The Motorola Atrix 4G Preview
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 13, 2011 3:18 AM ESTStill Camera Experience & Quality
LG tried with the Optimus 2X to make the most of the SoC NVIDIA gave it. The phone supported both 1080p video output and 1080p video recording. Even the still camera had a 6 fps burst mode, exploiting NVIDIA's allegedly high performance ISP. In its quest for specs however the Optimus 2X didn't always deliver. Video recorded at 1080p wasn't particularly impressive, and you can only take stills in burst mode at a 2MP resolution.
Motorola on the other hand appears to be aiming more at user experience rather than feature set. The Atrix 4G only supports up to 720p output over HDMI and can only record videos at 720p as well. There's no burst mode supported by the camera app.
Even settings in Motorola's camera app are pretty sparse. You don't get to choose resolution specifically, but you get to pick aspect ratio and total pixel count. There are no white balance or exposure options to set here either. You can choose between predefined settings grouped into scenes (e.g. auto, portrait, landscape, night, macro) and that's pretty much it.
The app is fast though. Switching between the rear camera and the front camera is iPhone 4 fast, and switching to shooting video is faster than any other phone I've used. The experience in the camera app is very smooth. Even the view finder is super smooth.
Stills are shot at 2592 x 1456 by default, although you can switch to a 5MP mode which will give you images at 2592 x 1944.
Image quality is reasonable but not spectacular in brightly lit environments. Images aren't as saturated, detailed or as contrasty compared to the iPhone 4. Lower light performance suffers, particularly on the front facing camera as there's no flash.
Motorola Atrix 4G
Apple iPhone 4
Motorola's camera app doesn't support tap to focus and it will only focus on whatever is in the center of the screen. Since there's no tap to focus the scene will often be blurry before you take a shot and only come into focus after you've hit the capture button.
Shutter lag is decent for a smartphone and overall I'm impressed with the camera app itself.
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evan919 - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
Hi Anand,The reason the Atrix 4G (and consequently the Inspire 4G) suffer from UMTS-sh upload speeds is because AT&T requests the handset manufacturer to disable HSUPA. The same thing occured with every smartphone besides the iPhone 4 on AT&Ts network. I have a Captivate that has HSUPA enabled by flashing the modem firmware with an HSUPA enabled firmware. Just a little insight. I'm enjoying the review.
http://emuneee.com/2011/02/is-att-disabling-hsupa-...
shabby - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
Those are just pathetic speeds, 4g my ass att. Im getting 6mbps down and 3mbps up on rogers 3g network with my captivate using bells unlocked hspa modem.FrozenAsset - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
Unless I'm missing something, why waste money on a dock? Can you bypass a dock completely?Can you not just provide your own keyboard / mouse and attach by USB hub or connect by Bluetooth?
It comes with it's own HDMI cable, cant you use that to connect to an HDMI monitor or TV and browse the web at the same time without also paying for tethering?
The dock I have for my Panasonic TV / iPod is a dumb dock, no chip, no software just a place to sit it and connect to the TV. Why would anyone spend that kind of money on something like that?
Mumrik - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
It's up to you whether you'll take this as a compliment (personally) or an insult (to the site), but Anand, you are by far the best writer at Anandtech. I'm far more likely to read every word of an article if you wrote it, and as I started to read this one I was immediately able to tell that you were the author.SpartanJet - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
On the "The qHD Screen: A Pentile LCD?" you have a thumbnail of both the iPhone LCD and the Atrix LCD unfortunately when you click on the thumbnail they both link to the same picture.I'm really interested in this phone but the screen seems like I'd fall into the "it would bug me" group. I pre-ordered this phone now looking at that screen I'm starting to have my doubts. I think the screens are the 2nd most important feature on these smartphones.
JCheng - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
What's the first most important feature?notposting - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
Hey Anand,I thought I remember seeing that the power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner on the Atrix but I didn't see you mention it.
Interesting perspective on how things work in the technological fields...this may be the first of it's kind but probably won't be the one that really hits that balance of price and performance just yet...nice demonstration unit though.
Also agree with the other poster...very well written article. :)
PubicTheHare - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
Anand,I didn't see a reference to the bootloader. I know Moto likes to lock it up (Droid X, Droid 2). Any idea if they did it with the Atrix?
If so, we can assume they will do it with the Bionic (please preview this one, too!).
Have fun at MWC!
sid1712 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Anand, you've written that the OptimuxS2X has 4" Super AMOLED display instead of the IPS LCD that it has.Also, it would be great if you would give your opinion on the call quality via the earpiece and the loudspeaker quality. Do the dual microphones improve the call quality significantly ?
Cheers
TareX - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
I'm extremely disappointed with the PenTile LCD.... even Samsung fixed that with the new SAMOLED PLUS displays... I knew there had to be catch with the Atrix 4G.I'm even more disappointed with the contrast and brightness... isn't anything competitive with Apple's IPS? I'm starting to believe Apple really does make the best hardware decisions.
I am disappointed.... I like Motoblur, actually. I would take it over anything LG makes. Sigh.