Official Motorola Atrix Review Thread!!

[jroc]

You dont have to use Motoblur. I'm speaking from experience with the Droid X tho...but you shouldnt have to use it.

 

[androidisforporn]

You dont have to use Motoblur. I'm speaking from experience with the Droid X tho...but you shouldnt have to use it.

The Droid X doesn't have full MotoBlur, so you don't have to deal with the MotoBlur syncing/accounts.

 

[Komodo Rogue]

Man, this is just a bummer for me It seems like CES blew me away, and then every day after that I became increasingly disappointed. The confirmation that Motoblur wasn't significantly (or at least moderately) altered was the final nail in the coffin. I am either going to save my money (after all, I've only had my captivate for, maybe, five or six months?), or switch gears completely and check out the tablets from LG, HTC, and Asus.

I bought the dell streak 7 last weekend (going to return it, but wanted to play around with the tegra 2), and damn, I am truly amazed. I can just do whatever I want, throw whatever I feel like at it, and it still runs like a dream (currently using launcherpro plus and livehome).

Anyway, those of you who are still committed - don't get too bummed by these reviews, because the Tegra 2 seems absolutely amazing - and that's from experience with a cheap tablet! And just wait until devs start paying closer attention to qHD and dualcore... If you like MotoBlur, this phone is going to blow you away

 

[kstruck]

As far as motoblur goes...do you really have to sign up for it or can you bypass the setup and not use it? I hope you can skip that step and get right to the phone.

Just go setup a Motoblur account now at the website and then when you get the phone, just sign in and you are ready to go. It takes all of about 5 minutes to setup online.

 

[kokomo]

Newbie question: can I use ADW Ex or Launcher Pro instead of Blur, or is that considered sideloading and therefore blocked? TIA.

 

[Battleship]

Newbie question: can I use ADW Ex or Launcher Pro instead of Blur, or is that considered sideloading and therefore blocked? TIA.

Yes, you can and no, it's not sideloading.

 

[kokomo]

Yes, you can and no, it's not sideloading.

Cool. Thx! Then why are we even complaining about MotoBlur?

 

[atlbuc]

Cool. Thx! Then why are we even complaining about MotoBlur?

Because people don't understand what it is and a lot of them have never used it. Blur has services you can sign into that integrates with your phone but you don't have to use them. There is FB, Twitter, MySpace and LastFM. Some don't like it and some do. Its doesn't look as good as Sense UI but they have similar services.

 

[youareme7]

Because people don't understand what it is and a lot of them have never used it. Blur has services you can sign into that integrates with your phone but you don't have to use them. There is FB, Twitter, MySpace and LastFM. Some don't like it and some do. Its doesn't look as good as Sense UI but they have similar services.

There's also the fact that it's just there in the background, tying up resources. I have little intention on using it but even with a custom launcher blur if still going to eat up some ram, memory, cpu cycles and battery. This phone might have most of those in spades but I'm sure it still has some effect. It's not the end of the world tho.

 

[atlbuc]

There's also the fact that it's just there in the background, tying up resources. I have little intention on using it but even with a custom launcher blur if still going to eat up some ram, memory, cpu cycles and battery. This phone might have most of those in spades but I'm sure it still has some effect. It's not the end of the world tho.

This is going to be the case with with most Android phones that have custom UI's like Blur and Sense. You do not have to use Blur services. If you install another Launcher you are still going to have the default launcher installed. The best thing to do is if you are going to use another launcher is to remove all widgets and apps from the default launcher home screens. If you aren't going to use the Blur services then don't log in to them. We need to wait for more thorough reviews to come in to see how this plays with Blur. I have read the reviews and just because the phone froze a few times on certain apps doesn't mean Blur is the cause.

 

[youareme7]

This is going to be the case with with most Android phones that have custom UI's like Blur and Sense. You do not have to use Blur services. If you install another Launcher you are still going to have the default launcher installed. The best thing to do is if you are going to use another launcher is to remove all widgets and apps from the default launcher home screens. If you aren't going to use the Blur services then don't log in to them. We need to wait for more thorough reviews to come in to see how this plays with Blur. I have read the reviews and just because the phone froze a few times on certain apps doesn't mean Blur is the cause.

You're absolutely right that this is problem faced with almost all Android phones today, (I don't have to like it though!) I'm definitely curious to see more how Blur is affecting the system as well. I know that in reading Optimux 2X reviews, it appeared that the custom skin on there seemed to cause OS wide problems for the user but I'm hoping Blur doesn't reduce the stability of the system to the same extent. From what I've read thus far I'm still pretty impressed with the quality of the Atrix as a whole and am looking forward to playing with it in the store. I'm slowly starting to lean in favor of getting it, but it's still early and there still could be something that causes me to lean away. It's a shame we haven't heard anything more about it coming to Best Buy early, as the weekend approaches it's looking less and less likely to be coming the 13-14.

