Atrix 2 Review from an Atrix 4G User

[tyneusch]

I noticed that there are about 5 threads in this forum. All either asking questions or talking about disappointment. IMHO, this phone is no disappointment. You can find the specs on the phone posted here Anyone Else Disappointed by mytwuk.

I picked up my Atrix 2 on Sunday and have put it through the ringer nearly right away all while putting it through 2 full charge cycles to get the battery conditioned. In this manner, my phone has lasted 32 hours with moderate to heavy use and 35.5 hours with moderate to heavy use.

When I say moderate to heavy use I mean this: I wake up at 6 am, check my email and twitter. I use my phone constantly for work from nearly 7 am to about 5 pm straight. Phone calls, text, internet, facebook, twitter etc. You can throw in some emails, music listening and you can see my regular day.

The phone has handled everything I have thrown at it and come through in great condition. I am not a person that runs speed tests or connections tests but I do get a little better service with my Atrix 2. My wifes parents live in an area in which I was not getting service with my Atrix 4G but when going there with my 2, I am getting between 1 and 2 bars in the same chair I was getting nothing.

The Atrix 4G was fast, its dual core processor was quick and allowed the heavy user to do anything you needed with speed. The dual core TI processor is just as fast, I have yet to experience lag, however I have also implemented a cache cleaner that I have used on my last 4 phones now. It is set to auto clean every 8 hours so this could also be helping me.

Call quality is great, not choppy at all and syncing bluetooth was a snap. I love being able to listen to my music from my phone on my bluetooth ear piece.

All in all, I love this phone. short of Siri, this phone is the perfect alternative to an iPhone 4S if that is what you are looking for. Vlingo offers a very similar voice assistant for Android but it is no where near as accurate as Siri.

All I can say is that I love this phone!

 

[kilasix9]

Great review.

 

[bigddybn]

A couple of questions if you don't mind.

How is the speakerphone volume? Motorola phones are known for loud speakers but side by side with a GS2 in the ATT store it didn't seem any better. I did notice that it wouldn't let me turn the volume up all the way though so a setting may have needed adjusting.

Same thing for earpiece volume? I'm forever making calls in very noisy spots.

Strong headphone volume? The iPhone will crank the average headphones pretty damn loud. Can you compare the two?

Keyboard haptic feedback pretty strong? I forgot to check this but on the GS2 it seemed really weak. I type much better for some reason with a loud click and a strong feedback rumble. The GS2 doesn't same to have a very strong vibrate motor.

How does the GPS perform? I'm used to an iPhone4 which has a very fast position fix and lock. Had an HTC Inspire which was almost useless with google maps. How is the Motorola? Hold a good lock inside of a moving car? Quick to first fix?

What didn't you like? No phone is perfect and you only listed positives. Anything just bug the hell out of you?

 

[tyneusch]

I dont mind at all!

The speakerphone volume is really good. I had a co-worker ask me to turn it off cus he heard it through the wall. That was my fault though

Regarding the earpiece, I use my BlueAnt Q2 for work a lot (which has a great functionality with the Atrix 2) but when I have used the ear piece it has been great. I was talking yesterday on the phone while in the car with my window down and a semi rolling by and I was still able to hear and be heard by the person on the other end.

Headphone volume is great. I was reminded the hard way that media volume and ring volume are different on android phones and went to turn on doubletwist and nearly lost an ear drum. I would say very comparable to the iPhone/iPod. I had an iPhone 3G back in the day and I would say that this phone trumps that but have not tested on a new iPhone.

GPS fix is as close to instant as it can be. I turned it on and within about 10 to 15 seconds it had a fix on me. I couldn't be more pleased with it for my purposes. The lock holds very well while moving. Granted I have not used it a lot just yet but for my purposes it was great!

Haptic feedback is borderline too strong. I love haptic because it makes the screen press more "real" and the Atrix is no exception. I did notice that in some programs your can turn up the intensity of the vibration but it is NOT a built in function for the phone.

I know first hand that no phone is perfect, coming from the Samsung Fascinate and Blackberry days. As far as issues that I have with the phone, so far I have not experienced and major flaws but what I do take issue with are little personal things that bug me:

-Haptic Feedback intensity...I would like to turn this down for the whole phone
-Notification tones during playback of ANYTHING. Music/videos stop for a short second for the tone to play and then start up again...I feel like I was shaken awake from a deep sleep sometimes.
-Lag has not been a real issue for me as of yet, like I mentioned in my original post because I run a cache cleaner, so I do not know if the Atrix 2 has a problem with this or not.

