Hands On With the Motorola Atrix 2

SAN DIEGO – The Motorola Atrix was ahead of its time. Heck, it's probably still ahead of its time. The groundbreaking smartphone transforms into a desktop or laptop PC, and it's in my mind the herald of a world when we'll carry around a personal CPU that will interact with multiple screens in our lives.

Like all groundbreaking products, the Atrix was flawed when it launched, although a recent upgrade to Android 2.3 has fixed most of its early bugs. Now along comes the Atrix 2, which refines the Atrix formula in light of Sprint's successful, and similar, Motorola Photon 4G. I got a few minutes with the Atrix 2 here at CTIA, and I liked it – but then again, I also liked the first one.

The Atrix 2 is just a little more than the Atrix, for a little less money: $99 with contract. The Nvidia 1-GHz dual-core processor has been swapped out for a TI processor of the same speed. The camera has been knocked up to an 8-megapixel unit, with 1080P video capture. The Internet connection has been boosted to HSPA+ 21. The old "H+" icon signifying high-speed data has been replaced by an unusually snazzy "4G" graphic. The edges have been given a bit of a shine, and made a bit rounded. The back is now textured. The 960-by-540 screen looked sharper than the Motorola Droid Bionic's on Verizon.

None of these are massive changes to what was (after its Gingerbread update) an excellent smartphone with a unique selling point, the Webtop mode which turned it into a Linux PC running Firefox. If you liked the Atrix, you'll like this. If you didn't, there isn't much here to change your mind.

Unfortunately, Motorola still can't leave well enough alone with Android. The company had already altered standard Android icons like the browser icon; now it's altered them again, and not to make them more attractive. (The e-mail icon is especially ugly.) At least you can now change the four "speed-dial" app links at the bottom of every home screen.

The Atrix 2's trouble is that it goes up against a truly fearsome lineup at AT&T: not only three varieties of the iPhone, but the spectacular Samsung Galaxy S II. The Atrix 2 actually has a higher-resolution screen, but the colors on the GS II really pop, it's thinner, and it's faster. The question becomes: is Webtop, Motorola's transformation mode, actually a selling point? Or will people just be happy to get a powerful dual-core Android smartphone for $99? We'll have to see.

Motorola Atrix 2 Home

The Motorola Atrix 2 is similar to the original Atrix, but less expensive and with some minor changes. Here, for instance, Motorola has fiddled with some icons and made the elements at the bottom of the home screen user-changeable.

Motorola Atrix 2 Menu

The Motorola Atrix 2 runs Google Android Gingerbread with Motorola’s and AT&T’s bloatware stacked on top

Motorola Atrix 2 Webtop

The Atrix 2 has the same Webtop mode as the Atrix, Photon and Droid Bionic do; this turns the phone into a Linux PC running Firefox 4.0.

Motorola Atrix 2 Angle

The Motorola Atrix 2’s edges are made of a shiny, silvery plastic.

Motorola Atrix 2 Back

The back of the Motorola Atrix 2 is now textured, and Motorola has swapped out the 5-megapixel camera for an 8-megapixel unit.

Motorola Atrix 2 4G Indicator

Motorola celebrates the Atrix 2’s new HSPA+ 21 modem with an unusually snazzy “4G” indicator.

Motorola Atrix 2 Top

The power button and 3.5-mm headphone jack are on top of the Motorola Atrix 2.

Motorola Atrix 2 Ports

Like on the original Atrix, the Atrix 2 has USB and HDMI ports that can work together to power a laptop or desktop dock (sold separately).