Motorola Atrix HD Review: Fast, Sharp, Bargain
by Jason Inofuentes on September 5, 2012 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Motorola
- Mobile
- Atrix HD
Our previews often give out a lot more information than you'd expect for a Day 0/Day 1 post, and have been confused for whole reviews in the past. So what do the reviews get you? Other than the battery life testing, the big piece is the analysis of the whole picture. When we first looked at the performance of the device we were curious about the SunSpider score. So, what was so odd about that score? Let's look again.
Our JavaScript tests give us a good feel for compute performance, but as much as stressing silicon, these tests gauge software performance, too. All Android builds aren't created equal, and with the hardware parity of so many of these devices (the S4 driven ones) these results bear that out. So, that Sunspider result, which stands nearly 20% better than the pack of S4 devices behind it, owes much of its success from the Motorola browser. But synthetic benchmarks are exactly that, synthetic; and they can be optimized for in order to drive up scores without necesarily providing a real world performance boost. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, and that's not necessarily what's going on here. But, when you look at the BrowserMark score, you see a 5% deficit behind another S4 device, not the 20% lead we saw in SunSpider. So, what's a more real world result?
Vellamo is, notably, a Qualcomm developed benchmark that stresses networking, rendering, Javascript and user experience (namely scrolling behaviors). The results hint at a Qualcomm bias, with MSM8960 holding spots 2-6 in our chart; but that disregards the reality that no other dual-core SoC will be competitive against the S4 for several more months. Vellamo does provide a great way to stratify performance amongst S4-based devices. The Atrix HD bests the other S4 phones, but not in a devastating fashion. One component of Vellamo is that same SunSpider test we run separately, so the lead in Vellamo could owe itself entirely to that. Taking a look at Flash performance we see the Atrix HD falling within the pack, again.
Things seem to fall apart a bit here, with results falling dangerously close to the 20% lower clocked Incredible 4G. This is a purely compute synthetic test, and it seems curious that any software changes would have a serious affect on compute performance, but stranger things have happened. Now onto GPU tests.
Several of our current suite of GPU tests have been pegging vsync for a while now. Offscreen tests bypass vsync so the results are more useful when performance clears 60 fps. Something interesting happens with the Atrix HD, though; onscreen tests fall below 60 fps by no small margin. Since onscreen and offscreen resolutions are the same, you'd expect performance to be equivalent in both tests. Instead you see a massive improvement in the offscreen tests. What's going on? There could be lots of things, from differences in rendering difficulty for onscreen and offscreen tests (triggered at the driver level), to thermal issues that arise because of the heat generated by the screen. Real gameplay doens't seem to suffer as much as you'd think, playing Mass Effect: Infiltrator and Shadowgun yielded smooth performance and no issues with image quality. But wait, there's more . . .
With GLBenchmark 2.5 the bar is raised and scores drop. The pack bunches up pretty tightly, particularly in the 1080p offscreen test. Here we see that performance falls right in line with the other S4 devices. Pair that with a performance hit in the other tests that's not likely to be noticeable and the takeaway is that Motorola's software tweaks don't hurt real world performance today, or tomorrow. So, no harm, no foul, no more.
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Belard - Thursday, September 6, 2012 - link
The Atrix HD does include the Car Dock/Charger. It re-configs the phone to a GPS type device and hands-free home just by plugging it in. The dock costs $40 (on the Motorola site).http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/Vehicle-Navig...
kpb321 - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
I assume that the color issue persisted with the new phone you received to resolve the camera issue since you didn't say otherwise. When I first saw the specs and price for this phone I figured it would end up being a pretty solid mid level phone and most people probably wouldn't be bothered by the display or if they were it would be at a level where they couldn't put their finger on why it bother them.dymelos - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
I know most of these are written with certain things in mind, and mostly started before market adjustments happen. But when you put a mid range phone againist a high end phone (the htc one x) thats the same price as each other, its hard to recomend the mid range phone. The htc has been 99 at att for over a month now. Its the best phone for the money that they carry as far as complete packages are concerned.Impulses - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
And the AHD is already $50 at most places other than AT&T... They can't revise the article d every two weeks.bill4 - Thursday, September 6, 2012 - link
Umm, they can edit the line referring to price, or update their conclusion, or come out with these reviews in a more timely manner, or SOMETHING.Talking about how this is the only Krait available for 99 when the One-X has been 99 for weeks just makes the article look bad.
Just overall, the review isn't timely enough. This phone came out in late July IIRC. At that time I was kind of interested in it as an SGS3 alternative. That seems like forever ago and the Anand review is just now hitting? It's way too late to do any good.
