Atrix impressions vs Inspire

[kstruck]

Just got the Atrix about 3 hours ago. Spent about 2 hours setting things up.

First, I am not impressed with the Atrix screen at all. The yellows are really off and the colors in general look washed out. To me the Inspire screen has better color and seems more vibrant.

Motoblur - Never used it before and having used Sense, I can say I really do not like Motoblur at all. It may take some time getting used to it, but Sense is overall better IMHO.

Screen size - I really like the screen size of the Inspire compared to the Atrix. 4.3 vs 4 makes a difference. I also like the size of the Inspire itself, but that is just a personal preference.

Build - I like the feel of the Inspire better. Seems more solid. Atrix is not cheap feeling at all, but Inspire has a better feel.

Speed - Both are fast and so far I do not notice a difference at all.

I like the fingerprint reader -some added security is not a bad thing and it works well.

Just a quick impression and I am sure I will find things I like better as time goes on. It has only been three hours, but the Inspire impressed me immediately, the Atrix not so much.

Unless things change drastically, the Atrix is probably going back.

I really wanted to like the Atrix, and I hope things change. I am not going to use the laptop dock or the media dock but I did try the car dock, which I really like. Hate having my phone sitting on the console or in my lap while I am driving. Car dock makes it easy to use and secure.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Just got the Atrix about 3 hours ago. Spent about 2 hours setting things up.

First, I am not impressed with the Atrix screen at all. The yellows are really off and the colors in general look washed out. To me the Inspire screen has better color and seems more vibrant.

Motoblur - Never used it before and having used Sense, I can say I really do not like Motoblur at all. It may take some time getting used to it, but Sense is overall better IMHO.

Screen size - I really like the screen size of the Inspire compared to the Atrix. 4.3 vs 4 makes a difference. I also like the size of the Inspire itself, but that is just a personal preference.

Build - I like the feel of the Inspire better. Seems more solid. Atrix is not cheap feeling at all, but Inspire has a better feel.

Speed - Both are fast and so far I do not notice a difference at all.

I like the fingerprint reader -some added security is not a bad thing and it works well.

Just a quick impression and I am sure I will find things I like better as time goes on. It has only been three hours, but the Inspire impressed me immediately, the Atrix not so much.

Unless things change drastically, the Atrix is probably going back.

I really wanted to like the Atrix, and I hope things change. I am not going to use the laptop dock or the media dock but I did try the car dock, which I really like. Hate having my phone sitting on the console or in my lap while I am driving. Car dock makes it easy to use and secure.

Very cool and very informative. I believe in the end the inspire will win for those reasons and other

 

[SysAdmNj]

Thanks for the post, and keep posting other findings. I mean its only been 2-3 hours with the atrix. But I'm not impressed with atrix's first impression posts thus far. Seriously leaning towards the Inspire.

 

[TX123]

I am trying to decide what phone to get. This post helps a lot. For me, however, the battery is very important. That is why I am leaning for the atrix.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

I am trying to decide what phone to get. This post helps a lot. For me, however, the battery is very important. That is why I am leaning for the atrix.

If you charge the battery correctly you get good time out if it. I have been using my phone all day came off the charger at 1030 its 917 I'm at 45% I repeatedly get 15+ hours from it

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Thanks for the post, and keep posting other findings. I mean its only been 2-3 hours with the atrix. But I'm not impressed with atrix's first impression posts thus far. Seriously leaning towards the Inspire.

Yea I concur. I also handled it.for a bit and everything the op stands true. A lot of the first impressions strip away the hype and get to the actual phone and in the end its not faster,better built or nicer than the inspire

 

[stancrazy]

The things i liked about the atrix were 1) Built in HDMI, 2) The battery 3)Its ability to move files such as excel and word, movies and music back and forth between the lap top dock and phone.

Unfortunately since you arent getting the lap top doc..i cant ask about those but was informed that there really isnt an app for full size viewing working with spreadsheets/word documents nor is there a good movie player avail (without paying $3.99 a movie from block buster (since netflix isnt out yet)...