 

[atlbuc]

You're absolutely right that this is problem faced with almost all Android phones today, (I don't have to like it though!) I'm definitely curious to see more how Blur is affecting the system as well. I know that in reading Optimux 2X reviews, it appeared that the custom skin on there seemed to cause OS wide problems for the user but I'm hoping Blur doesn't reduce the stability of the system to the same extent. From what I've read thus far I'm still pretty impressed with the quality of the Atrix as a whole and am looking forward to playing with it in the store. I'm slowly starting to lean in favor of getting it, but it's still early and there still could be something that causes me to lean away. It's a shame we haven't heard anything more about it coming to Best Buy early, as the weekend approaches it's looking less and less likely to be coming the 13-14.

Not saying you have to like it but this is the reason I won't be installing a custom Launcher. I don't want to add to anything that might cause this phone to slow up. That being said all the reviews I have read seemed to be pretty good as far as the phone being fast and responsive. I read a couple reviews where opening apps were faster on the Atrix than on the Inspire. I have faith that this phone will be a good experience for me. Yea no word on Best Buy but I will be pre ordering so hopefully they start to roll out before March 6.

 

[jreedar]

There's also the fact that it's just there in the background, tying up resources. I have little intention on using it but even with a custom launcher blur if still going to eat up some ram, memory, cpu cycles and battery. This phone might have most of those in spades but I'm sure it still has some effect. It's not the end of the world tho.

If you decide to run an alternate launcher and once/if root access is gained could the Blur services be stopped or disabled as root to free up usage of ram, cpu, etc. by the Blur related services?

This may not be possible because of the most likely locked bootloader, but just thought I'd ask.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, this will be my first android phone and just trying to understand what's possible.

 

[youareme7]

If you decide to run an alternate launcher and once/if root access is gained could the Blur services be stopped or disabled as root to free up usage of ram, cpu, etc. by the Blur related services?

This may not be possible because of the most likely locked bootloader, but just thought I'd ask.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, this will be my first android phone and just trying to understand what's possible.

Not a problem and not a dumb question; when and if the phone gets rooted we'll be able to remove most of the Blur apps and services. (I like Titanum Backup for root users to yank them, that way they can be saved in backup form just in case)

Honestly just running a custom launcher instead of Blur will be a perfectly acceptable solution for the vast majority who don't want Blur, I'm just personally pretty demanding about what I can do on my device and like to have the absolutely best possible experience for me. It's really a hobby, my wife hates it because I tend to break stuff a lot too, haha.

 

[jreedar]

Not a problem and not a dumb question; when and if the phone gets rooted we'll be able to remove most of the Blur apps and services. (I like Titanum Backup for root users to yank them, that way they can be saved in backup form just in case)

Honestly just running a custom launcher instead of Blur will be a perfectly acceptable solution for the vast majority who don't want Blur, I'm just personally pretty demanding about what I can do on my device and like to have the absolutely best possible experience for me. It's really a hobby, my wife hates it because I tend to break stuff a lot too, haha.

Excellent, I like the idea of backing everything up and and having a clean way to remove what's not wanted/used. Also I'm same way about wanting to fine tune everything to the Nth degree so I totally understand!

Thanks again for the info!

 

[sonicboom77]

New one this morning;

A fairly level headed review.

Motorola Atrix 4G: The Unboxing | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Summarizing; Sure it's fast, but it's got quirks apparently, even on apps that don't traditionally have issues on Android 2.2 (fring). This may be due to conflict with blur, the new chipset, who knows.

The dock is clearly a novel idea, but is not a full net-book replacement(was it intended to be?). The clincher, however, is that the pricing for the web-top dock is too high. The reviewer prefers the desktop dock.

The review will not dissuade those who want this phone and the dock from purchasing it, but it will sober them up from the gadget-lust that they've (myself included)been having for the last 2 weeks.

S.

 

[atlbuc]

New one this morning;

A fairly level headed review.

Motorola Atrix 4G: The Unboxing | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Summarizing; Sure it's fast, but it's got quirks apparently, even on apps that don't traditionally have issues on Android 2.2 (fring). This may be due to conflict with blur, the new chipset, who knows.

The dock is clearly a novel idea, but is not a full net-book replacement(was it intended to be?). The clincher, however, is that the pricing for the web-top dock is too high. The reviewer prefers the desktop dock.

