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Motorola ATRIX HD Review

Motorola ATRIX HD
The Motorola Atrix HD is a foundation for what's to come in the future of mid-range smartphones. Here is our review.

The Motorola Atrix HD is a foundation for what’s to come in the future of mid-range smartphones. As the volume of smartphone users increase so does the overall amount of hardware options. Items such as processors and different screen techs are becoming marginally cheaper as the days go on, so creating a capable smartphone for a reasonable price is somewhat obtainable.

Motorola ATRIX HD Comes With Good Hardware For The Price

The Atrix HD is nothing revolutionary when its comes to industrial design. If anything, it’s almost a direct copy of its sibling in the Motorola RAZR for Verizon. Now that necessarily isn’t a knock on the device since the RAZR has done well with consumers in its own right. Being priced at $99.99, I’m pretty content with what Motorola is offering us here. The familiar theme with adding a Kevlar backing on the device is always welcome as well. Sadly, the Atrix HD is one hell of a smartphone when it comes to overall size. It’s big and in all the wrong places. Motorola seems to love unneeded bezel because they’ve utilized this aspect of the device to the fullest extent. Not to mention a whole inch and a half is set aside SOLELY for the AT&T logo. Yes very frustrating to say the least but something that wouldn’t deter me from purchasing the device.

ATRIX HD Close To Stock Android 4.0, Adds Enhancements But Slow In Performance.

This is the holy grail and Achilles heel of the Atrix HD. Saying that  MotoBlur, the new and improved MotoBlur is the best Android skin on the market may get me killed by some tech enthusiast out there. Just a year ago, I was reiterating how idiotic their user experience was with Gingerbread running on the Motorola RAZR. But times have changed folks, Google’s acquisition of Motorola must have bore some fruit after all. MotorBlur is literally almost stock ICS 4.0. Of course, Motorola has added a few “enhancements” to the user experience, but this time around, they truly are enhancements! For example, they’ve added a simple and intuitive feature you can access by sliding your finger on an app such as Messaging. It will give you a quick view into your messaging thread and if need be, click on a message to reply. Genius.

Now it’s time for the not so awesome part. Consistency. The Atrix HD incorporates the latest in processor technology . The S4 dual-core running this guy can undoubtedly handle an almost stock ICS experience. After consistent use with the device, things started to lag, scrolling became increasingly sloppy (to the point I thought I had a defective unit) and the opening of core apps took an unacceptable 2-3 seconds. It’s clear Motorola hasn’t fully worked out the kinks with its new skin. They also haven’t optimized a thing when it comes to the hardware and software. I’m confident Motorola will shoot an update in the future to rectify these issues. When they actually will is a totally different subject all together.

Surprisingly, the Atrix HD handles phone calls just like a phone should. Excellent volume through all outputs of communication. Especially the speaker phone. Big guy packs a punch. The overall experience using the device when making phone calls is on par with the best of them. The Nokia Lumia 900 edges it out by only a hair.

Summary

Cameras Are Something Motorola Is Not Good With And the ATRIX HD Is No Different.

Camera. Camera. Camera. I’ve repeated this word in a trio to emphasize how crappy it is. Motorola had to make cut backs somewhere on the device to justify that $99.99 price. There’s not much to describe here. I’ll let the still images and the video same is with the video review so check that out.

ATRIX HD Good Budget Buy With The Need Of Software Updates.

As of now, the Atrix HD has a few shortcomings that hinder it from being a daily driver. Luckily, it has nothing to do with it’s full hardware package. The majority of the issues are software based and can easily be remedied with a software optimization update. Lag will become your best friend if you don’t keep an eye on pushing the device. Despite those seemingly major gripes, you can’t pass up what Motorola is offering here. The Atrix HD gets the thumbs up for the basic consumer looking for a valiant smartphone to keep them in modern times for a few years.

About the author

Alexander Omoniyi

I'm a 21 year old college student whose obsession with tech began only a few years ago. From iOS, Android, and currently being a Windows Phone user, I’ve come to be well-informed on whats truly happening in the mobile ecosystem of these amazing pieces of technology. When you get down to the basics, all innovation begins with pushing the boundaries of whats already known and extending it to another frontier. I get excited just realizing how far the smart phone has come from its re-birth with the iPhone. We haven’t even begun to reach the climactic point of what these devices can do, and I for one plan to be there every step of the way.

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