Motorola gives you the keys to its Atrix HD with the new Developer Edition

Motorola has announced a special Developer Edition of its Atrix HD Android phone. Designed for those who want to customize their Atrix HD, it comes with the option of unlocking the bootloader, allowing the installation of custom software.

Motorola is sure to please developers and those amongst us who like to customize our Android phones with its latest device, the Atrix HD. “Hold on,” you’re probably thinking, “that’s already been announced once.” Indeed it has, but this time it’s a special Developer Edition.

What makes the phone special is its unlockable bootloader, which in English, means once Motorola has provided a unique code to unlock the handset, owners are free to install their own custom versions of Android, run test versions of apps, and generally customize the phone to their heart’s content.

This isn’t the first time Motorola has offered such a phone either, with both the Razr, Razr M and the Razr HD all receiving Developer Editions in the past. Being given the keys to the Android kingdom isn’t without its price though, as once you’ve started fiddling with the bootloader, you can say goodbye to your warranty. Our advice is, be sure you know what you’re doing before you start.

Motorola’s Atrix HD was announced in July this year, and we gave it an impressive 8/10 in our review, highlighting in particular the excellent $100 price tag with AT&T. For that you get a 4.5-inch touchscreen with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor and an 8-megapixel camera. A relatively untouched version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is installed as standard, but there’s no word on when 4.1 Jelly Bean will arrive.

Don’t expect to pick up the Developer Edition as cheaply as AT&T’s deal though, as it’s not available on contract. It won’t be priced as low as the new Nexus 4 either — a phone that’s also easily unlocked.

Motorola hasn’t provided a release date or a price for the Atrix HD Developer Edition, and suggests those interested should register for updates on its website.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Here’s the full breakdown of Motorola Atrix HD’s battery life test

The Motorola Atrix HD entered our battery test track right after we crowned our new champion – the GSM flavored, Android ICS booting Motorola RAZR MAXX. The AT&T exclusive device packs a truly impressive spec sheet, but is powered by a relatively modest 1780mAh. That’s why we were cautious with our expectations towards the Kevlar dressed handset.

The Motorola Atrix HD did fairly well in the telephony section of the battery trial. It posted a time of 9 hours and 4 minutes. The latter is not the best we’ve encountered, but is nevertheless a respectable achievement.

Talk time

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  20:24
• Huawei Ascend P1
  12:30
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  12:14
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  11:58
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  11:07
• HTC One X (AT&T, LTE)
  10:35
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:20
• HTC One V
  10:00
• Meizu MX 4-core
  10:00
• HTC One X
  9:57
• HTC One S
  9:42
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  9:40
• HTC Sensation XL
  9:30
• Nokia Lumia 710
  9:05
• Motorola Atrix HD
  9:04
• HTC Vivid
  9:02
• HTC Rhyme
  8:48
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  8:42
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  8:41
• Meizu MX
  8:39
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:35
• Nokia Lumia 800
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  8:23
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  8:20
• HTC Rezound (LTE)
  8:10
• Samsung Galaxy Note (LTE)
  8:02
• LG Optimus Vu
  7:57
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  7:41
• Apple iPhone 4S
  7:41
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:25
• HTC Evo 4G LTE (LTE)
  7:21
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:14
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  7:09
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  6:57
• Nokia N9
  6:57
• HTC Radar
  6:53
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  6:53
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:52
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T (LTE)
  5:53
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:52
• Sony Xperia P
  5:33
• Nokia 808 PureView
  5:16
• LG Nitro HD (LTE)
  5:16
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  5:10
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:00
• Pantech Burst
  4:46

The handset’s web browsing time of 6 hours and 40 minutes is nothing short of impressive, given the Atrix HD’s gorgeous 720p screen. The smartphone’s achievement is not far from the best in business and is a clear showcase of the energy efficiency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset’s power efficiency.

Web browsing

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  7:23
• HTC Radar
  7:17
• Apple iPhone 4S
  6:56
• HTC One V
  6:49
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:40
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:40
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  6:15
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:56
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  5:53
• Pantech Burst
  5:51
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  5:45
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  5:41
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  5:34
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  5:33
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  5:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• Meizu MX 4-core
  5:19
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  5:17
• HTC Rezound
  5:16
• HTC Rhyme
  5:08
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  5:07
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  5:03
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  4:50
• LG Optimus Vu
  4:49
• HTC Vivid
  4:46
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  4:45
• Meizu MX
  4:35
• Nokia N9
  4:33
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  4:24
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  4:20
• HTC One X
  4:18
• Nokia 808 PureView
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 800
  4:07
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  4:05
• HTC One S
  4:03
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  4:02
• LG Nitro HD
  4:00
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  3:59
• Sony Xperia P
  3:59
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:51
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  3:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Huawei Ascend P1
  3:23
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

Things began to go south for the Motorola Atrix HD in the video playback section of our battery test. The smartphone’s time of 6 hours and 1 minute is far from the best we’ve seen.

Video playback

• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:01
• Nokia 808 PureView
  9:53
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  9:42
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  9:34
• HTC One S
  9:28
• Apple iPhone 4S
  9:24
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  9:07
• Nokia N9
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:00
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:55
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  7:52
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  7:45
• Huawei Ascend P1
  7:38
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:33
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• Meizu MX 4-core
  6:33
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  6:25
• LG Optimus Vu
  6:23
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  6:03
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  6:02
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:01
• HTC Vivid
  6:00
• HTC Radar
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 800
  5:52
• HTC Titan II
  5:50
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:47
• HTC One X
  5:45
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  5:44
• Pantech Burst
  5:38
• Meizu MX
  5:27
• HTC Rhyme
  5:23
• HTC One V
  5:20
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  5:18
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  5:09
• HTC Rezound
  5:03
• Sony Xperia P
  4:30
• LG Nitro HD
  4:17
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  3:28
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:27

Overall, the Motorola Atrix HD for AT&T achieved an endurance rating of 36 hours in our battery test. This means that you will need to charge the device after about a day and a half if you use it for an hour each of telephony, web browsing and video playback every day.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Guy switches from Android to a Lumia, Nokia decides to film and share the whole story

Oh, this is a “Dear Diary” moment! Christopher Taylor of Glasgow got fed up with his clumsy Motorola Atrix and decided to go down Windows Phone path via the Nokia Lumia 800.

Nokia, being in dire need of good publicity, decided to film the freshly-converted Chris and post the story on YouTube. The nerve, right, on Google’s own turf!

Christopher gives some argumentation on the OS shift he made. He says that the Atrix wasn’t really fast, the software was “clunky” and the smartphone didn’t have much built-in. He likes and uses Nokia Drive all the time.

In Christopher Taylor’s eyes the Lumia 800 looks and feels a lot better than the outdated Atrix. He even goes on to slap BlackBerry along the way saying his sister had one and it crashed all the time. She now too has a Lumia smartphone, just in case you were wondering.

We’re not saying the guy was paid or anything but it is a popular opinion in the comments of the YouTube video. What do you guys think? Should he have gone with a more up to date droid (One X, Galaxy S III), an iPhone, waited for WP 8 or is the Lumia 800 the all-round best choice?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com