Inspire 4G or the Atrix? Help Please!

[Shad0w26]

Ok so, I currently have a BlackBerry Torch and I'm due for an update as of January. I completely HATE HATE my BlackBerry Torch (I wish AT&T had the Bold 9780 because I would be in love, but no).

Since the Atrix was announced, I was in love with the phone. I wanted it so BADLY. It had 4G (HSPA+), Front-Facing Camera (First phone on AT&T that does), hospot, and dual-core processor. I was in love.

But slowly I started falling, out of love with the Atrix. First it was discovered that it would be bootlocked (is that what it's called?). Major boo. One reason I want to come to the Android platform is because of it's "hackability". I like that users can customize the Android platform and make it better than the stock platform itself. BlackBerry can't do this and I don't think it will ever be able to do this.
Another major boo about the bootlock is that I won't be able to use a free hotspot application. I really wanted this so I could use my own Wi-Fi, especially in school. In my school, we are given laptops, but unfortunately, almost 80% of the internet is blocked (Games, Instant Messaging, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). I currently have the BlackBerry Unlimited Data Plan from "way-back-then" and it's perfect for the hotspot feature.

Second, I read somewhere that dual-cores aren't really necessary on Android just yet. The Android OS can't really take full advantage of the dual-cores as of now. I don't see what the point of having a dual-core Atrix unless your going to use the laptop dock, which I'm not (see below).

Third, the price. When the Inspire 4G was announced at only $99.99 (!!!!!), I was like . Now that the Atrix was announced at $199.00 and the laptop dock at $499.99 separate, I was like . There's no way I'm paying $500.00 for both the Atrix and Laptop dock at once, nor am I going to pay $199.99 for the phone and another $499.99 for the laptop dock.

Fourth, the release date. The Inspire 4G is being released on February 13th while the Atrix on March 6th. I really can't stand my Torch any longer. I was thinking of doing the "30 Day Trial" with the Inspire 4G, return it about a week or so before the Atrix comes out, and then buy the Atrix (because I will have the $99.99 back from the Inspire 4G and by the time the Atrix comes out, I will most likely be able to pull $99.99 from my weekly paycheck out again).

Now I'm debating whether I should buy the Inspire 4G or Atrix. One of my main, main concerns is the front-facing camera. I really want one to chat with my friends and family (especially when I go abroad). So what should I buy, the Inspire or Atrix? Also, will the Inspire 4G be able to video-record in 1080p in later updates as the Atrix is?

Thanks a lot for the help in advance!

 

[spoiler61]

Im going to try the inspire for the first 30 days and see how it works out, the front facing cam is no big deal to me and also 720p works fine for me. You said you cant use the hotspot app for wi-fi so does this mean you cant use wi-fi on the atrix only 4g? Im confused there, I thought u can use wi-fi on any phone if it has wi-fi. Oh, also Amazon and Costco will be offering the atrix for $150.00.

 

[AndreaCristiano#AC]

look at the charges for the atrix pricing is ok but the dock is expensive and you have to pay for tethering so i would say inspire

AT&T Announces the World’s Most Powerful Smartphone, the Motorola ATRIX 4G, Will Be... -- DALLAS, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

 

[Fabes]

preorder on friday

here goes some more info

 

[chief113]

80 per cent of the Internet is blocked? I doubt that.

 

[Air Force One]

For me it basically comes down to this: Inspire has the eye candy on the outside, the Atrix has the eye candy on the inside. I'm going to try the inspire first. If the battery life sucks I'm going to return it for the Atrix and see how it's battery life is.

For me personally, at this point I'm more interested in the eye candy on the outside. The Inspire looks beautiful...the Atrix not so much. I'm getting a tablet soon so I don't need all the specs of the Atrix....will be using the tablet much of the time and I just want a really nice looking Android phone. The only thing that will kill the Inspire for me is bad battery life.

All that said, the $100 premium of the Atrix is a small price to pay for the higher res screen and dual core processor. If I were not getting a tablet....I would be ALL OVER the Atrix. It will be the best and most powerful Android device available when it launches. If only it had the build quality of the Inspire....it would be practically perfect.

 

[Shad0w26]

80 per cent of the Internet is blocked? I doubt that.

It is. The tablets they give us have IT Security, meaning they control everyone on it. You cannot download ANYTHING (Programs, Pictures, Text Files, Etc.) from the internet. If you try to access anything with the keywords games, messaging, Facebook, social networking, blogs, videos, music, etc. on it's site: it's blocked.

People don't see what the point of them giving us tablets was if we can't use them for nothing else than as virtual notebooks.

For me it basically comes down to this: Inspire has the eye candy on the outside, the Atrix has the eye candy on the inside. I'm going to try the inspire first. If the battery life sucks I'm going to return it for the Atrix and see how it's battery life is.

For me personally, at this point I'm more interested in the eye candy on the outside. The Inspire looks beautiful...the Atrix not so much. I'm getting a tablet soon so I don't need all the specs of the Atrix....will be using the tablet much of the time and I just want a really nice looking Android phone. The only thing that will kill the Inspire for me is bad battery life.

