Motorola ATRIX HD

Introduction:

With half of 2012 behind us, it’s been an uphill joy ride for AT&T, as the carrier has been graced with some stellar Android powered smartphones. In fact, it’s arguable to say that AT&T has the deepest lineup out of all the major domestic carriers – and it looks like it’s not stopping anytime soon! Thus far, we’ve seen flagship devices from HTC, Samsung, and Sony, though, one venerable manufacturer has remained silent throughout it all.

Motorola has been doing some serious work over on Verizon, as its DROID smartphones have taken the spotlight – especially the battery friendly Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. It’s not that AT&T doesn’t get its fair share of equally compelling devices, as the carrier nabbed the ATRIX 4G and ATRIX 2 last year, but AT&T customers are starving for something that’s similar to what Verizon is blessed with. Thankfully, they’re heeding the call now that the Motorola ATRIX HD is finally here, which is sporting a drool worthy $99.99 on-contract price. After seeing so many stellar devices for AT&T, the ATRIX HD has a tough battle ahead of itself in an attempt to stay relevant amongst the pack.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Quick Start Guide

Design:

Let’s not beat around the bushes with this one people, but there’s not much originality found with the design of the Motorola ATRIX HD – it’s actually a bigger version of the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. We’re not too keen about its black/white paint job, but for those who prefer a uniform body, it’s also available in all-black. At its core, the ATRIX HD is a solidly built handset, which is evidenced by its sturdy plastic body, clean looking KEVLAR rear backing, and water resistant nano-coating. Still, our biggest gripe is that it feels too unwieldy in the hand because of the larger bezels surrounding its 4.5” display. By comparison, its overall size is nearly identical to the HTC One X because of those wider bezels.

The Motorola ATRIX HD feels too unwieldy in the hand because of the larger bezels surrounding its 4.5” display

You can compare the Motorola ATRIX HD with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Call it a rarity still, there are no capacitive Android buttons whatsoever with the handset, since they’re incorporated into the platform. Meanwhile, above the display, we find a very tiny earpiece, green LED notification light, and its front-facing camera, which has the ability to shoot 720p videos.

	Front-facing camera

Just like the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX, the ATRIX HD has a plastic flap on its left side that tucks away its microSIM and microSD slots. Additionally, the placement of its physical power and volume buttons are in the same locations on the right edge. However, we’re not fans of their indistinct feel and stiff response. Rounding things out, we spot the handset’s 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB, and microHDMI ports all lying on the top edge of the phone – though, it’s worth noting that this ATRIX doesn’t feature Motorola’s Webtop experience.

Bottom edge	Left	3.5mm jack, microUSB, and microHDMI ports (top)
Power and volume keys (right)	microSIM and microSD slots
The sides of the Motorola ATRIX HD

Much like its rivals, the ATRIX HD packs along an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash – with three notches nearby that tucks away the internal speaker. There’s no way of getting easy access to its 1,780 mAh battery.

Back	Rear camera

Display:

Rather than employing an AMOLED panel, like what’s found on the DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX, Motorola instead opts to grace the ATRIX HD with a 4.5” HD (720 x 1280) ColorBoost TFT display. Naturally, its pixel density of 326 ppi produces some sharp details that allow us to easily recognize fine text. And even though Motorola doesn’t elaborate on the ColorBoost technology, our eyes take note of the superb and vibrant color reproduction of the display, which is a bit more natural in tone when compared to the over-saturation of AMOLED panels. Throw in some decent viewing angles and a high brightness output, it really comes to life in many aspects – albeit, it still requires some shielding in direct sunlight. There’s no arguing that it’s one sharp display, but it still doesn’t come off as being more compelling than the Super LCD2 display of the HTC One X.

Viewing angles

Interface:

It’s anyone’s guess who’s influencing Motorola at this point, but one thing is certain, there’s no remnants of MOTOBLUR whatsoever with the ATRIX HD’s Android experience. No doubt, some will like the mostly vanillaAndroid 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich experience, however, the overall one isn’t as comprehensive as other custom UIs from the competition – like HTC Sense 4.0 or Samsung’s TouchWiz Nature UX. Nevertheless, Motorola’s choice of donning an unmodified Android experience might mean that the handset will receive updates faster (we hope).

Initially, it appears as though it’s a stock ICS experience on the ATRIX HD, which is noted by its on-screen Android buttons and typical app tray that breaks down the apps and widgets. However, Motorola manages to provide a single goodie in the form of the “Circles” widgets. Specifically, the widget consists of three circles that display weather/temperature information, various clocks, and one for the handset’s battery level, data consumption, and settings. Aside from that, the rest should be a very familiar one.

The Motorola ATRIX HD offers a mostly vanilla Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich experience

Functionality:

With the stock ICS experience on hand, there’s nothing out of the ordinary with the handset’s coreorganizer apps – seeing that their presentations and functions are unchanged.

Organizer apps

Even though the Webtop functionality is missing in action with the ATRIX HD, Motorola is kind enough to bring over its SMART Actions app, which allows us to modify certain functions of the handset according to specific actions. As Motorola points out, it’s great tool for optimizing the performance of the handset, like its operation or battery life, but it requires some meticulous management on our part to become useful. Still, if you prefer having a firm grip on all aspects of the smartphone’s functions, this should be something that you’ll find satisfying.

