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
Around last Fall I was thinking about biting on an upgrade. My contract was nearly up, and I wanted to feel good about extending it. I'd had an OG Droid and a few other phones in between; I'd even drifted to WebOS and BlackBerry. I looked over the options, and felt good about none of them. What did feel good was the possibility of getting a Krait-based phone in the Spring. My big worry was that even by Summer I'd be looking at paying upwards of $250 to get one, even on-contract. Turns out, I was wrong.
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The earliest Krait devices came out at $199 on-contract, and the number of devices that have come out since then has been impressive, and the pricing keeps getting better. With the Incredible 4G LTE we saw pricing for a Krait device hit $149; but the device didn't have the right combination of factors to merit its price. Motorola's swing puts their first Krait device at $99, and there's nothing that competes with it in the US for twice that price. The form factor isn't perfect, but it's certainly thin enough and light enough. The software isn't just inoffensive, it's a pleasure to use, which is something we're saying more and more of when discussing skinned Android builds. And the battery life reflects one of Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4's biggest advantage.
It has its faults, and it could certainly be shined up to a gloss that would make it competitive with the Galaxy S III and HTC One X. Lacking a few features (NFC, notably) helps bring cost down, but that's not what keeps it from competing with the top tier phones. Holding the One X in your hand, you feel the level of effort that went into designing its unique unibody frame. When you see the Galaxy S II in Pebble Blue, and the light coming through the window hits it just right, it almost seems like the whole front of the device is a single blue surface. There's nothing about the Atrix HD that inspires that kind of fascination.
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So, what does it take to be a great mid-range phone? We can excuse the body, we can excuse an imperfect camera, and we can even excuse missing features. You nail the mid-range phone by making sure the rest of the package is solid, and that's what AT&T has with the Atrix HD.
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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.