If you would like to know more, please let me know. I am happy to answer any questions!

 

[jimvit1]

Great info. Thanks

 

[916x10]

I'm gonna be checking it out in about an hour or so, I hope I like it.

 

[jimvit1]

How is the qHD screen in the sunlight. Oh heck, just tell us all about it when you can. I'm thinking about getting one soon my self.

 

[okbeast]

Just picked mine up this evening. Do you mind sharing what the cache cleaner is that you use?

 

[bigddybn]

Picked up one of these Friday night thank in part to your post. Pretty happy with it so far. Just wish the cases would hurry up and show. A few thoughts:

Phone stays snappy pretty much all the time. The only slowdown I noticed was while literally installing about a dozen apps at once. Other than that it's been butter smooth even with flash videos playing and such.

Phone does have a very strong vibrator which translates into strong haptic feedback. A plus for me.

The headphone jack doesn't get quite as loud as the iPhone but it's pretty close and plenty loud.

Forgot how handy an LED indicator light can be. Seems to support multiple colors as well.

Touchscreen glass is beveled on the edges. A nice touch. Screen is very responsive and looks great to me.

BATTERY LIFE! This is easily the best battery on any android phone I've ever used. It's keeping up with my iPhone 4 no problem and being new I'm "playing" with it a lot more than normal. Zero complaints about battery life. Will last all day no problem.

The phone has the typical capacitive touchscreen issues with a lack of ground while charging. Use the supplied motorola charger and cable if your screen is "jumpy" while charging. A normal USB cable will charge it just fine though if you don't need to play with the phone at the same time.

The textured back is quite nice to the touch. Phone has a good "feel" in the hand. Doesn't feel cheap at all.

Phone speaker is typical solid Motorola. Same for the earpiece. Sounds good all around.

Gripes:

Wish you could lock the capacitive buttons "on" anytime the screen is on. I think there is an app that does this though.

Would have preferred ports on the bottom of the phone but I understand the need for docks and such. Just a personal preference as I don't use docks.

ACCESSORIES?? Hopefully time will change this but where are all the cases? Not even a cheap "hold me over" option on Amazon yet.

Overall pretty damn happy for 50 bucks (got it at bestbuy, will be 35 after their reward zone promos.) It was this or the GS2 and I just didn't feel the GS2 was 150 better. Also didn't like the way the GS2 felt in hand. I am 6'4" and have hands to match. The Atrix 2 just felt much more solid.

 

[okbeast]

I am also a little upset with no cheap covers or anything out yet.

I also like the textured back, but find myself not liking the smooth edges on it as they seem to get "greasy" and slick easily. Just a small thing I can definitely look past though.

 

[tyneusch]

Just picked mine up this evening. Do you mind sharing what the cache cleaner is that you use?

It's free on the market its called App Cache Cleaner. Works really well!

 

[bvillan]

Switching from iPhone 3G & iOS. Looking at all the specs out there and hunting for a new phone for months, I couldn't find anything that matched the seeming value of this. Watched it come out of CTIA and the performance/price ratio seemed to be what I was looking for.

I am very pleased. It seems really responsive. Call quality is good. 3.5G speeds are pretty good, even in rural NC. qHD screen and resolution are awesome. Even in direct sunlight, no squinting or hand-shading required.

The built quality seems very sturdy, and feels good in the hand. Camera quality is fine. 1080p recording and sound quality are excellent.

Battery life is really the only thing that comes close to a negative, but I've performed all the said tasks heavily in a single day and still had enough juice by the end of a late Saturday evening (hit the 15% warning around 3:00am as I was about to hook it up).

So far, I couldn't be more happy with my decision to come to Android and to purchase this phone. For full disclosure, I am an AT&T employee, but I do not work for Mobility and my employment in no way influences my review here. I was very disappointed with the beating my iPhone took everytime I updated the OS, and was constrained by iTunes to a point that eventually made the phone lame in the literal sense for over 6 months.

I do not see a better value at the moment and I am having a better experience with this phone than I ever did with my iPhone. Hope this doesn't get overlooked because of all the other High Profile phones coming out... It is more than worth your money.

 

[dasfiend]

How is the qHD screen in the sunlight. Oh heck, just tell us all about it when you can. I'm thinking about getting one soon my self.