With the real estate presented to us by its display, typing up messages with its on-screen keyboard isn’t an issue – mainly because both the Swype and stock keyboards are spacious and responsive.

On-screen keyboards of the Motorola ATRIX HD

Processor and Memory:

Joining the ranks of other select Android smartphones on AT&T’s lineup, the Motorola ATRIX HD is able to fly effortlessly with most tasks thanks to its 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. Maintaining a high level of performance with nearly everything we threw at it, there’s no arguing its blazing rate of operation – albeit, there’s an occasional delay every now and then with opening certain apps. Although it fails to conjure up class-leading benchmark scores, we’re not entirely saddened since its real-world operation is evidence enough to distinguish itself as a viable contender .

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Motorola ATRIX HD	4310	5620	56,5
Sony Xperia ion	2833	6044	36,4
Samsung Galaxy S III US	4520	6111	59,4
HTC One X AT&T	4958	6863	57,7

Unlike its esteemed rivals, the ATRIX HD is lacking in the storage department out of the box. Honestly, you’ll need to throw in a microSD card in it because it’s only boasting 4.97GB of total storage!

Internet and Connectivity:

With 4G LTE connectivity in tow with this bad boy, you’re ensured lighting fast data speeds with AT&T’s network – that’s as long as you have it around your area of course. Even though Adobe Flash isn’t preinstalled, a quick visit to Google Play remedies that – thus, presenting us with that desktop-like experience. Most of the time, the handset retains a fluid movement with its navigational controls, however, it does suffer from jumpiness with its movement every now and. It’s not too irritating, luckily, but it does stand apart from other things. Nonetheless, the experience is more than tolerable to accept.

Web browsing

Being the GSM device it is, international travelers won’t come across any problems trying to get it to work with most wireless networks abroad – though, LTE connectivity is only available domestically via AT&T. As for its other connectivity goodies, it features a GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 with EDR, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and mobile hotspot connectivity. Strangely, it’s lacking NFC, which is increasingly becoming a standard with most high-end devices.

Camera:

One area that Motorola left untouched is the handset’s camera interface, which is unchanged from previous devices. To tell you the truth, it’s rather barren in terms of manual controls, but there are a few shooting modes and options that should tide some people over – but as a whole, we’re not particularly fond of its layout. Essentially, it’s lacking some deep custom options we’ve been exposed to with other recent devices to please hardened photo-happy enthusiasts. Just like its DROID siblings, the ATRIX HD emits a cool zapping tone when it snaps a shot.

Camera interface

Brandishing an 8-megapixel camera in the rear, it’s not an upgrade considering that the ATRIX 2 flaunted the same resolution. Unfortunately for this just made available smartphone, its quality is nowhere close to the level of its direct competitors – simply, we’re dismayed! Even in outdoor settings with plenty of lighting, it fails to deliver anything compelling, which is illustrated by its muddy details and bland color tones. Worse yet, its quality in low lighting is stubbornly poor, as it’s diminished by some noticeable instances of noise and graininess. Using the flash does little to alleviate its garish quality, seeing that it produces a vignetting effect that doesn’t illuminate properly the corners and borders of the shot.

Outdoor samples shot with the Motorola ATRIX HD

Strong	Medium	Low light
3ft	5ft	7ft
Darkness with flash Indoor samples

However, its 1080p video recording quality fares a little bit better, but not by much. First and foremost, we do appreciate its smooth capture rate of 29 frames per second. Beyond that, we see pretty much the same results with its still capture quality. Specifically, its details are very dull in tone and that it suffers from a tiny bit of artifacting when panning quickly. Audio recording sounds decent, well, except for its inability to cut down wind noise.

Multimedia:

Showing its love for the stock ICS experience, both its gallery and music apps maintain their presentations. With the latter, we’re always tickled by the cool 3D carousel in play when browsing through our catalog, but beyond that, it packs a straightforward layout. Cranking up its volume to its maximum, it delivers a pleasant tone that’s never too irritating to the ear. Even better, its audio quality can be enhanced thanks to the available sound effects offered by the ATRIX HD.

Music player

Having the correct ingredients on hand, the Motorola ATRIX HD’s 4.5” HD ColorBoost TFT display is a beauty of its own when it comes to watching high definition videos. Playing our test video encoded in DivX 1920 x 1080 resolution, it’s naturally equipped in providing us with an excellent experience. Not only does it boast sharp details, but it’s the rich colors of its display that ensnares our attention above all.

Watching high definition videos

Regrettably, there’s no support for Motorola’s Webtop experience with this ATRIX – as we’ve noted already. Rather, its microHDMI port simply coughs up the typical mirrored experience on a high definition television set. Call it a bummer, we’re curious to know why a standout feature like that is omitted with a top-shelf device such as this.

Software:

Being an AT&T bound device and all, it’s preloaded with all of the usual AT&T apps we’re so used to seeing – these include AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Ready2Go, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi, Live AT&T U-Verse Live TV, myAT&T, and AT&T Messages. As for the other on there, they consist of Amazon Kindle, Qik Lite, Quickoffice, Real Racing 2, and YPmobile.

Preloaded apps on the Motorola ATRIX HD

Call quality:

Don’t let its itsy bitsy earpiece fool you because it manages to pump out some strong tones that enable us to listen to our callers with comfort. Furthermore, voices on both ends of the line are audibly distinct, noise-free, and clear. In addition to the wonderful experience through the earpiece, the speakerphone yields the same exact results – so you won’t ever miss a beat with conversations!

