Webtop Dock will be $300/$500! Thoughts?

[jake359]

Seriously, AT&T sucks, and this announcement confirms it.

Being that Motorola is the manufacturer, I'm not sure I get this. Where can you get an LCD Screen, keyboard and battery for $150? I too thought that an amazing price...it turns out to be too amazing. When none of them sell separately at $500, the price will come down, but the $500 bundle will appeal to lots of business users who now don't need both a phone and a laptop. I've seen the bundle (last night), and the screen/keyboard are amazing, thinner than a MacBook Air, and together their about 1/4 the price (of the MacBook).

It's not for everybody, but the phone's performance is double that of my Captivate (according to Quadrant Standard). And it makes a darn nice little laptop too.

 

[dacp283]

When this first announced I said it was gimmicky but peopled argued how it would be necessity and a must have, we'll see how much of a necessity it is at this price, wow.

 

[ModManKev]

I'm an iPhone 4 owner on AT&T, and the Atrix + Laptop Dock sounded like a great fit for me... until I saw the laptop dock price, AND the ridiculous decision to mandate a tethering plan for the webtop surfing... (does AT&T really think that counts as tethering??). I really wanted to dual wield mobile operating systems... but that might have to wait.

 

[Wanderer000]

I thought of buying it the phone off contract if the Laptop dock was going to be $150, thinking the phone plus the dock would be worth it at that price.
But $499 for the Laptop dock? Pass!

Good job AT&T killing a lot of momentum with this announcement!

 

[andbarrone]

Huh... i will wait HTC to do something like that, motorola is not good player... This will be like Nokia N900, which was ther first good phone, but two moths latter after release N900 was totaly crap, and i think motorola will be like nokia in Feb. 2010

 

[ChrisFricke]

I pretty much agree with everything everyone said... the price is too high and the tethering charge is stupid. It's like charging a tethering fee for any device with HDMI out... cause the screen is bigger and the orientation is different? Cause I can use tabs instead of windows in the browser? Err?

It's not like the doc is a separate device taking advantage of the network connection leased for the phone... it's the same freaking device with fancy inpout/output peripherals! Ugg. Business customers aren't going to go for this either...

Sorry Motorola and AT&T, you really screwed this one up. Maybe HTC and Verizon will get it right next year.

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

Great! Now if I want the phone, the laptop dock, and the multimedia dock, it'll cost me around $1200 most likely (I have no available upgrade until 2012). Still might get the phone and multimedia dock. Definitely pass on the laptop dock though.

 

[cmunic8r99]

Stay with me:

Perspective 1: this sucks - for $500 i would rather get a netbook and a killer phone that have different different OS, favorites, documents, email setup, music/videos, and applications.

Perspective 2: for $500 i can get a netbook and a killer phone that share the same OS, favorites, documents, email setup, music/videos, and applications? Cool.

($20 to tether, regardless of perspective, is stupid.)

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

I might be the only one here who feels this way, but if I'm going to drop nearly $800 on a phone/laptop dock, I think I'd rather just splurge and go out and buy a Xoom or G-Tablet off contract.

 

[chrisaustin23]

It was going to feel like a bit of a gimmick at $200 by itself (and presumably cheaper by this - 'package pricing' scheme). Still, it was compelling. Now this is just ignorance.

I haven't checked out much video of the multimedia dock, but that still seems best in-class, so this phone still has more than just a Tegra 2 and a big battery (two good reasons to buy this phone regardless).

I'm with you on the multimedia dock. I typically don't move my laptop around so a nice desktop setup with a BT keyboard, mouse, and big ass flat panel might be sweet. Hoping that they wouldn't require the tethering with the multimedia package. Sucks.

 

[lite_x]

Although expensive, I didnt think 500 for the bundle was that bad a price... Not crazy about the tethering fee.

I will still pick the bundle up and probably the HD dock as well.

 

[Gameboy70]

Being that Motorola is the manufacturer, I'm not sure I get this. Where can you get an LCD Screen, keyboard and battery for $150? I too thought that an amazing price...it turns out to be too amazing. When none of them sell separately at $500, the price will come down, but the $500 bundle will appeal to lots of business users who now don't need both a phone and a laptop.

You're forgetting AT&T's unnecessary mobile hotspot fee for the bundled price that adds $480 to the total over a 2-year contract. Since the "laptop" is basically just I/O for the phone, there's absolutely no technical need for a tethering plan. I'm still having trouble believing that even AT&T would have the audacity to insist that running a desktop browser qualifies as "tethering".