However, Anand does the most thorough phone reviews that I trust the most. A lot of reviews from all the phone sites, while they may review the phone a day after release, are really shitty. To me they're more like first impressions masquerading as reviews.
So I guess, it's a big catch 22, and I dont know the answer. But just in general I wish this review was more timely by far. Like maybe first week of August or anything.
SlyNine - Thursday, September 6, 2012 - link
Anandtech adjusts, and learns, from things like this. I hope the next phone review is a bit more forward thinking and includes scenarios such as price drops ( if they think the price will drop just after, or even before the review is released).MrMilli - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Jason, it seems you're not too familiar with v-sync.The differences between the onscreen and offscreen tests (v-sync'd and not) are perfectly normal and have nothing to do with 'thermal issues that arise because of the heat generated by the screen'.
The simple explanation is that when v-sync is off, the gpu doesn't have to wait for the monitor to refresh to send the back buffer to the frame buffer. This will cause an increase in frame rate, even under 60fps.
SlyNine - Thursday, September 6, 2012 - link
They have discussed this before. I believe they disable Vsync for both, Its a developer option, but I don't remember the specifics.Belard - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
I've been playing with HTC One X, SGS3 and a bit with the ATRIX HD finally. (I did consider the Nokia 900 and iPhone4s - No on iPhone because of Apples lawyers and iPhones are more prone to theft - no on WP7... and its dead end system... even at $50).I helped my business partner go with the Samsung GS3... its quite nice... and these 3 phones include an LED messaging light (handy!). But the screens on GS3s are a bit dark.
Because of the Power button and USB connector location, I tossed out the HTC-One X. Otherwise, its screen, the feel of the body scores a 10 in my book. The Camera is still odd to me. I just won't deal with that button arrangement. Hence, we have CHOICES.
Love the HOME button on the GS3... Can't stand the glossy plastic feel - the phone is too big for me to make it even bigger with a cover. The cover my friend bought, feel apart after a month.
The review cleared up a few areas that helps me out on this... THANKS Jason. (sorry for poking ya about it) - I wish the camera was a bit better, but I use real cameras when photos count. Hence, the 8GB of memory means nothing to me. The issues you bring up are valid (the SD slot cover) and slightly odd looking back. Would NFC added more than $5 to the price? I *WILL* be going with the white version because I like how it looks from the front and side. IMHO, they should have made it solid... it would have looked more modern. I actually like how the texture differences feel. The black band has speckles on it (think IBM type-writer/keyboards of the 80s) which is old-school texture..
I love how the phone feels (not quite as much as the HTC One). I've played with putting it in my pocket and seeing how I can get phone out. I wish it was a bit smaller. The VOL buttons can be set to control ZOOM or SHUTTER... very smart. Also, because of the lack of MAIN buttons, there is a bit more flexibility in using the phone.
At least down here, at&t is including a CAR-DOCK ($40 usually) with this Atrix HD... so its almost like paying $60 for the phone. The DOCK attaches to you car and your phone clamps to it. What the dock does is charge your phone and puts it into a GPS mode... It'll operate in a hands free mode (speaks your text messages / speaker phone modes). When you remove the phone from the dock, it can "tag" your car location... so if its in a big parking lot, the Atrix HD will point to your car. (unless it was stolen, of course)
I like the standard interface of the Atrix HD too... over the Samsung and a bit over the HTC for the very reasons you pointed out... using it on the phone is quite nice. I've been using launcher7 on my Galaxy S1 phone for 1.5 years. (It a WP7 Launcher interface) - I think I'm good with ICS on the Atrix to keep it stock.... its a nice screen and to reduce to basic plain color blocks seems a shame.
I'm glad you did a proper battery test. Reviews I've seen from end users "battery sucks" had me worried. hence, I trust reviews that use standards that can be compared to products, not just what someone decides based on their own usage. None of the phones on your list is as bad as my 2 year old Galaxy S1.
PS: I've seen the preview photos of the Lumia 820... that is a very COOL looking phone. Too bad they don't make an Android version. :) I'm sure Launcher 8 will come out if I feel the need to use that User Interface style. There is also WP7 style Phone Dialer / Texting apps too... ITs that kind of flexibility that keeps me on Android.
PS: I always recommend people to still try out the phones themselves to make sure they are comfortable with it. I trust the HTC One X - but its still not for me.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
You have the battery in the RAZR MAXX, but it's not used in every phone you make.. why not? It would be a huge draw. No other manufacturers have cottoned on yet that people want huge battery life, but you did.. with one model.