Please let us know about the battery, any bugs/glitches you come across (and if they are "real" bugs or just newb to phone issues), and PLEASE anyone if you get the lap top doc, i want to know how using spread sheets/word files/power points work and if you can get it to play movies using the phones data some how... If those things dont work...i really cant say what my opinion of the Atrix is and remain within the TOS of this boards administrators....

 

[kstruck]

I am trying to decide what phone to get. This post helps a lot. For me, however, the battery is very important. That is why I am leaning for the atrix.

I love my battery on the Inspire. I also get easily 12 hours + each day without a problem. yesterday I went on 19+ hours and was still at about 30%. Very lite usuage yesterday, but still. My old Captivate would last no longer than 6 hours no matter what I did so if I get a full workday I am happy.

I cannot comment on the Atrix battery obviously yet.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

I love my battery on the Inspire. I also get easily 12 hours + each day without a problem. yesterday I went on 19+ hours and was still at about 30%. Very lite usuage yesterday, but still. My old Captivate would last no longer than 6 hours no matter what I did so if I get a full workday I am happy.

I cannot comment on the Atrix battery obviously yet.

I'm.in the same boat consistently getting 12+ on my inspire

 

[stancrazy]

Oddly enough engaget recommended AGAINST both the media doc and the lap top doc..... without those the phone has nearly no reason for being.....nearly. (since its a motorola with a locked bootloader and touchwiz and only a 4inch screen that is)...

sigh...

I really wanted that tegra II and huge battery though..

 

[Gobbles]

Same here. I easily get a full day out of mine, even with heavy use. I am really glad I got the inspire and didn't wait for the atrix. I love my inspire more and more everyday.

 

[tylerdurdin]

Oddly enough engaget recommended AGAINST both the media doc and the lap top doc..... without those the phone has nearly no reason for being.....nearly. (since its a motorola with a locked bootloader and touchwiz and only a 4inch screen that is)...

sigh...

I really wanted that tegra II and huge battery though..

Yeah that tegra was sounding nice but at this point , I also went to AT&T messed around with the inspire and I am not going to rip the phone, it is nice to look at, and have to say that HTC did a great job of making a 4.3in screen really seem not HUGE.

on the other hand it became very quickly apparent that the Sense UI is just as whatever it was before, the sales idiot was trying to show me all the "improvements".........Yeaaaahhhh......... I am going to go ahead and disagree. its as invasive as it was before and looks essentially the same way it always has. I want something NEW. Also the "speed" not that impressive i was having a launch off with my captivate (which the sales guy could not stop asking to mess with) and my phone was AS fast at everything and was opening the market and loading it faster.

Now it seems as though the Atrix may be a piece of crap, no new phone for me for a while

 

[Androidjunkee]

Just from reading the Inspire forum im starting to think that either A) some people.have bad batteries or B) some people dont charge their phones correctly or C) some people do everything.they possibly can to get great battery life and the inspire just doesnt cut it with their heavy usage cause I get 15+ hour days off of my inspire even with those heavy days..

To each his own but so far my battery has been great so.the Atrix isn't an option..let us know.more though because I love hearing about new phones

 

[techandroid5]

Thanks for the post, and keep posting other findings. I mean its only been 2-3 hours with the atrix. But I'm not impressed with atrix's first impression posts thus far. Seriously leaning towards the Inspire.

I'm right there with you, the only major issue I have seen with the Inspire is the battery and I can live with that for half the price of the Atrix.

 

[stancrazy]

Yeah that tegra was sounding nice but at this point , I also went to AT&T messed around with the inspire and I am not going to rip the phone, it is nice to look at, and have to say that HTC did a great job of making a 4.3in screen really seem not HUGE.

on the other hand it became very quickly apparent that the Sense UI is just as whatever it was before, the sales idiot was trying to show me all the "improvements".........Yeaaaahhhh......... I am going to go ahead and disagree. its as invasive as it was before and looks essentially the same way it always has. I want something NEW. Also the "speed" not that impressive i was having a launch off with my captivate (which the sales guy could not stop asking to mess with) and my phone was AS fast at everything and was opening the market and loading it faster.

