices? “. Many of you must have an employer that provides you with a computer to work on. When you leave work, you leave it all behind. And when you reach your house you can use all the tech toys to do what you want. This is where you are limiting yourself. Think of this device as a micro-computer. Here are a couple of uses for this device:
1. Use it as a media server EVERYWHERE you go. With it being DLNA enabled you can play your music, video, movies,pictures in anyone’s house that has a DLNA enabled device (i.e. computers, blu-rays players, media players). So if you go to a buddy’s home you can play your music through his /her kick ass system directly streaming from your phone. How about grandma? You can show her all those pics of your kids or dumb stunts on the TV screen. Again streaming directly from your phone. NO WIRES NEEDED!
2. If your employer allows you to do work on your personal laptop then you can easily plug this device at your home docking station or at the office docking station. Why is this good? Well you will ALWAYS HAVE YOUR WORK WITH YOU. It is like taking your office with you. You have access to your work documents all the time! Even while commuting. You can talk on it and send the files at the same time. How many times have people forgotten files at the office or at home? Forget remote connecting back to your home or office to try and retrieve files. You will ALWAYS have them with you.
3. Use it as a phone! What a concept!
4. Carrying your phone is easy. Way lighter and smaller than a laptop.
5. Play simple graphic games, anywhere.
6. Have your reference material always with you.
7. Presentations on the fly! -cords needed
The guy talking needs to know how to sell the phone. He was just talking really fast and the video didn’t show alot!!!
One thing is the battery life,how long does the battery last? Once you doc it to the computer…how long can you run on battery time. You are better off having a Notebook with all the programs you need to do office work and a port to connect the phone if need be. It’s another toy for the Rich Geeks to play with.
Obviously ANDROID is king. The other platforms will die a slow and painful death over time, Just as the analysts have predicted. There are a number of rediculous critics on here. Bottomline is…all the other geniuses had their chance to unveil their new high tech “toys” at CES 2011 (yes, even you Apple), and when you dug down deep, all you could come up with was, ummm…nothing.
Kudos to Motorola. Long live ANDROID!
I don’t care what anyone says…I luv my iPhone. It is my best friend. Even though it doesn’t possess a good resolution camera and cannot create a LAN and does not have Flash, I still luv it because it is an iPhone. It didn’t even bother me when the iPhone4 was having trouble making calls. Come on, who really needs calls…after all, it’s an iPhone. That should be enough right there. I was so excited when the “I Am RIch” application came out, even though it doesn’t do anything except show everyone that I bought it, I still luv that too.
Im wit Big Davey. I dunt car wat anyon els cums out wit or how much beter a produc it maybe. I dunt car if it even woirks as longe as its iFone.
ifone and aple rule no mater wat.
The phone all by itself is” just” the next generation of android hardware and software. If all you want is a really cool device this could do it for you.
We were running hspa+ (HSDPA?) At the show, no wifi was available- as usual… so yes flash lagged a bit when playing CSI from the Uverse/ Hulu site. But there were 10000 iPhones there too pulling down network availability.
The cool thing about all this is it can be what you make it.. need a phone awesome, add an entertainment dock, cool, take it a step farther? Either yes please or no thanks based on what you already have.
Want to have access to your recipes in the kitchen? Add a dock, monitor and keyboard. Watching a video or flash content and want to see it on a bigger screen, just plug in.
You have the full capability of the phone in webtop (laptop dock or desktop dock) plus a full PC browser experience so you can work on stored documents (cloud or local) using Quick office or go to Google docs or Microsoft office live using the Firefox browser for more technical work.
It remembers its state, so if you pull it out of one dock and into the laptop dock, you have everything running, but in a 2.4 lb high res portable environment.
Take it only as far as you need to, but it all starts with the phone.
BTW it leaves my netbook and 2 yr old atop in the dust!
Oh, and all the docks charge your phone. So use the laptop dock for 6-8 hours then walk away with a fully charged phone…
Does anyone who posts on sites like this ever use spellcheck or grammercheck? Maybe the Atrix could have THAT technology built in and when the user attempts to post it would cover his/her a**.
The technology is fabulous! I work in electronics and I love the stuff. I think more the better, myfamily and I chat and surf and talk a lot with our smart phones.
It means a lot to all of us!!