Motorola ATRIX 2 deals & review

The Motorola Atrix 2’s main selling-point is value for money. It’s cheaper than the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S2, making it a compelling entry to the higher end of the Android market. That doesn’t mean it skimps on features however – the handset comes with Android 2.3, Gingerbread, which is a big step up from version 2.2, Froyo, which featured on the first Atrix.

On the outside, the phone certainly looks similar to the previous Motorola Atrix. It’s sleek and light at just 147g, which, although 30g heftier than the Samsung S2, presents a fine compromise between weight and sturdiness. The phone’s 4.3” display compares favourably with the original Atrix’s 4” display, and ensures that web pages and messages are clear and easily readable. It also has the usual physical keys, including a ‘Home’ button and a ‘Return’ button, which contribute to the handset’s easy navigation.

Given that it is priced more competitively than other top-end smartphones, the Motorola Atrix 2’s features are definitely impressive. The 8MP camera is on a par with that of the iPhone 4S and is a 3MP improvement on the original Atrix. It also offers 1080p video capture, digital zoom and LED flash, proving that cheaper phones can contend with the top dogs when it comes to the photographic side of things. The on-board memory is decent enough at 8GB, but this can be improved with an additional 32GB in a microSD card, which should be enough for even the heaviest of media users.

The phone’s processor speed is 1GHz, on a par with the original Atrix. It’s not quite up to speed with the iPhone 4S or the Galaxy S2, but it’s as much as you can reasonably expect for the price tag. Internet pages load quickly, and there’s no lagging on apps. The battery life offers a good 500-odd minutes of continuous talk-time, and it comes with all the usual smartphone essentials, such as GPS and Bluetooth connectivity. The phone also offers 4G connectivity, the highly-awaited successor to 3G, which gets you on the web faster than ever, and allows you to ‘hotspot’ your 4G connection to provide internet connectivity for up to eight other users.

Good news: the Motorola Atrix 2 is a highly usable phone. The controls are intuitive and the interface is easy to navigate. You’ll find your way around this phone using the touch-screen, which features Android’s popular pinch-to-zoom feature, and typing into the on-screen keypad which is – great news – Swype-enabled. The phone’s media player is, unfortunately, not the popular Google Music app, but it works well enough and supports all of the most common file formats, including MP3.

The Motorola Atrix 2 offers a spec just below that of most high-end Android handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy S2 or the Galaxy Nexus. At this unique position in the marketplace, similar phones are either a step above – like those just mentioned – or just below, like the BlackBerry Curve 9380. The Atrix 2 is essentially a good all-rounder that either matches or just falls short of the standards of more expensive handsets.