The review will not dissuade those who want this phone and the dock from purchasing it, but it will sober them up from the gadget-lust that they've (myself included)been having for the last 2 weeks.

S.

Yea this review was posted here yesterday but thanks anyway.

 

[Roze]

From LaptopMag:

While the Atrix 4G's speed was also reflected on our benchmark tests, it didn't blow other [COLOR=#006400! important][COLOR=#006400! important]smartphones[/COLOR][/COLOR] out of the water. The handset achieved an An3DBench score of 6,305, more than 1,000 points above the current average, but just 25 points faster that the Inspire 4G. Also, both the Nexus S (6,853) and Droid Pro (7,352) handily beat the Atrix 4G on this test.

Though the Atrix 4G notched a fast Linpack score of 32.7, beating the Evo Shift 4G (29.7) and T-Mobile G2 (28.7), the Inspire 4G logged a higher 37.58. The Atrix 4G's most impressive score was on the Benchmark CPU test, where it notched a record 2,369, almost 1,500 points above average, and almost 200 points higher than the myTouch 4G (2,190).

I guess it's comparable to all the phones out there since the dual core is not being utilized. This is pretty much expected. I wonder what the speed tests would be like if 2.4 comes with dual core support. How much would the Atrix blow the other phone out of the water?

To those that are saying Blur might take up too much memory. Considering that the phone comes with a 1GB RAM, I wouldn't worry about it 'running' in the background. Most likely it will just be inactive and not taking major hit on the battery if you have every blur widget sync off. I don't believe that Blur is that battery hungry and memory intensive.

Yea this review was posted here yesterday but thanks anyway.

This one is a different article, written today

 

[atlbuc]

From LaptopMag:

I guess it's comparable to all the phones out there since the dual core is not being utilized. This is pretty much expected. I wonder what the speed tests would be like if 2.4 comes with dual core support. How much would the Atrix blow the other phone out of the water?

To those that are saying Blur might take up too much memory. Considering that the phone comes with a 1GB RAM, I wouldn't worry about it 'running' in the background. Most likely it will just be inactive and not taking major hit on the battery if you have every blur widget sync off. I don't believe that Blur is that battery hungry and memory intensive.


This one is a different article, written today

Yea when you click full review it links to the review posted yesterday

 

[Roze]

Yea when you click full review it links to the review posted yesterday

haha PCMeg *FAIL* XD I thought they added more to the review from yesterday. Basically it's a traffic article :/

 

[s.m.knipe]

To those that are saying Blur might take up too much memory. Considering that the phone comes with a 1GB RAM, I wouldn't worry about it 'running' in the background. Most likely it will just be inactive and not taking major hit on the battery if you have every blur widget sync off. I don't believe that Blur is that battery hungry and memory intensive.

TouchWiz has been the worst for this I have seen. Back when Sense and Blur came out both were battery and memory hogs, but I had more sympathy for the Cliq (the Blur debut device) because it was basically a mid-range device at a time when even higher-end devices struggled with vanilla Android itself. It was right at the time I started rooting (2 years ago or so) and it had slightly lower specs on some important features for system speed than the G1, and I was rooting because the G1 was struggling along on vanilla. I always felt bad for both the Cliq and the MyTouch for getting bad press about "bogging down" the experience- but of course they are going to, it is an additional layer. The mytouch had a slight RAM bump so I didn't feel as bad for it, but the Cliq was constantly dogged because of how slow Blur made it, I don't think people realized it was a mid-range device and not expected to blow anything out of the water. Now if it SIGNIFICANTLY slows down the Atrix, then there is no excuse, but I don't think it has or will (based on the video I have seen thus far). Even the early vids of the Captivate showed it stuttering some, I wish I had listened to my gut on that one.

 

[nemesiz]

Dont remember seeing it any of the videos.. Can someone confirm whether or not it comes with a headset?

 

[s.m.knipe]

Dont remember seeing it any of the videos.. Can someone confirm whether or not it comes with a headset?

I didn't see a headset in the SlashGear unboxing... For me that's okay though, I have tons sitting around unused from old phones...

 

[sdbe]

I viewed a couple of the 'unboxing' videos looking for head sets also. I didn't see any. Apparently you need to supply your own. But they did include an hdmi cable though. Personally I would rather have the head set.

 

[Roze]

Even the early vids of the Captivate showed it stuttering some, I wish I had listened to my gut on that one.

Why didn't go back to your Nexus One or did you sold it to finance the Captivate?

I viewed a couple of the 'unboxing' videos looking for head sets also. I didn't see any. Apparently you need to supply your own. But they did include an hdmi cable though. Personally I would rather have the head set.

+1