In high coverage areas, we didn’t experience any fluctuations with signal strength or dropped calls, however, its output seems to stay put at around the -85 dBm mark.

Battery:

We can wish all we want about seeing the 3,300 mAh battery of the DROID RAZR MAXX inside of this one, but instead, the ATRIX HD is mellowed out with an uncannily low 1,780 mAh battery. And of course, we’re not terribly surprised to find its performance well below the competition, as it provides less than a single day of juice. Obviously, it’s enough to get us through a grueling work day, but it’s something that’s going to require nightly charges.

Conclusion:

Oh Motorola! We were expecting so much more out of this one, especially when AT&T customers have been waiting an extensive amount of time for something other than the ATRIX 2 from last year. Aside from the larger and higher resolution display, there isn’t anything particularly compelling that we haven’t seen before on an Android driven smartphone from Motorola’s camp.

However, we can’t count out the lovely $99.99 on-contract price that it’s flaunting. Much like the Sony Xperia ion before it, the $100 price point is increasingly becoming the budget high-end category for AT&T’s Android lineup – if it even exists! Donning such a stellar price point, there’s no questioning the kind of value it has to offer consumers, but it’s been too handicapped to distinguish itself as a superior device to Moto’s previous efforts. Having seen such stellar Android devices like the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III, there’s just too much left to be desired with the Motorola ATRIX HD.

Software version of the AT&T review unit:
Android Version: 4.0.4
Build Number: 7.7.1Q-115_MB886_FFW-14
Kernel Version: 3.0.8-00036-g9409db6

 

Motorola ATRIX HD Review

Introduction:

With half of 2012 behind us, it’s been an uphill joy ride for AT&T, as the carrier has been graced with some stellar Android powered smartphones. In fact, it’s arguable to say that AT&T has the deepest lineup out of all the major domestic carriers – and it looks like it’s not stopping anytime soon! Thus far, we’ve seen flagship devices from HTC, Samsung, and Sony, though, one venerable manufacturer has remained silent throughout it all.

Motorola has been doing some serious work over on Verizon, as its DROID smartphones have taken the spotlight – especially the battery friendly Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. It’s not that AT&T doesn’t get its fair share of equally compelling devices, as the carrier nabbed the ATRIX 4G and ATRIX 2 last year, but AT&T customers are starving for something that’s similar to what Verizon is blessed with. Thankfully, they’re heeding the call now that the Motorola ATRIX HD is finally here, which is sporting a drool worthy $99.99 on-contract price. After seeing so many stellar devices for AT&T, the ATRIX HD has a tough battle ahead of itself in an attempt to stay relevant amongst the pack.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Quick Start Guide

Design:

Let’s not beat around the bushes with this one people, but there’s not much originality found with the design of the Motorola ATRIX HD – it’s actually a bigger version of the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. We’re not too keen about its black/white paint job, but for those who prefer a uniform body, it’s also available in all-black. At its core, the ATRIX HD is a solidly built handset, which is evidenced by its sturdy plastic body, clean looking KEVLAR rear backing, and water resistant nano-coating. Still, our biggest gripe is that it feels too unwieldy in the hand because of the larger bezels surrounding its 4.5” display. By comparison, its overall size is nearly identical to the HTC One X because of those wider bezels.

The Motorola ATRIX HD feels too unwieldy in the hand because of the larger bezels surrounding its 4.5” display

Call it a rarity still, there are no capacitive Android buttons whatsoever with the handset, since they’re incorporated into the platform. Meanwhile, above the display, we find a very tiny earpiece, green LED notification light, and its front-facing camera, which has the ability to shoot 720p videos.

	Front-facing camera

Just like the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX, the ATRIX HD has a plastic flap on its left side that tucks away its microSIM and microSD slots. Additionally, the placement of its physical power and volume buttons are in the same locations on the right edge. However, we’re not fans of their indistinct feel and stiff response. Rounding things out, we spot the handset’s 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB, and microHDMI ports all lying on the top edge of the phone – though, it’s worth noting that this ATRIX doesn’t feature Motorola’s Webtop experience.

Bottom edge	Left	3.5mm jack, microUSB, and microHDMI ports (top)
Power and volume keys (right)	microSIM and microSD slots
The sides of the Motorola ATRIX HD

Much like its rivals, the ATRIX HD packs along an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash – with three notches nearby that tucks away the internal speaker. There’s no way of getting easy access to its 1,780 mAh battery.

Back	Rear camera

Display:

Rather than employing an AMOLED panel, like what’s found on the DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX, Motorola instead opts to grace the ATRIX HD with a 4.5” HD (720 x 1280) ColorBoost TFT display. Naturally, its pixel density of 326 ppi produces some sharp details that allow us to easily recognize fine text. And even though Motorola doesn’t elaborate on the ColorBoost technology, our eyes take note of the superb and vibrant color reproduction of the display, which is a bit more natural in tone when compared to the over-saturation of AMOLED panels. Throw in some decent viewing angles and a high brightness output, it really comes to life in many aspects – albeit, it still requires some shielding in direct sunlight. There’s no arguing that it’s one sharp display, but it still doesn’t come off as being more compelling than the Super LCD2 display of the HTC One X.

