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
With the RAZR, Motorola proved that a decent capacity battery can be squeezed into an awfully thin phone. The Atrix HD is just a few hairs thicker and that nets it a slightly larger battery. It's not RAZR MAXX territory, nor Galaxy S III for that matter, but it's still got more battery capacity than the One X (AT&T), by a fraction.
We start with talk time, which has been a strong suit for Motorola for quite a long time.
The king of this test remains the RAZR MAXX with its mind boggling 20+ hours, and the other OMAP 4 devices also do extremely well. The ATrix HD falls in line with other S4 devices, but clearly Motorola's special talent at this test owed something to TI's SoC's. But at 10 hours of talk time that's plenty for any talker.
Our web browsing test cycles through several sites and have been treated to a variety of surprises over the last few years. Here, the Atrix HD falls behind when tested on WiFi, well behind the One X (AT&T) that shares its internals, even when normalized. Under 3G that situation continues, with a huge deficit between the Atrix HD and the One X (AT&T). It's under LTE that we get a little surprise. At exactly 6 hours, the Atrix HD bests the One X (AT&T) by a half hour, but more startling is that we have a phone that seems to exhibit battery life under WiFi that's within an hour of LTE performance. I'd have preferred to see WiFi battery life go up alongside LTE, but more LTE battery life is always better.
And here, another surprise. I mentioned in the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE review that my new place has some signal issues. I've resolved the VZW issues through the use of a Network Extender, and AT&T performance has actually been pretty good, so I don't know if this is a fluke. The Atrix HD isn't the only device whose LTE Hotspot performance actually bests its 3G Hotspot performance, it shares that distinction with the RAZR MAXX. And at just over 5 hours under LTE, this is right near the top and right alongside the One X (AT&T). All around, battery life is good, and very nearly great under LTE.
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eric appla - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
does anybody make rugged smartphones? No mater what phone I had they rarely lasted more then 6-12 months so i ended up with Sonim XP3 but it's too bulky but i could live with that.True problem is the buggy SW.
From the Smartphone on the market Motorola razr seems like most robust but battery live is poor.
If anybody have an idea what else to look at please post here.
Criteria are following
1) Durability
2) Reliability
3) battery live 3 days of medium use or replaceable battery to be able to carry spare battery for longer weekend hikes
4) Android
Thanks
MrMilli - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
The Sony Xperia acro S has IP57 certification but has a non-user replaceable battery.Zoomer - Friday, September 7, 2012 - link
The upcoming Xperia V would do too.Belard - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Its out-dated, but kind of matches your 4 itemshttp://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/samsung/r...
Samsung needs to modernize that phone. Its buggy and the battery tends to such. But it is tough.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Maybe adjust your behaviour first? I have broken 2 phones out of 5 I owned, one because of a car/bike accident and one because of a fight I was in. My 2 most recent ones (HTC TP2 and Samsung SGS2) have survived 20+ and 15+ months so far.kmmatney - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
I have zero broken phones out of all that I've owned since 1999 (and a few pagers before that). Work has always paid for my phones + service (currently iPhone 4S). I'll probably break one when I pay for it myself...kmmatney - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Just get a good case? Hard to imagine anything breaking inside an otterbox.Peanutsrevenge - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
'Sensible screen size: Maybe, just about.MicroSD: Check
Removable battery: FAIL.
Decent performance: Check
Another phone that fails to tick the boxes a mate wants ticking.
Why oh WHY can't Android phone makers put decent hardware in a phone <4" with removable battery and SD card slot?
Even going for 4.2-4.5" with those requirements is hard to find and their important features for a great number of people.
Sod saving that 2mm thickness, give us removable batteries!
Belard - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Removable battery isn't a major issue for most people. As long as there is a way to hard-reset the phone. My Galaxy S1 Captivate has a handy slide-removable cover - which gets used a lot because it locks up.Talk time on todays phones are pretty good.
The HTC ONE X has a non-removable battery, also can't add memory to it.
Even thou the S3's cover can come off... it actually works pretty good underwater... a video is on CNET... dropped in a fish bowl for a few seconds. Only thing dumb about it - She tried to turn the PHONE OFF (but it thought it wanted her to unlock/reboot) - rather than pull the battery ASAP.
Arbie - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - link
Jason -It doesn't "beg the question"; it "raises the question". In basic terms, to beg a question means to take something for granted.