Atrix 2 thoughts...

[excalis]

I am glad I traded the Atrix for the Atrix 2, the only thing I miss is the fingerprint scanner. Other than that, the phone is a better experience all around. I now just use the MotoBlur and not ADW or launcher Pro, has a nice fluid feel compared to the Atrix UI.

I like the physical camera button as well, that is a nice feature to have and missed it coming from my Epic 4G.

The phone has a nice design flow to it, feels good in the hand (LOL), the screen looks nicer as well.

Battery life to me seems to be a bit better, I do not have any time tests, etc but I do not worry about making it through the day or even the next morning with decent useage. I have a live wallpaper as my background and have my corporate email set to push. Any other auto-syncing items have been turned off as well as the GPS, and location using feature.

I do leave the Bluetooth on so as to not forget about it for vehicle handsfree connect. Voice quality is very good and comparable to the Atrix, seems the same to me actually. Less internal memory has been an issue compared the Atrix but I just move over everything to my external card that can be.

I did have to pay a $35 re-stock fee but the extra cost to move to this device was worth it. I passed on the SGS2 which would have cost more. The SGS2 may have nicer hardware but Samsung's update track record has left me not liking their products. All of the devices I had from them are still stuck on Froyo unless I Root/ROM.

Anyway, the Atrix 2 is a nice phone even if you come over from the original.

 

[Slayers]

What other phones have you had besides the first atrix?

I am really thinking of jumping on this phone price is right and everything else but there are other phones coming soon I like HTC and was looking at the Holiday but I don't have LTE in my area and who knows how long till I get it

 

[excalis]

Well, here are the phones I owned in the past year or three:

there were others that are told old to mention but here are the most current I have owned

Palm Treo 700WX
Iphone 3G
HTC Aria
Samsung Captivate
Palm Pre
Samsung Epic 4g
Motorola XPRT
HTC EVO 4G
Atrix
Atrix 2

I love HTC's commitment to their phones are far as updates, Motorola is in between HTC and Samsung, I love Samsung's hardware but they fail on updates.

The Atrix 2 to me is a very solid phone to have.

 

[TimmyB]

Well, here are the phones I owned in the past year or three:

there were others that are told old to mention but here are the most current I have owned

Palm Treo 700WX
Iphone 3G
HTC Aria
Samsung Captivate
Palm Pre
Samsung Epic 4g
HTC EVO 4G
Atrix
Atrix 2

I love HTC's commitment to their phones are far as updates, Motorola is in between HTC and Samsung, I love Samsung's hardware but they fail on updates.

The Atrix 2 to me is a very solid phone to have.

Hey, excalis. I am a long-time palmOS/webOS user who is finally accepting the reality of no white knight saving my beloved OS. I see you, also, are a former webOS user. The atrix2 looks great (I have seen it in person) and I am leaning toward that being my entry into the "dark side". What can you tell me about this phone from a webOS-user perspective that will help me make my decision, both the good and the bad?

Thanks for any assistance.

tim

 

[excalis]

The only thing I missed and only for a bit was the card system on WebOs. I was able to move over to Android without really feeling as if I was lacking anything major other than the cards (multitasking).

I think the choices you have with Android more than make up for anything you will miss from WebOs. Hardware choices, customization, and
support.

Give it a try and see what you think. You may have taken advantage of more features than I did on that OS. I for one enjoy Android, and do not miss it at all. I wouldn't mind trying it again but probably won't

 

[TimmyB]

The only thing I missed and only for a bit was the card system on WebOs. I was able to move over to Android without really feeling as if I was lacking anything major other than the cards (multitasking).

I think the choices you have with Android more than make up for anything you will miss from WebOs. Hardware choices, customization, and
support.

That's kinda where my head is at-- any loss in OS goodness will be more than made up by having REAL hardware running a pretty good OS. ICS looks really nice, almost as if they just took the parts from webOS that were missing and put them in.

Thanks much for the quick reply. Please continue to share your experiences with the atrix2 for us !

 

[excalis]

No problem Tim, I will let you know that so far I have not had any random reboots as with the Atrix, EVO, and XPRT. I did not do a restore or anything just started using it out of the box.

 

[TimmyB]

No problem Tim, I will let you that so far I have not had any random reboots as with the Atrix, EVO, and XPRT. I did not do a restore or anything just started using it out of the box.

What??? A webOS/Android user with a stock device? I look forward to your posts.

 

[excalis]

LOL, keeping it stock is a great change of pace for me, got tired of ROM changing, etc. ACS Frozen for the Epic 4G and Deck's ROM for the EVO were the best I experienced.

 

[Linkchomp]

speaking of updates, since Google owns Motorola, doesn't that mean updates forever?

 

[excalis]

speaking of updates, since Google owns Motorola, doesn't that mean updates forever?

I'm not sure how that works.

 

[planoman]

Good info, thanks. I actually tried to look for the Atrix 2 on this past Sunday and Best Buy did not have them yet. I then came to a week long meeting. Some reviews have finally hit the net such as phone dog and mobile tech review.

The phone looks good. I currently have a SGSII which I used my upgrade for and like it fine but worry that it will not get ICS in a timely manner. I may return the SGSII and buy the Atrix 2 off contract to free up my upgrade until next year.