Interface:

It’s anyone’s guess who’s influencing Motorola at this point, but one thing is certain, there’s no remnants of MOTOBLUR whatsoever with the ATRIX HD’s Android experience. No doubt, some will like the mostly vanillaAndroid 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich experience, however, the overall one isn’t as comprehensive as other custom UIs from the competition – like HTC Sense 4.0 or Samsung’s TouchWiz Nature UX. Nevertheless, Motorola’s choice of donning an unmodified Android experience might mean that the handset will receive updates faster (we hope).

Initially, it appears as though it’s a stock ICS experience on the ATRIX HD, which is noted by its on-screen Android buttons and typical app tray that breaks down the apps and widgets. However, Motorola manages to provide a single goodie in the form of the “Circles” widgets. Specifically, the widget consists of three circles that display weather/temperature information, various clocks, and one for the handset’s battery level, data consumption, and settings. Aside from that, the rest should be a very familiar one.

The Motorola ATRIX HD offers a mostly vanilla Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich experience

Functionality:

With the stock ICS experience on hand, there’s nothing out of the ordinary with the handset’s coreorganizer apps – seeing that their presentations and functions are unchanged.

Organizer apps

Even though the Webtop functionality is missing in action with the ATRIX HD, Motorola is kind enough to bring over its SMART Actions app, which allows us to modify certain functions of the handset according to specific actions. As Motorola points out, it’s great tool for optimizing the performance of the handset, like its operation or battery life, but it requires some meticulous management on our part to become useful. Still, if you prefer having a firm grip on all aspects of the smartphone’s functions, this should be something that you’ll find satisfying.

With the real estate presented to us by its display, typing up messages with its on-screen keyboard isn’t an issue – mainly because both the Swype and stock keyboards are spacious and responsive.

On-screen keyboards of the Motorola ATRIX HD

Processor and Memory:

Joining the ranks of other select Android smartphones on AT&T’s lineup, the Motorola ATRIX HD is able to fly effortlessly with most tasks thanks to its 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. Maintaining a high level of performance with nearly everything we threw at it, there’s no arguing its blazing rate of operation – albeit, there’s an occasional delay every now and then with opening certain apps. Although it fails to conjure up class-leading benchmark scores, we’re not entirely saddened since its real-world operation is evidence enough to distinguish itself as a viable contender .

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Motorola ATRIX HD	4310	5620	56,5
Sony Xperia ion	2833	6044	36,4
Samsung Galaxy S III US	4520	6111	59,4
HTC One X AT&T	4958	6863	57,7

Unlike its esteemed rivals, the ATRIX HD is lacking in the storage department out of the box. Honestly, you’ll need to throw in a microSD card in it because it’s only boasting 4.97GB of total storage!

Internet and Connectivity:

With 4G LTE connectivity in tow with this bad boy, you’re ensured lighting fast data speeds with AT&T’s network – that’s as long as you have it around your area of course. Even though Adobe Flash isn’t preinstalled, a quick visit to Google Play remedies that – thus, presenting us with that desktop-like experience. Most of the time, the handset retains a fluid movement with its navigational controls, however, it does suffer from jumpiness with its movement every now and. It’s not too irritating, luckily, but it does stand apart from other things. Nonetheless, the experience is more than tolerable to accept.

Web browsing

Being the GSM device it is, international travelers won’t come across any problems trying to get it to work with most wireless networks abroad – though, LTE connectivity is only available domestically via AT&T. As for its other connectivity goodies, it features a GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 with EDR, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and mobile hotspot connectivity. Strangely, it’s lacking NFC, which is increasingly becoming a standard with most high-end devices.

Camera:

One area that Motorola left untouched is the handset’s camera interface, which is unchanged from previous devices. To tell you the truth, it’s rather barren in terms of manual controls, but there are a few shooting modes and options that should tide some people over – but as a whole, we’re not particularly fond of its layout. Essentially, it’s lacking some deep custom options we’ve been exposed to with other recent devices to please hardened photo-happy enthusiasts. Just like its DROID siblings, the ATRIX HD emits a cool zapping tone when it snaps a shot.

Camera interface

Brandishing an 8-megapixel camera in the rear, it’s not an upgrade considering that the ATRIX 2 flaunted the same resolution. Unfortunately for this just made available smartphone, its quality is nowhere close to the level of its direct competitors – simply, we’re dismayed! Even in outdoor settings with plenty of lighting, it fails to deliver anything compelling, which is illustrated by its muddy details and bland color tones. Worse yet, its quality in low lighting is stubbornly poor, as it’s diminished by some noticeable instances of noise and graininess. Using the flash does little to alleviate its garish quality, seeing that it produces a vignetting effect that doesn’t illuminate properly the corners and borders of the shot.

Outdoor samples shot with the Motorola ATRIX HD

 

Strong	Medium	Low light
3ft	5ft	7ft
Darkness with flash Indoor samples

However, its 1080p video recording quality fares a little bit better, but not by much. First and foremost, we do appreciate its smooth capture rate of 29 frames per second. Beyond that, we see pretty much the same results with its still capture quality. Specifically, its details are very dull in tone and that it suffers from a tiny bit of artifacting when panning quickly. Audio recording sounds decent, well, except for its inability to cut down wind noise.

Multimedia:

Showing its love for the stock ICS experience, both its gallery and music apps maintain their presentations. With the latter, we’re always tickled by the cool 3D carousel in play when browsing through our catalog, but beyond that, it packs a straightforward layout. Cranking up its volume to its maximum, it delivers a pleasant tone that’s never too irritating to the ear. Even better, its audio quality can be enhanced thanks to the available sound effects offered by the ATRIX HD.

