Not only is Motorola’s Atrix one of the hottest smartphones at the show, it’s quite possibly the hottest gadget overall. It’s a sleek Android handset powered by a dual core processor that feels a whole lot more solid than say Samsung’s Galaxy S line. But with so many nicely specced Android devices coming to market, it takes a bit more to stand out. And Moto’s building an impressive ecosystem of accessories to accompany the Atrix when it launches later this year (on AT&T, boo).
The most interesting Atrix accessory, given the title and photography, is obviously the netbook companion. The slim laptop hardware features an ~11″ HVGA screen and 6-8 hours of battery life. But there’s no onboard OS. Pop the Atrix into the possibly awkwardly articulated dock and the laptop comes to life very quickly. The full screen interface and OS, is actually a “webtop” app that resides on the phone. Additionally, you can run your Android phone in a window and share content between platforms. Running dual operating systems appears a bit kludgey, but I’m willing to cut them some slack in the name of progress.
I’m a fan of geeky convergence devices, and the Atrix sure looks slick in a Lenovo U1 sort of way. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a market for this laptop accessory. Not to mention, we don’t actually know what any of it will cost. At $150, who needs a netbook. At $350, why bother. Regardless, it’s nice to see some smartly designed hardware to offset say these cheapy resistive tablets.