All that said, the $100 premium of the Atrix is a small price to pay for the higher res screen and dual core processor. If I were not getting a tablet....I would be ALL OVER the Atrix. It will be the best and most powerful Android device available when it launches. If only it had the build quality of the Inspire....it would be practically perfect.

I agree. The Inspire does look more pleasing than the Atrix to someone who doesn't care about internal. I might do what I said. Do the 30 Day Trial and see what happens.

 

[AndreaCristiano#AC]

For me it basically comes down to this: Inspire has the eye candy on the outside, the Atrix has the eye candy on the inside. I'm going to try the inspire first. If the battery life sucks I'm going to return it for the Atrix and see how it's battery life is.

For me personally, at this point I'm more interested in the eye candy on the outside. The Inspire looks beautiful...the Atrix not so much. I'm getting a tablet soon so I don't need all the specs of the Atrix....will be using the tablet much of the time and I just want a really nice looking Android phone. The only thing that will kill the Inspire for me is bad battery life.

All that said, the $100 premium of the Atrix is a small price to pay for the higher res screen and dual core processor. If I were not getting a tablet....I would be ALL OVER the Atrix. It will be the best and most powerful Android device available when it launches. If only it had the build quality of the Inspire....it would be practically perfect.

many many reviewers say that the inspire will make it through the day easily just wont make it 24 hours so if you charge every night youre golden. The Inspire isnt that less impressive than the atrix on the inside either the Atrix only has the dual core. The camera is better on inspire, the UI is great on the inspire and the ram is 780 on the Inspire 1G on the Atrix so the only real difference is the core and those cores wont really get utilized

 

[Air Force One]

many many reviewers say that the inspire will make it through the day easily just wont make it 24 hours so if you charge every night youre golden. The Inspire isnt that less impressive than the atrix on the inside either the Atrix only has the dual core. The camera is better on inspire, the UI is great on the inspire and the ram is 780 on the Inspire 1G on the Atrix so the only real difference is the core and those cores wont really get utilized

Regarding battery life: I hope so...sucks we cannot use an extended battery. My Nexus One was the same way...bad battery life. However I bought a 3200Mah extended battery for it and now it last 30 hours. That will not be happening with the Inspire due to the way the battery is inserted, so now stock battery life becomes a little more important to me. One thing you forgot to mention is that new screen the Atrix uses(qHD)...higher resolution than Inspire. Inspire uses same resolution as my Nexus One(480x800) but is 4.3 instead of the Nexus 3.7...that means everything will just be blown up on inspire with no resolution added.

I am as excited about the Inspire as the next person, but the Atrix is the better device...at least on paper, barring bugs or other unforeseen issues. Sure we can argue how much better Atrix is(maybe not THAT much) but IMO it IS better.

One thing the Atrix does not have over the inspire is the beauty. I think the Inspire/Desire HD is the most beautiful Android device so far.

 

[Air Force One]

Almost forgot: one other thing Inspire has going for it is HTC Sense. Much better than Atrix's motoblur. I use a hacked sense ROM on my Nexus One and LOVE Sense...the opening weather animations ROCK...won't get those on Atrix.

 

[Shad0w26]

Almost forgot: one other thing Inspire has going for it is HTC Sense. Much better than Atrix's motoblur. I use a hacked sense ROM on my Nexus One and LOVE Sense...the opening weather animations ROCK...won't get those on Atrix.

I'm kind of new to Android and don't know much about rooting and ROMs.

Is there a way to root a phone so it removes Sense, MotorBlur or TouchWiz and leaves it with the stock Android theme?

And yes, I've read the MotorBlur sucks completely and that TouchWiz just sucks. I haven't read much negativity about Sense.

 

[chief113]

It is. The tablets they give us have IT Security, meaning they control everyone on it. You cannot download ANYTHING (Programs, Pictures, Text Files, Etc.) from the internet. If you try to access anything with the keywords games, messaging, Facebook, social networking, blogs, videos, music, etc. on it's site: it's blocked.

People don't see what the point of them giving us tablets was if we can't use them for nothing else than as virtual notebooks.

Hey kid, don't worry about downloading junk and doing Facebook while you're at school. Pay attention to your teachers so that you can get a good job later and afford to still have this phone you have now.

 

[Air Force One]

I'm kind of new to Android and don't know much about rooting and ROMs.

Is there a way to root a phone so it removes Sense, MotorBlur or TouchWiz and leaves it with the stock Android theme?

And yes, I've read the MotorBlur sucks completely and that TouchWiz just sucks. I haven't read much negativity about Sense.

Well, if you want to actually remove Sense, Motoblur, Touchwiz etc.. from you device, then yes you need root and to install a different ROM.

HOWEVER, you do NOT need root to not use Sense, Touchwiz, etc..

What you can do is go into the Android Market and download a third party launcher, such as LauncherPro, ADWEX, OpenHome, etc..

These launchers when set as the default wll hide the stock launchers(Sense, etc..)

So the short answer is if you do not want to use Sense, Touchwiz or Motoblur, you have options that do not need root access. My brother is getting the Moto Atrix and he hates MotoBlur, so one of the first things he is going to do is download a third party launcher(LauncherPro, ADW-EX). If you get the Inspire and get tired of sense, you can download one of these options as well.