Music player

Having the correct ingredients on hand, the Motorola ATRIX HD’s 4.5” HD ColorBoost TFT display is a beauty of its own when it comes to watching high definition videos. Playing our test video encoded in DivX 1920 x 1080 resolution, it’s naturally equipped in providing us with an excellent experience. Not only does it boast sharp details, but it’s the rich colors of its display that ensnares our attention above all.

Watching high definition videos

Regrettably, there’s no support for Motorola’s Webtop experience with this ATRIX – as we’ve noted already. Rather, its microHDMI port simply coughs up the typical mirrored experience on a high definition television set. Call it a bummer, we’re curious to know why a standout feature like that is omitted with a top-shelf device such as this.

Software:

Being an AT&T bound device and all, it’s preloaded with all of the usual AT&T apps we’re so used to seeing – these include AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap, AT&T Navigator, AT&T Ready2Go, AT&T Smart Wi-Fi, Live AT&T U-Verse Live TV, myAT&T, and AT&T Messages. As for the other on there, they consist of Amazon Kindle, Qik Lite, Quickoffice, Real Racing 2, and YPmobile.

Preloaded apps on the Motorola ATRIX HD

Call quality:

Don’t let its itsy bitsy earpiece fool you because it manages to pump out some strong tones that enable us to listen to our callers with comfort. Furthermore, voices on both ends of the line are audibly distinct, noise-free, and clear. In addition to the wonderful experience through the earpiece, the speakerphone yields the same exact results – so you won’t ever miss a beat with conversations!

In high coverage areas, we didn’t experience any fluctuations with signal strength or dropped calls, however, its output seems to stay put at around the -85 dBm mark.

Battery:

We can wish all we want about seeing the 3,300 mAh battery of the DROID RAZR MAXX inside of this one, but instead, the ATRIX HD is mellowed out with an uncannily low 1,780 mAh battery. And of course, we’re not terribly surprised to find its performance well below the competition, as it provides less than a single day of juice. Obviously, it’s enough to get us through a grueling work day, but it’s something that’s going to require nightly charges.

Conclusion:

Oh Motorola! We were expecting so much more out of this one, especially when AT&T customers have been waiting an extensive amount of time for something other than the ATRIX 2 from last year. Aside from the larger and higher resolution display, there isn’t anything particularly compelling that we haven’t seen before on an Android driven smartphone from Motorola’s camp.

However, we can’t count out the lovely $99.99 on-contract price that it’s flaunting. Much like the Sony Xperia ion before it, the $100 price point is increasingly becoming the budget high-end category for AT&T’s Android lineup – if it even exists! Donning such a stellar price point, there’s no questioning the kind of value it has to offer consumers, but it’s been too handicapped to distinguish itself as a superior device to Moto’s previous efforts. Having seen such stellar Android devices like the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III, there’s just too much left to be desired with the Motorola ATRIX HD.

Software version of the AT&T review unit:
Android Version: 4.0.4
Build Number: 7.7.1Q-115_MB886_FFW-14
Kernel Version: 3.0.8-00036-g9409db6

PROS

• Affordable $99.99 on-contract price
• Sharp looking HD ColorBoost display
• Nice, mostly stock ICS experience

CONS

• Weak battery life
• Shoots terrible photos

 

HTC Inspire 4G

HTC are masters of cooking up a variety of subtly different smartphone designs, serving them up hot, fresh and customized to each carrier. One of the more affordable of these is the HTC Inspire 4G, an AT&T-branded variation of the Euro-centric HTC Desire HD, which we first reviewed back in April, 2011.

Unfortunately for the U.S. variant, Android hasn’t been standing still during that time – we’ve seen a veritable army of new handsets parade before us in the last 10 months, not to mention the debut of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Can the 4G-friendly American model still conjure up enough inspiration to satisfy?

 

 

 

 

Like other HTC smartphones, the Inspire 4G is mostly well built (with a few exceptions we’ll get to in a moment) and feels solid in the hand.

With a 4.3-inch display, the Inspire 4G may be a tad too solid at 5.78 ounces and 0.46 inches thick. Available in black, red or rich chocolate brown (the model we reviewed), the HTC Inspire 4G would seem ready-made for AT&T’s HSPA+ network, promising 4G speeds right in its name – but those expecting anywhere near LTE data rates are going to be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

The S-LCD capacitive touchscreen packs in a modest 480×800 pixels with a pixel density around 217ppi, so the display looks higher quality than specs alone might have you believe.

Upon closer inspection with the screen off or in direct sunlight, it’s easy to spot the touchscreen panel lying underneath the Corning Gorilla Glass, recessed into a sturdy, single-color unibody aluminum frame of your choosing. In normal use, however, we didn’t notice it.

 

 

 

 

The front of the Inspire 4G features a thin earpiece along the top, with notification light (which also doubles as a charge light) at left and accelerometer sensor at right. (At first glance, this looked like a front-facing camera, but sadly only one camera is to be found here.)

 

 

 

 

On the back, the familiar AT&T branding is silkscreened underneath a bulging 8MP camera lens. Seriously, it’s so large that the handset lifts a few millimeters up from any hard surface it’s placed on, which means it can rock back and forth – and potentially scratch – as a result.