Now it seems as though the Atrix may be a piece of crap, no new phone for me for a while

I would like to address one problem i have with your method for determining the inspires speed. 1) The new phones ran like crap out of the box for the first day or so (it must have been doing a bunch of internal updates or synching or smething because it became MUCH faster once it was set up for about a day. 2) The instore demo models have been messed with so much, had so many settings changed, had so many idiots rooting around it in..who KNOWS what that thing might be set up like by the time you got to it. Personally, if i had to choose between the instore demo and people who actually own the phone....i think you kinda got to go with the owners....

The improvements to the UI just consist of more skins, more ways to move the home screens around and more widgets to choose from. I do not believe it was ever marketed as something brand new from the ground up??? Even so...its pretty much universal that sense is much more usable and customizable then anything else out there.

As far as the launch off i am not sure how that worked...the apps on this thing open instantaneously so i can't figure how you could even time it. I will say this..there "may" be an issue with signal strength on this phone slowing down data...

Before anyone kills me...i used to be able to stream pandora radio to my iphone 3gs the entire drive between augusta Ga and atlanta GA, now it works rougly 1/3rd of the drive.... I am not saying 100% its the phone...maybe they are upgrading the towers and its causing issues for me....but it COULD be the phone..(i don't know).

Just from reading the Inspire forum im starting to think that either A) some people.have bad batteries or B) some people dont charge their phones correctly or C) some people do everything.they possibly can to get great battery life and the inspire just doesnt cut it with their heavy usage cause I get 15+ hour days off of my inspire even with those heavy days..

To each his own but so far my battery has been great so.the Atrix isn't an option..let us know.more though because I love hearing about new phones

Oddly enough (incredibly)..my batter is getting BETTER each and every day.....going from lasting 8 hours up to the 12s and its still getting better..i dont know what the heck is going on here. Maybe they recycled some old Desire batteries that had been sitting too long and needed to be retrained or something??? I really dont know but its bizzare...

 

[tylerdurdin]

I would like to address one problem i have with your method for determining the inspires speed. 1) The new phones ran like crap out of the box for the first day or so (it must have been doing a bunch of internal updates or synching or smething because it became MUCH faster once it was set up for about a day. 2) The instore demo models have been messed with so much, had so many settings changed, had so many idiots rooting around it in..who KNOWS what that thing might be set up like by the time you got to it. Personally, if i had to choose between the instore demo and people who actually own the phone....i think you kinda got to go with the owners....

The improvements to the UI just consist of more skins, more ways to move the home screens around and more widgets to choose from. I do not believe it was ever marketed as something brand new from the ground up??? Even so...its pretty much universal that sense is much more usable and customizable then anything else out there.

As far as the launch off i am not sure how that worked...the apps on this thing open instantaneously so i can't figure how you could even time it. I will say this..there "may" be an issue with signal strength on this phone slowing down data...

Yeah I know the deal with a new phone the one on display has been up a week now and i gave it a fair shot, went through and set it up like I would have it for the most part. it was alright, not mind blowing, it was alright.

As for the UI, HTC had no problem advertising about their new "OPTIMIZED"
sense UI, I just didnt see any real optimization, as it being in "universal" agreement about sense being the best that is preference, one of which I completely do not prefer. When sense came out, fine, but its been done now, in fact its been done again and again and again.

the launch off is exactly that, lay it down and hit the buttons as closely in sync as humanly possible. I agree that this is not the most accurate way but this is REAL WORLD USAGE, and by no means did the Inspire SMOKE my phone on launching applications, for the most part the were launching simultaneously. Once again I am not bashing the phone its sweet I was just expecting MORE, IMO it fell a little short. To me better specs should mean better phone, in this case I expected the inspire to be WAY better than a captivate and it IS as long as that Captivate is STOCK.

 

[stancrazy]

When sense came out, fine, but its been done now, in fact its been done again and again and again.
.

Things that have been done "again and again and again" without change. (or minimal change)

Porche 911 body style
Italian pizza
Sneakers
Jeans
Scotch
Democracy

Are you suggesting that repetition automatically equals "bad"? The evidence suggests otherwise.

I think you need another argument to make that particular point (and please dont just re-state the "same" one again and again).

Whats the old saying? "if it ain't broke....."