This makes the Motorola rep's "buy elsewhere" gaffe seem pretty demure by comparison.

 

[chrisaustin23]

I could hear the proverbial wind being sucked out of a million nerd's sails today with this announcement. From hope to nope in 2.2 seconds.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out in March for AT&T. I don't think these accessories would attract your average Joe consumer, and they have certainly been panned by us bleeding-edge nerds with the announcement of the prices. GFL AT&T!

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

I might be the only one here who feels this way, but if I'm going to drop nearly $800 on a phone/laptop dock, I think I'd rather just splurge and go out and buy a Xoom or G-Tablet off contract.

I agree with you on this one. I was waiting for the Atrix to come out, since I'm using a damn Blackjack 2 (sold my iPhone 4, made a nice profit), but I might pass on the Atrix and get a Xoom instead. I would have to buy the Atrix off contract anyway.

 

[eric6052]

I want some of whatever AT&T is smoking because they are out there with this one.

 

[ka3yan]

I could hear the proverbial wind being sucked out of a million nerd's sails today with this announcement. From hope to nope in 2.2 seconds.

Darn funny dude!!! Seriously had me cracking up!!!

 

[SharonW]

Being that Motorola is the manufacturer, I'm not sure I get this. Where can you get an LCD Screen, keyboard and battery for $150? I too thought that an amazing price...it turns out to be too amazing. When none of them sell separately at $500, the price will come down, but the $500 bundle will appeal to lots of business users who now don't need both a phone and a laptop. I've seen the bundle (last night), and the screen/keyboard are amazing, thinner than a MacBook Air, and together their about 1/4 the price (of the MacBook).

It's not for everybody, but the phone's performance is double that of my Captivate (according to Quadrant Standard). And it makes a darn nice little laptop too.

You're right, and this is what people aren't getting. A more apt comparison would be a smart phone and a Xoom or iPad together for $500. Shoot, the Xoom or iPad alone cost that, but with the lapdock you get constant sync because it's ALL on the phone. And then there's the under-reported Citrix Receiver which can log in to your business PC where you can use any app on that and once again have everything auto-sync because it's all on your phone.

This is WAY more practical than a mere separate phone and pad. It's business class. It's a road warrior's ultimate. You all need to do a Google of Atrix plus Citrix. This isn't a toy like the iPad. It's functional for everything.

 

[devinclfalcons]

Being that Motorola is the manufacturer, I'm not sure I get this. Where can you get an LCD Screen, keyboard and battery for $150? I too thought that an amazing price...it turns out to be too amazing. When none of them sell separately at $500, the price will come down, but the $500 bundle will appeal to lots of business users who now don't need both a phone and a laptop. I've seen the bundle (last night), and the screen/keyboard are amazing, thinner than a MacBook Air, and together their about 1/4 the price (of the MacBook).

It's not for everybody, but the phone's performance is double that of my Captivate (according to Quadrant Standard). And it makes a darn nice little laptop too.

Uh, you can get a netbook for a few hundred bucks... and for $500 I can get a damn good laptop with dual core and more RAM and what not than the Atrix. $150 would have been reasonable. $300/500=VERY UNREASONABLE

 

[TheGeekNextDoor]

I was ready to switch, but I just can't justify it now. Glad I didn't sell my iPhone 4 with the intention of picking up this! I will wait until after MWC to see what other awesome tegra 2 phones with a gig of RAM are out there. I would like a slightly larger screen too... Maybe google will announce a real nexus one replacement that actually has current hardware specs.

 

[john_v]

This is WAY more practical than a mere separate phone and pad. It's business class. It's a road warrior's ultimate. You all need to do a Google of Atrix plus Citrix. This isn't a toy like the iPad. It's functional for everything.

Well have fun tearing up the road with your 2gb of data. Seriously. And to the response of "use wifi", well if you have a wifi connection just might as well have a real laptop to get stuff done.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to rain on your parade (seeing as ATT did enough of that today). I was pumped about this, but someone in another thread (or maybe this one, they're all running together) said it best: AT&T just took away unlimited data in order to use something that is going to encourage heavy data use. Not only do they get you on the extra 20 for the tethering plan, but then when you go over your 2gb tiered limit logging into your citrix client from the road, they'll get you for overages there.