The camera lens isn’t really stylish or practical; instead, it just kind of gets in the way of an otherwise streamline design.

 

 

 

 

A dual LED flash lies flush to the left of the camera lens, with speaker to the right. HTC boasts Dolby Mobile and SRS Wow HD audio enhancements (which are also silkscreened onto the back as a reminder), but the tiny rear loudspeaker sounds just as tinny and shrill as every other smartphone without them.

 

 

 

 

Perhaps a bigger sin than the Cyclopsian lens is the ridiculously complicated battery door on the left side of the device, which shows us yet again that sometimes companies build better products by just sealing the batteries.

 

 

 

 

This rectangular door sits below the volume rocker with a notch for popping it open with a fingernail – or at least that’s the idea, anyway.

Once you’ve done this, fear washes over you as the opposite side of the door remains stuck until you force it – which we were hesitant to do at first, for fear of breaking the review unit. Once removed, the battery slides out with no trouble, but replacing the cover may be even more daunting than removing it in the first place.

 

 

 

 

Likewise, the bottom of the unit (featuring the Dolby and SRS logos) slides off – which will probably take you a couple of good tries with both thumbs and a firm grip – to reveal the standard-sized SIM card and included 8GB micro-SD card, which can be replaced with up to 32GB.

 

 

 

 

In one final design faux pas, once this plastic cover is slid back into place, it refuses to sit flush with the unibody frame – which is sure to vex any obsessive-compulsive types who own one.

 

 

 

 

Atop the Inspire 4G is a recessed power/sleep button on the left side; it’s occasionally hard to get your finger on and honestly, we wish it were on the opposite side.

 

 

 

 

At bottom is a micro-USB 2.0 port and 3.5mm headphone jack; the right side of the device is completely devoid of buttons or ports. The HTC Inspire 4G is available from AT&T for a wallet-friendly $49.99 with two-year contract, or $399.99 with no commitment.

This is an HTC device, so it should come as no surprise to discover the Inspire 4G is running the company’s Sense UI, piled steaming hot right on top of Android.

The device initially ships with (gasp!) Android 2.2 Froyo, but we were immediately offered a 106MB system update 2.47.502.7, which got our handset up to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 2.1. (Sorry, Ice Cream Sandwich fans – you’re on deck for an upgrade later in 2012.)

Unlocking the Inspire 4G calls up the usual Sense widget for clock and weather, one of the signature looks for HTC’s own user interface.

Should your weather be inclement in your area, wait a moment and you’ll be treated to an animated display of what’s happening outside – be it snow, rain, fog or simply clouds.

A tap sends the cutesy animation packing and you can get down to business with icons for Tips, People, Market, Mail, Internet and Camera, plus buttons at the bottom of the screen for All Apps, Phone and Personalize. The lock screen itself doesn’t do anything until you drag the bar down to unlock.

Below the screen are the usual fixed Android buttons: Home, Menu, Back and Search. Tapping the Home button while on the home screen will give you a wider view of all six main screens; tap and hold to access Recent apps. The others work as expected throughout the handset.

Also familiar are the Sense-flavored Android notifications, which are pulled down with a swipe on the screen from top to bottom. This area is separated into tabs for Notifications and Quick Settings, with the latter feature also being duplicated on one of home screens (swipe right to access it).

While there’s nothing earth-shattering about the user interface overall, everything runs quite snappy with the Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor clocked at 1GHz, paired with an Adreno 205 GPU and 768MB of onboard RAM.
The HTC Inspire 4G’s Sense UI extends into your address book (i.e., People app) and phone dialer, but we didn’t find either all that inspiring.

The phone app fills the lower half of the screen with a finger-friendly dial pad, leaving the upper part of the screen free to display the last four numbers in your call history.

The dial pad can be hidden with a button to the left of the big green Call button, displaying all of your contacts. Contacts in the phone app are displayed alphabetically sorted by the first name only, even though the option exists in the People app to sort by last name – why HTC and Google can’t get in sync on this quirk is beyond us.

Thankfully, the People app can be called up quickly, either by tapping Menu > People or using the Call History button to the right of the Call button, then toggling to All Contacts.

The People app offers a quick way to add new contacts at the top of the screen, and after receiving an incoming call from a new number, you’re given the opportunity to add it as a new contact, a convenient touch.

Equally handy is the Blocked Callers feature, perfect for smartphone owners stuck with digits that always seem to attract wrong numbers or crank calls.

From the People app, tap Menu > More > Blocked callers, then tap Add caller and add the offending number, either by typing it in or selecting a contact from your address book who you’d rather blacklist. It worked like a charm, even when using Google Voice for incoming calls.

 

 

Otherwise, the HTC Inspire 4G is pretty average for actual calls. Overall volume for both the earpiece and speaker were just about right at maximum level, but didn’t give us any additional headroom for increasing the volume while in louder environments.

The HTC Inspire 4G manages to hit all the right notes when it comes to messaging. In addition to the preinstalled Facebook and Twitter apps (which were ready for an update by the time we got ahold of our review unit), HTC has included push email in the default Mail app and threaded view for SMS text messages.

You’ll also have plenty of other choices: Gmail is included in the standard package of Google apps preinstalled, and Google+ is just an Android Market download away. MMS is also present and accounted for, although we found the Inspire 4G compressed the resulting photo a little too much for our liking when viewed on the receiving end.