The only thing I'm confused by is the conflicting info I have heard about the OMAP processor replacing the Tegra 2. In some articles it looks like it is better and in some the are saying it is not as good. Still not sure. Used to get a Quadrant of 2500 on my OG Atrix, what is the Atrix 2 getting? I get 3500 on my SGSII, but I have not noticed any significant difference in terms of everyday use compared to my OG Atrix. Any info on whether this processor is a significant downgrade or upgrade to the Tegra 2?

Thanks all !

 

[excalis]

Just ran Quadrant and the score was 2510, and for NeoCore it was at 58.2 without sound and 58.5 with sound.

I have read that the OMAP is faster but only marginal, what you get is better battery life, better video capture/playback and possibly camera shots as well. But it looks like to me that it all depends on what the application is and what resolution the screen is. The LG Optimus 3D usually did very well but it had a lower resolution than the Atrix too, that helped a bit.

The battery in this phone is smaller than on the Atrix but seems to last as long if not longer. /shrug

My information may be off a bit but I just know that everything works well and smoothly, that is what matters to me, as you can see from one of my previous replies, I had quite a few phones and I am happy with this one

 

[CrazyCamel369#AC]

I just bought the Atrix 2 myself and coming from the LG Thrill, I'm currently enjoying this one more right from the start. Loving that they included a dedicated Camera button (Which comes in handy more than you know it) also loving the speed of the phone itself. Hope this phone gets ice cream sandwich!

 

[planoman]

Just ran Quadrant and the score was 2510, and for NeoCore it was at 58.2 without sound and 58.5 with sound.

I have read that the OMAP is faster but only marginal, what you get is better battery life, better video capture/playback and possibly camera shots as well. But it looks like to me that it all depends on what the application is and what resolution the screen is. The LG Optimus 3D usually did very well but it had a lower resolution than the Atrix too, that helped a bit.

The battery in this phone is smaller than on the Atrix but seems to last as long if not longer. /shrug

My information may be off a bit but I just know that everything works well and smoothly, that is what matters to me, as you can see from one of my previous replies, I had quite a few phones and I am happy with this one

That is a good quadrant score! Thanks! It is comparable to the OG Atrix and I have not noticed any real world issues in performance between my OG Atrix and the SGSII. Most things I have read about the OMAP 4 concur with what you are saying, but I did see one review which said Atrix 2 had a "bargin basement processor" to keep the price down. (???) I think Motorola claims better screen, Camera/Video, Battery life and network speed for the Atrix 2 over the OG Atrix.

Thanks for your timely info. I am going to check it out this weekend! The fact that you do not need to sign into blur is all that much better!

 

[greasyspoon]

I love HTC's commitment to their phones are far as updates, Motorola is in between HTC and Samsung, I love Samsung's hardware but they fail on updates.

The Atrix 2 to me is a very solid phone to have.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!

I had the Samsung Infuse and hardware wise it was amazing:
-Huge AMOLED screen (Iliked the bigger icons)
-Extra 13 Gigs of built-in memory, so technically I could have 45(ish) gigs with a 32 Gig MicroSDHC card.
-Camera and corresponding software took great pictures (better than Atrix 2)

But:
-Not dual core, the Atrix 2 smokes the Infuse in speed
-qHD screen (although so far I think the Infuse screen was better)
-Feels better in my hand when talking on the phone.
-MOST IMPORTANTLY: I was worried that I would end up with an orphaned device that would at best get gingerbread, but never see ICS. At this point only Nexus and Googl-rola devices have the greatest chance to get new software.

 

[excalis]

Not signing in to Blur is actually a big minus on the Atrix, why?? Oh well, I don't have to deal with that anymore...hopefully that doesn't change.

Also I need to mention that the voice quality is pretty darn good, video and pictures are comparable to some of the nicer phones as well. Not sure about the bargain basement processor, some compare it to the Droid Bionic which is one of Verizon's top phones so I am good with that

Have fun with your Atrix 2 guys, post if you run into any issues, etc.

 

[planoman]

I never liked the fact that you HAD to have a motoblur account and sign into it with the OG Atrix. I do not use facebook, twitter etc and did not want my info in one more place. Even if you removed the SIM card and wanted to use the Atrix on wifi only you still had to sign into motorblur.

I was carrying my OG Atrix and SGSII with me for work travel in case I could not recharge the SGSII, I would swap the SIM card. I eventually sold the Atrix. Moto seemed very responsive with updates compared to when I had the Captivate, hence my concern about updates to my SGSII.

This seems like a fair balanced review and the data info is comparable to me since I also live in the DFW area.

Motorola Atrix 2 Review - Android Phone Reviews by MobileTechReview

 

[TimmyB]

Coming from the webOS world, I am not sure what this motoblur is. I know that manufacturers put their own skins on top of android, but this sounds like something more than that. Is that correct, and is this something that most users like, or would most prefer it to be left off, as you do?

 

[robkort]

The thing is that Motorola bakes Blur on this devices, and that is a hate/love thing with users. But with their new phones they are now giving you the choice to decide.

Sent from my TapadaAtrix