The screen is gorgeous. My wife has the sprint sgsII (Epic Touch 4G) and she's jealous of the crispness of my A2. Of course the superAMOLED+ colors and brightness are sick, but the A2 is no slouch in those areas either!

It was visible in direct sunlight, and the auto brightness is better than my past android phones (doesn't seem to randomly get super bright as often).

I love this phone. And best buy gave me $161 trade in on my old atrix, so I got this phone for a net of minus 90 bucks (my original atrix was 20 bucks at costco). Can't beat that

 

[chicknlil]

Since this post is as popular as it is, I'll encourage people here as well - please go onto XDA (on the link I'll be providing below) and request a forum for the Atrix2. Doing so will encourage development for this phone, and means that we could have Root sooner rather than later.

[Requests] Ask for new forums here - xda-developers

Register...vote...profit!

 

[mttfrog13]

How are the black levels on the screen? I came to the atrix 4g from the Samsung Captivate (bad gps). The only thing I kind of missed was the ridiculously black blacks on the super amoled screen. The "blacks" on the atrix look grey in comparison to the super amoled screen. My upgrade is at the beginning of January and I've narrowed my decision down to the galaxy s2, or motorola atrix 2. I will get the cheaper atrix 2 if the blacks are at least a little better than the atrix 4g. Also, I like the higher resolution screen on the atrix vs the galaxy phones. It makes it easy to have an extra column on the homescreens with golauncher. Also, the atrix 4g does look better on white screens with text like websites. The captivate's whites were off and although it was "bright", it still didn't look as good or even as bright as the atrix 4g since the whites were off.

 

[dasfiend]

How are the black levels on the screen? I came to the atrix 4g from the Samsung Captivate (bad gps). The only thing I kind of missed was the ridiculously black blacks on the super amoled screen. The "blacks" on the atrix look grey in comparison to the super amoled screen. My upgrade is at the beginning of January and I've narrowed my decision down to the galaxy s2, or motorola atrix 2. I will get the cheaper atrix 2 if the blacks are at least a little better than the atrix 4g. Also, I like the higher resolution screen on the atrix vs the galaxy phones. It makes it easy to have an extra column on the homescreens with golauncher. Also, the atrix 4g does look better on white screens with text like websites. The captivate's whites were off and although it was "bright", it still didn't look as good or even as bright as the atrix 4g since the whites were off.

Blacks are definitely *better* than on the original atrix, but still nowhere near what they are on the superAMOLED+. Overall, I must say I prefer the atrix 2 screen over my wife's Epic Touch 4G (Spring SGSII). The increased sharpness I feel is more of a bonus that the rich blacks/color. We do read a lot of text and simple icons on our phones afterall.

 

[kimkim1986]

dont know if you guys have compared atrix 2 to atrix 4g. I got both !!! and the atrix 4g's screen get definitely sharper in colors !!! the A2's screen looks much dimer than than A1's. A1 is both better in whites and blacks and providing a greater view angle !!!

 

[jtd123]

I picked up my Atrix 2 on Sunday and have put it through the ringer nearly right away all while putting it through 2 full charge cycles to get the battery conditioned. In this manner, my phone has lasted 32 hours with moderate to heavy use and 35.5 hours with moderate to heavy use.

When I say moderate to heavy use I mean this: I wake up at 6 am, check my email and twitter. I use my phone constantly for work from nearly 7 am to about 5 pm straight. Phone calls, text, internet, facebook, twitter etc. You can throw in some emails, music listening and you can see my regular day.

The phone has handled everything I have thrown at it and come through in great condition. I am not a person that runs speed tests or connections tests but I do get a little better service with my Atrix 2. My wifes parents live in an area in which I was not getting service with my Atrix 4G but when going there with my 2, I am getting between 1 and 2 bars in the same chair I was getting nothing.

Hi tyneusch,
Great review. The Atrix 2 is my 1st android phone, and I've been pretty happy with it so far. I'm really curious as to how you've been able to get 30+ hrs on this thing??? I get up and start using it around 7 and can't get past 2 or 3 without having to charge it.

1. What would I have to do to try and get better battery life like you're getting?

2. You seem to be pretty knowledgeable, so I thought i'd ask you about an issue i've been having. On espn's mobile site, when I try to watch videos, I keep getting this error: "file cannot be displayed or played" I can't imagine it being a site error...
shouldn't this phone be able to play ALL video formats on the internet?

 

[macgiobuin]

I second the request for the step-by-step process for extending the battery life. I'm getting pretty good time right now, but who doesn't want MORE?