The handset includes the standard predictive text input for Android 2.3.3, a keyboard we never seem to be able to get used to after being spoiled by the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and/or the third-party SwiftKey X keyboard alternative.

But those who love it will be right at home here, and the included speech to text entry mode works well as an alternative method of entry.

AT&T’s 3G data network has gotten its fair share of criticism (and occasional praise), but the HTC Inspire 4G’s value to the end user will live or die by where you’re located in the United States.

While it’s touted as a 4G device, this is not one of Ma Bell’s new LTE devices – instead, it takes advantage of HSPA+, where available, for increased data speeds.

Enough beating around the bush: Here in Northeast Ohio, our data speeds were miserably low, rarely topping 1.5Mbps download and far, far less for upload (0.23Mbps on average).

By comparison, our AT&T-equipped iPhone 4S clocked in at 3.26Mbps down and 1.41Mbps up in the same region – still nothing to write home about, but considerably better than what the Inspire 4G was capable of.

Curiously, slapping our iPhone 4S micro-SIM inside the Inspire (by way of a SIM card adapter) boosted data rates to a more agreeable 2.49Mbps down and 1.85Mbps up, but even these speeds are a far cry from what the device is theoretically capable of (HTC’s specs tout HSDPA speeds of 14.4Mbps and HSUPA speeds of 5.76Mbps). Color us disappointed, to say the least.

Thankfully, AT&T’s data is only one part of the equation, and the HTC Inspire 4G performed significantly better with Wi-Fi, capable of connecting to 802.11b/g/n networks with ease and racking up nearly 10Mbps down and 1.42Mbps up on an AT&T U-verse broadband connection (for comparison, just a hair slower at downloading compared to the iPhone 4S).

HTC’s default Internet browser uses the AT&T Yahoo! mobile site for a home page, with tabs for Today (news and information from each day), My Favorites (quick links to key Yahoo services such as Mail and Messenger) and All Sites, with hotlinks to everything offered by the onetime search giant. We’re longing for Chrome or even the stock Android 4.0 browser, but otherwise the built-in web browser is serviceable for now.

 

 

 

You’d think with such an enormous lens on the back of the HTC Inspire 4G, the handset would at least take awesome photos and video.

The Inspire is capable of 3264×2448 pixel images from its 8MP sensor, with autofocus and dual-LED flash. Face detection and geotagging are also present and accounted for.

 

 

 

 

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Compared to other HTC handsets we’ve used with better specs (Amaze 4G, we’re looking at you!), we were surprised to find that the Inspire 4G actually snapped decent photos.

Lower light images came with a fair amount of grain and noise, but the dual-LED flash evened out indoor shots quite nicely.

 

 

 

 

While in Camera mode, the volume rocker acts as zoom in/out control, which caused problems for us while taking landscape shots – our left thumb kept pressing the volume rocker by mistake, but southpaws may not find this quite as problematic.

 

 

 

 

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There’s no setting to disable the zoom, which is unfortunate since it’s rather jarring when used on video, and being completely digital, produces lousy results regardless.

 

 

 

 

After taking a photo, you’re presented with a quick preview of the image and immediately given options to return to camera mode, delete image, share it to multiple services or set it as a contact icon, Footprints or wallpaper.

Click here to see full res version

HTC also includes a variety of real-time effects for your photos: Distortion, Vignette, Depth of field, Dots, the Instagram-style Vintage, Vintage Warm and Vintage Cold as well as grayscale, sepia and other filters. (Video recording is sadly limited to colorization filters only.)

 

 

 

Speaking of video, the HTC Inspire 4G maxes out at 720p, although a plethora of lower settings are also available.

We were pleasantly surprised by the Inspire’s image quality – despite some of the usual noise and artifacting we’ve seen with other HTC handsets, video recording was actually of better quality than something like the Amaze 4G, which is theoretically capable of recording 1080p but produced much lower-quality video.

Both photo and video are capable of custom image adjustments for sharpness, saturation, contrast and exposure and either automatic or manual white balance for four of the most common scenarios (incandescent, fluorescent, daylight and cloudy).

Users can also choose to record with or without audio, which is a nice touch.

Like other HTC camera apps, the Inspire 4G briefly shows remaining record time (for video) or number of images (for photos) when you tap the button in the lower right corner to switch between modes.

Since there’s no front-facing camera here, you’re left with either photo or video mode for the back camera, as well as turning dual-LED flash on or off, selecting an effect or jumping straight to your images to view what has already been taken.

While the Inspire 4G boasts autofocus, we found leaving it up to the handset to focus while recording video was a mixed bag – thankfully, a simple tap anywhere on the screen will usually set things right, and also adjust the exposure accordingly, where possible.

Given the budget-minded price of the HTC Inspire 4G, you might think the handset would get shorted in the multimedia department, but in many ways, this handset has some of its siblings beat.

The Sense-enhanced Gallery app features four ways to view photos and videos: Albums, which displays everything you’ve shot with the handset or copied over to it; Facebook and Flickr, for viewing content from your accounts (or those posted by friends) without accessing the dedicated apps; and Connected Media, which displays media servers on your local network.

The Inspire found two EyeConnect-enabled UPnP computers, a Pogoplug device and even our main D-Link DNS-323; our only bummer was discovering that .MOV files shot on our iPhone 4S and stored on the Pogoplug couldn’t be accessed at all, but other video types played just fine.

