Can the Atrix 4G Really Become Your Next PC?

GMGruman writes "The Motorola Atrix 4G got a lot of attention at CES because of its ability to dock to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and run the full desktop Firefox browser in addition to its Android apps. Now that it is shipping, I took the Atrix 4G and its Multimedia Dock and related peripherals out this week for a test-drive to see if delivers on this 'post-PC' promise. The verdict: It's a good first half-step toward mobile devices being your primary computer. The end of the Windows hegemony is in sight."

Comments

single page link...

[Anonymous Coward]

Single page link...

http://www.infoworld.com/print/152843

It doesn't run on the phone?

[MBCook]

So I was reading the article and thinking "$400 for the laptop module? $200 + peripherals for the dock? Those are the equivalent of a cheap laptop/PC" Then I got to this tidbit:

"When you dock the Atrix, the Firefox browser and other dock-provided services aren't running from the Atrix but instead from a stripped-down Linux PC inside the dock. A real post-PC device would run everything from the smartphone or tablet, and it would use the dock to add more processing or take advantage of peripherals."

What? Why the heck am I buying this thing? All you're selling is an ultra-underpowered, crippled Linux computer that only works when a weird phone is plugged in for no particular reason. Syncing open tabs in FireFox is nice, but that's not enough. A simple app could do that. At home, I can keep a computer no problem. On the go, I still have to keep your laptop dock thing, so no space savings there.

Then there are other downsides. I'm guessing it drains the battery faster to use the laptop dock thing. The pictures of the laptop dock make it look really easy to snap the phone off the back accidentally and break the phone/dock. It's nice to know the reviewer doesn't think the thing feels secure in the dock.

This seems to be where computers will go for most people, but this first implementation clearly sounds more like a beta product than a first generation.

Re:Not as long as it's done in a crippled way.

[larry bagina]

$400 for a netbook that doesn't run windows. Hell, doesn't even run when it's not hooked up to your phone. You can buy a netbook running windows 7 (or a full linux distro of choice) for under $300.

How about something more original, like docking into a tablet?

Re:Moto's crippled bootloader

[cronot]

Being able to download the kernel, driver, and Android sources directly from Motorola, the maker of my Droid phone, is so prohibitive.

Good luck getting your recompiled kernel+driver+Android sources past the well-locked-down bootloader on any Motorola Android device newer than the original Droid.

Fair enough. However, this is not Android's (the OS) fault - the bootloader locking mechanism is hardware based, so only Motorola's to blame here. As always in these cases, all you can do is vote with your wallet: get a HTC or some other brand that doesn't lock you out of your property.

Re:Not as long as it's done in a crippled way.

[Anthony Mouse]

Oh yeah. I forgot that 'Openness' is what makes or breaks products in the marketplace.

Let's see, open vs. closed:

Internet vs. AOL
CD vs. minidisc
Linux vs. UNIX
gzip/lzma/bzip2 vs. bzip
OpenSSH vs. SSH
OpenSSL vs. anything closed
AES vs. anything closed
Apache vs. IIS

Yup, that sounds about right.

Almost everything you use won because it's open, you just don't notice it anymore because it won so long ago that it just seems like part of the scenery now. DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, C++, Kerberos, LDAP, 802.3, 802.11, USB, the BSD sockets API, etc. etc. All things equal, customers prefer open to closed. Which means that closed is a state that can only exist prior to an open competitor reaching compatibility and substantial feature parity with the leading closed alternative, at which point customers choose the open alternative.

The only way closed is a long-term condition is when it is propped up by a monopoly, a cartel or a government.