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Yeah that tegra was sounding nice but at this point , I also went to AT&T messed around with the inspire and I am not going to rip the phone, it is nice to look at, and have to say that HTC did a great job of making a 4.3in screen really seem not HUGE.

on the other hand it became very quickly apparent that the Sense UI is just as whatever it was before, the sales idiot was trying to show me all the "improvements".........Yeaaaahhhh......... I am going to go ahead and disagree. its as invasive as it was before and looks essentially the same way it always has. I want something NEW. Also the "speed" not that impressive i was having a launch off with my captivate (which the sales guy could not stop asking to mess with) and my phone was AS fast at everything and was opening the market and loading it faster.

Now it seems as though the Atrix may be a piece of crap, no new phone for me for a while

Wow your captivate must be special. Mine with serendipity 5.0 wasn't as fast or lag free as the inspire. Sad to say that the atrix hasn't lived up to the hype like I knew it wouldn't oh well. I'm glad I and others have the best phone on ATT the inspire

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Oddly enough engaget recommended AGAINST both the media doc and the lap top doc..... without those the phone has nearly no reason for being.....nearly. (since its a motorola with a locked bootloader and touchwiz and only a 4inch screen that is)...

sigh...

I really wanted that tegra II and huge battery though..

Two things one its motoblur not.touchwiz lol and two I totally agree lol if the. Docks are not worth it then the phone def isn't

 

[shawn1224]

Just came from an AT&T store to handle the Atrix and the 1st impression was WOW, small screen, maybe because there's hardly any bezel it makes the screen seem dwarfish. When I placed it alongside the Inspire it was noticeably smaller. I honestly don't know if I can downgrade in screen size.

Also the build quality was inferior in comparison to the Inspire. It was lightweight plastic with no heft to it. Almost felt like my old MyTouch 3G.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Just came from an AT&T store to handle the Atrix and the 1st impression was WOW, small screen, maybe because there's hardly any bezel it makes the screen seem dwarfish. When I placed it alongside the Inspire it was noticeably smaller. I honestly don't know if I can downgrade in screen size.

Also the build quality was inferior in comparison to the Inspire. It was lightweight plastic with no heft to it. Almost felt like my old MyTouch 3G.

Dont do it! I was setting up my coworkers captivate and hated it, and forget about my girlfriends iphone 4 yuck!

 

[shawn1224]

Dont do it! I was setting up my coworkers captivate and hated it, and forget about my girlfriends iphone 4 yuck!

I know what you mean. Every time I setup something on my wife's Vibrant, it feels like I'm playing with a toy.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

I know what you mean. Every time I setup something on my wife's Vibrant, it feels like I'm playing with a toy.

yea its so weird that the 4.3 is the perfect size, I wont upgrade until HTC comes out with another 4.3 dual core

 

[SysAdmNj]

Just came from an AT&T store to handle the Atrix and the 1st impression was WOW, small screen, maybe because there's hardly any bezel it makes the screen seem dwarfish. When I placed it alongside the Inspire it was noticeably smaller. I honestly don't know if I can downgrade in screen size.

Also the build quality was inferior in comparison to the Inspire. It was lightweight plastic with no heft to it. Almost felt like my old MyTouch 3G.

Are you serious? Darnit, I'm going to see for myself in about an hour or so. I'm just reading the forums. I did see pics of both the Inspire and Atrix somewhere, I cant remember and the text on the Inspire looked better or at least bigger. Is the Inspire screen glass? Sort of like the Aria?

Before I even had interest in an Android again, I was looking at Android tablets, possibly 7inch but wasnt sure I wanted to lug that around. But 4.3 should suffice until the 4.5'ers and up come out for AT&T

 

[kstruck]

Are you serious? Darnit, I'm going to see for myself in about an hour or so. I'm just reading the forums. I did see pics of both the Inspire and Atrix somewhere, I cant remember and the text on the Inspire looked better or at least bigger. Is the Inspire screen glass? Sort of like the Aria?

Before I even had interest in an Android again, I was looking at Android tablets, possibly 7inch but wasnt sure I wanted to lug that around. But 4.3 should suffice until the 4.5'ers and up come out for AT&T

They are both Gorilla glass. I think HTC uses a thicker glass than Motorola, but they are both Gorilla.