One in the most eye-opening, attention-grabbing pieces of potential tech to hit CES 2011 was the Motorola Atrix 4G–not a lot because of the cellphone itself, but due to its daring laptop dock, which promises a seamless transformation of smartphone into Netbook. Who needs a laptop computer, just after all, when your cell phone could be both equally? Very well, you have read through Bonnie Cha’s critique from the cell phone. I’m interested, like a laptop computer reviewer, in how the Atrix functions as…very well, a laptop computer.
The idea remains bold, and to Motorola’s credit, the experiment has resulted in a very products a mere month soon after CES. This laptop computer dock isn’t vaporware. Alternatively, it is not just a laptop computer, possibly.
A laptop, with no the laptop computer
What the laptop(laptop battery) dock is, in effect, is definitely an exceptionally well-constructed dock for that Atrix mobile phone, adding a long-life battery, a keyboard, a significant touch pad, two USB ports, along with a pair of stereo speakers, and using a number of neat methods up its sleeve. It appears like the Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop, and or maybe a smooth thin-and-light.
But it is not a standalone machine: The Atrix must be plugged in for the laptop dock to function. The good news is always that the transformation is seamless and hot-swappable: Plug it in as well as dock boots up. Unplug plus the phone’s back again in your own hand, ready to go.
The Motorola working surroundings as soon as the dock is operating feels a great deal just like the Splashtop “quick-start” OS environments discovered on some laptops and Netbooks: a pared-down launchpad to get a handful of primary programs along with a Internet browser. The real cell phone display is replicated from the dock’s eleven.5-inch exhibit, being a pixel-perfect window. Buttons can be almost pressed working with the touch pad’s mouse cursor, but considering the laptop computer dock’s screen does not have touch capability, you can’t utilize the very same multitouch gestures as you’d probably to the phone. The screen could be flipped horizontally or vertically with all the click on of the software package button, or perhaps blown as much as in close proximity to complete screen, in substantially a similar way that the iPad pixel-doubles iPhone apps for large-screen viewing.
A separate set of launch-button scorching keys will bring up contacts or the Atrix phone dialer, and, indeed, you can make phone calls while the Atrix is docked, even above Bluetooth. Naturally, on the laptop computer you can do exactly the same with Skype, VoIP, or Google Voice, and on an iPad you will find alternatives, too.
No Chrome
Here’s the funny component, at least to me: though this is definitely an Android cell phone, the baked-in browser on the Motorola dock is Firefox. Herein lies the sense of disconnect. Inside of a future planet wherever units seamlessly sync and transform function, the top-to-bottom OS functionality right here really should stay Google-based. If this dock were ready to run Chrome OS and Chrome apps, or at the quite least a Chrome browser, and in some cases seamlessly integrate Android and Chrome functionality, we’d really be touching the long run. Instead, the dock’s Motorola OS feels intelligent but tacked on. Firefox is able to playing Flash-based web pages and videos, and did a decent although not excellent job of full-screen Hulu playback–comparable with what you’d get on the Netbook. It’s also, based on anecdotal workplace use above our common Wi-Fi, substantially slower than other laptops. Writing in Google Docs became a sluggish affair, and just after a while it felt like we’d be far more productive only undocking the mobile phone.
The laptop dock does possess a few neat tricks up its sleeve. A built-in HD media playback app works a little like an Apple Television interface, enjoying full-screen movies, pictures, and songs. An HD video clip shot on the Atrix looked terrific on the eleven.5-inch screen, accompanied by crisp audio in the side-mounted built-in stereo speakers around the again in the dock. Sad to say, this media participant doesn’t play files inside track record. Play some songs and exit the participant, and the plan difficult exits and leaves you tuneless.
The rear USB ports are appropriate with mice or USB flash drives, each of which add some great functionality and make the dock experience even more laptoplike. The dock does possess a file browser along with the ability to add more Net apps, but these in essence volume to nothing at all more than Net bookmarks.
Crouching laptop computer, concealed cell phone
While the Atrix is plugged to the back again with the dock, it recharges off the dock’s integrated battery. That is a wonderful touch, however the Atrix continues to be from sight whilst the laptop computer dock is open. A much more sensible idea, to me, would are to dock the Atrix inside the bottom from the keyboard deck, flat, to ensure you may nonetheless run the touch screen like a 2nd display.
Price tag concerns
The largest predicament using the Atrix dock is its cost: $500 on your own, or $300 as part of a subsidized bundle with all the Atrix alone in addition to a $20-a-month tethering approach. At $300, you can get a 10-inch Atom Netbook as an alternative. At $500, you could possibly invest in an iPad–or an 11.6-inch full-fledged mini laptop, like the HP Pavilion dm1.
So, who’s this laptop dock for? It is unclear right this moment, but probably no one you recognize. It is undoubtedly fascinating technology and an eye-catching demonstration, but app assist, a faster browsing experience, and also a far more competitive selling price are in which phone/laptop hybrids must go future. It really is a compelling idea, and 1 we’re certain to view revived in long term smartphones. For now, I’d say skip the dock, but certainly look at the Atrix cell phone.
The over impressions had been based upon the restricted time we have had with the Motorola Atrix 4G laptop computer dock. Do you might have some other features you’d like us to look at? Allow us know inside feedback.