(We also installed the Pogoplug app which recognized those .MOV files, but refused to play them, complaining about needing a player capable of supporting “video/quicktime” format.)

On the audio side, HTC includes support for MP3, AAC+, WAV and WMA9, both from the included Music app as well from the Gallery and the free Google Music app; MP3 and WAV files can also be used as ringtones. Video formats can include DivX, Xvid, MP4, H.263, H.264 and WMV9.

Although the Hulu Plus app is only available on a select few Android devices, we were pleasantly surprised to discover the HTC Inspire 4G was one of them.

Initially we installed an older version that didn’t allow sorting our queue by Show, but during our review period a version 1.41.100096 (?!) showed up in the Android Market to right this wrong. Media player apps such as Netflix, Plex and iHeartRadio all installed and worked flawlessly as well.

 

 

 

The HTC Inspire 4G comes equipped with a removable, 1230mAh Lithium-Ion battery – despite its diminutive size, the manufacturer touts up to 372 hours (15.5 days!) of standby time and up to six hours of talk time.

Compared to other HTC handsets we’ve used, the Inspire 4G proved more capable than its specs and we had no problem getting through the entire day with some fairly consistent use of the camera, streaming video, listening to Google Music or Spotify streams and the usual social networking.

The Inspire 4G also comes equipped with HTC’s Sense-ified Wi-Fi Portable Hotspot, which can be accessed via the Quick Settings under notifications or directly from Settings > Wireless & Networks and connect up to eight users at once.

USB tethering is also available as well as Internet Pass-Through for using your home broadband with the Inspire 4G when Wi-Fi isn’t available – advisable given the handset’s poor 3G/faux 4G data speeds.

Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR is also included and we had no problems pairing to our Microsoft SYNC-enabled automobile; the phone also supports FM radio reception through a dedicated app when headphones are plugged in (which then act as the antenna).

Maps

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Free Google Maps + Navigation is a winning combination, one major advantage for the Android platform over competitors like Apple. Despite poky data speeds in our area, we had no problem using turn-by-turn navigation while out and about.

Of course, as a carrier-branded device, you also have the option of using AT&T Navigator, Ma Bell’s own $9.99 per month solution with TeleNav maps; the first 30 days are included free or you can pay $2.99 for a one-day pass, both billed to your wireless account.

Apps

That said, there are plenty of equally good options available from the Android Market as a one time only purchase such as CoPilot Live – paying monthly for turn-by-turn navigation in this day and age seems a bit nuts to us.

 

 

 

 

There are a smattering of other AT&T-branded apps on display with the HTC Inspire 4G, including AT&T Code Scanner (a free and handy QC and UPC barcode reader), AT&T Family Map (a monthly subscription service for keeping tabs on your loved ones), AT&T U-verse Live TV, myAT&T (for account management) and YPMobile for local search, including gas prices.

HTC also includes their branded HTC Hub and HTC Likes apps, and entertainment lovers will appreciate the included Blockbuster app – upon activation, Inspire 4G owners will receive a $5 credit for renting or buying movies from Blockbuster On Demand, with the option of a 30-day free trial for the by mail service and a “rent one, get one free” Blu-ray rental coupon via email.

Last but not least, HTC and AT&T include dedicated apps for Footprints (GPS tracking), Friend Stream (social networking), Quickoffice (Word and Excel documents), Videos, Voice Recorder, Weather and others, plus all of the usual Google staples and Adobe Flash, even though it’s on its way out now in favor of HTML5.

 

 

 

 

One game – the slightly dated racer Asphalt 5 from Gameloft – also comes preinstalled, but it’s actually a demo version and requires a $6.99 charge to your phone bill to upgrade to the full version.

 

 

 

The HTC Inspire 4G is a curious member of the Android family – for many tasks, it’s extremely capable and offers good build quality hampered by three questionable design decisions on the back. These problems aside, it’s perfect for the first-time smartphone user who doesn’t want much compromise.

We Disliked

The SIM/SD card door is less offensive than the battery door, which makes you feel like you’ve already broken your precious investment.

The volume rocker gets in the way while shooting photos or videos, and the recessed power button often requires some fumbling to find.

The camera lens is huge and obtrusive. What was HTC thinking?

Your mileage may vary depending on where you live, but AT&T’s phony HSPA+ 4G was a complete letdown for us.

The included 8GB micro-SD is a bit puny for this day and age, though HTC does include an additional 4GB internally for apps and Android.

We Liked

Aside from the doors and camera lens, the rest of the handset is quite attractive and well made.

Despite the bulging lens on the back, the 8MP camera actually surprised us with decent photo and video quality – for the money.

HTC Sense looks fantastic. The animated home screen is a nice touch to impress friends, and overall its use on the Inspire 4G feels less heavy-handed than other models.

Hulu Plus should really be on all Android devices by now, but it was certainly a nice treat to find it here.

The S-LCD Display is better than you’d think it would be, but outdoors you might be shocked to see every detail of the touch panel while in direct sunlight.

Verdict

While our mates across the pond found more to love about the HTC Inspire 4G’s Euro predecessor last year, we can’t help but view the American version in a different light today. For a budget handset, it often performed better than more expensive smartphones, even from the same manufacturer.

It’s just good enough that first-time owners will find a lot to love, but by the end of the two-year agreement, the only inspiration they’ll be feeling is to upgrade. Thanks to the huge strides Android made over the last year, there will surely be plenty to choose from.