Motorola Atrix review

In this way you can run Android apps full screen, but without a touch screen interface it’s a very hit and miss affair. For example, there’s no multi-touch support, so no pinch-to-zoom in Google Maps (you think you’d be better off launching it in Firefox, but the Webtop browser didn’t seem to have a clue where we were, while the mobile version located us instantly). On the other hand, the mouse pointer provided excellent accuracy in full-screen games of Angry Birds.

Receiving text messages, while browsing the web on a full-sized laptop display, and then banging out a quick reply using the keyboard is exactly the kind of joined-up efficiency that Motorola was thinking of when it came up with the Atrix. It’s a very satisfying way of bringing together two usually disparate pieces of technology. Running your full smartphone interface in a window on the desktop is a great idea. A dock and software that could do this for any Android phone in Windows 7 would be incredibly handy for many people.

ENTER THE ATRIX?

Pricing on the Atrix is complex, and it’s only available on Orange and T-Mobile at present. They offer different packages, but since the two have merged there’s no real competition here. At present you’ll be paying at least £35 a month for the handset on a 24-month plan, and maybe £40 if you want the HD dock and a wireless keyboard and mouse thrown in too. The LapDock then costs a whopping £300 on top of that, which is steep for what it is, especially given its limited capabilities compared to a proper Windows laptop.

The dock idea has a lot of merit, but Motorola needs to do a lot more work on it, and drop the price of the LapDock significantly, before we’d be convinced that it’s a genuine replacement for a proper laptop.

The Atrix itself is a decent dual-core smartphone, one that doesn’t sacrifice battery life for good looks, and with a handy fingerprint reader. If you’re looking for a fast and practical Android handset then it would be a good buy. However, at present it’s quite expensive at £35 a month on contract, and we’re not convinced that its a better buy over far cheaper single-core handsets like the older Samsung Galaxy S, which can be got on contract for around £20 per month if you shop around.