The Motorola Atrix 4G (also known as MB860, ME860 in Asia market, MB861 in Korean market) is an
Android-based
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
by
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
, introduced in CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was made available in the first quarter of 2011. It was introduced along with three other products,
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom is an Android-based tablet computer by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was the first tablet to be sold with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The Verizon branded Xoom was the first tablet to run Android 3.1. The ...
,
Motorola Droid Bionic, and
Motorola Cliq 2. It uses an
NVIDIA
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
Tegra
Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...
2 dual core processor. It is the first phone to use a quarter-HD
PenTile PenTile matrix is a family of patented subpixel matrix schemes used in electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of Samsung. PenTile matrices are used in AMOLED and LCD displays.
These subpixel layouts are specifically designed to opera ...
display with 24-bit graphics. The Motorola Atrix 4G is carried by the following wireless providers:
AT&T Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...
US,
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
UK,
Bell Canada
Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
CAN,
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
AU. AT&T released Atrix on March 6.
At the time of its release, the Atrix 4G was the first smartphone with a dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, and a fingerprint sensor. It won CNET Best of CES 2011 Award in the Smartphone category and won nine awards at CES 2011. With the launch of the Motorola Atrix 4G at CES 2011, Motorola and Google had been working together to integrate the software with the hardware.
Specification highlights
*
Code name
A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...
: Olympus
*
NVIDIA
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
Tegra 2
Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...
(dual-core 1 GHz
Cortex A9 + GeForce ULP)
*
HSPA+
Evolved High Speed Packet Access, HSPA+, HSPA (Plus) or HSPAP, is a technical standard for wireless broadband telecommunication. It is the second phase of HSPA which has been introduced in 3GPP release 7 and being further improved in later 3GPP ...
at 14.4 Mbit/s down (Category 10 HSPDA), 5.76 Mbit/s up (Category 6 HSUPA) where available
*
Android 2.2 (Upgradable on most carriers to 2.3 "Gingerbread", upgradable to 4.4.4 "Kitkat" with custom firmware)
* 1 GB LP-DDR2 RAM
* 16 GB Internal memory, expandable by microSDXC 64 GB, total of 80 GB
* 4-inch
PenTile PenTile matrix is a family of patented subpixel matrix schemes used in electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of Samsung. PenTile matrices are used in AMOLED and LCD displays.
These subpixel layouts are specifically designed to opera ...
qHD
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height a ...
display (540×960) with
Gorilla Glass
Gorilla Glass is a brand of chemically strengthened glass developed and manufactured by Corning, now in its seventh generation. Designed to be thin, light and damage-resistant, the glass gains its surface strength, ability to contain flaws, and c ...
* 5.0 MP with dual LED flash, 4× digital zoom and autofocus, 720p video capture at 30 frame/s
(Full 1080p video capture will be officially supported via software upgrade sometime post-launch, unofficially available since 15 May 2011 via customized package)
*
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
front-facing camera for video calls
* Micro
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
* Micro
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
(type D)
* 3.5 mm audio jack
*2nd rear microphone for "uplink"
noise reduction
Noise reduction is the process of removing noise from a signal. Noise reduction techniques exist for audio and images. Noise reduction algorithms may distort the signal to some degree. Noise rejection is the ability of a circuit to isolate an und ...
* TriColor LED notification light
* Fingerprint scanner
* 1930 mAh user-changeable Li-po battery
*
*
Webtop
The Atrix 4G was one of the first Motorola devices to ship with its Webtop platform. When the phone is placed into its HD Multimedia Dock or Laptop Dock accessories, the user can access an
Ubuntu
Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...
-based desktop featuring access to the phone and its applications via the Mobile View application, integration of Android notifications into the desktop, multimedia playback through Entertainment Center, file management through
Nautilus
The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
It comprises six living species in t ...
, and the
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...
web browser (along with support for
Prism
Prism usually refers to:
* Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light
* Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron
Prism may also refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...
for the
site-specific browser
A site-specific browser (SSB) is a software application that is dedicated to accessing pages from a single source (site) on a computer network such as the Internet or a private intranet. SSBs typically simplify the more complex functions of a web ...
s used on Webtop mode).
In September 2011, Motorola released the source code of the Webtop software on
SourceForge
SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirrorin ...
.
Accessories
Atrix accessories announced include:
* ''Lapdock'' — Laptop dock
* ''HD multimedia dock'' — Desktop dock with
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
, audio,
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
ports, and
IR remote control
* ''Navigation Dock'' — Vehicle dock
* ''PowerDock'' — Standard dock
Software updates
* On April 30, 2011 AT&T issued an update to the Motorola Atrix 4G enabling
HSUPA
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
.
* On July 25, 2011 AT&T began rolling out the Android 2.3.4 update to the AT&T-branded Atrix 4G.
* On February 8, 2012 Motorola sent out Android 2.3.6 to 1000 phones for market testing. Only AT&T customers enjoy 2.3.6 version.
* On February 15, 2012, Motorola announced that an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) would be available in Q3 2012.
* On September 28, 2012, Motorola announced that they would not upgrade the Atrix 4G to Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) as they had promised, prompting customer outrage.
Variants
In June 2011 Motorola and Sprint announced the release on July 31 of the
Motorola Photon 4G, which has a quarter-HD multi-touch display and a 1 GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p recording capabilities, a VGA front-facing camera for video chat and self-portrait pictures, and the Sprint ID customization app.
FCC approval
FCC ID: IHDP56LS1 Approved January 20, 2011
Reception and awards
The Atrix 4G received largely positive reviews from critics. ''
Engadget
''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...
'' gave the Atrix 4G a 9 out of 10, commenting on its sound quality and high-resolution display.
CNET
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
gave it a 4 out of 5 stars for its sleek design and 5 megapixels camera.
Atrix has been awarded 'Best of CES Awards' at
CES, which was held in January 2011.
Development
When the Atrix was shipped to AT&T,
root access
In computing, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system (OS), the actual name of this account might be root, administrator, admin or supervisor. In some cases, the actual name of t ...
was available, but Motorola locked the bootloader by request of AT&T, meaning that custom versions of Android (ROMs) were not able to be installed. Only pseudo-roms (Not fully modified versions of Android) were available, since the kernel could not be overwritten.
Many customers wrote to Motorola, including on their Facebook page, and eventually a method to unlock the bootloader was released. People began to create custom ROMs for the phone, and eventually it gained official
CyanogenMod
CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. It was developed as free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added origi ...
7 support. However, CyanogenMod support was more difficult to gain than for other phones because the Atrix shipped with uncommon features, such as WebTop support and a
fingerprint reader
Fingerprint scanners are security systems of biometrics. They are used in police stations, security industries, smartphones, and other mobile devices.
Function
Everyone has patterns of friction ridges on their fingers, and it is this pattern t ...
.
After CyanogenMod 7 was finished, Motorola's support pages stated that the latest version (at the time) of Android, 4.0
Ice Cream Sandwich
An ice cream sandwich is a frozen dessert consisting of ice cream between two biscuits, skins, wafers, or cookies. The ingredients are different around the world, with Ireland and Israel using wafers, and North America using chocolate cookies.
...
(ICS), would be released to the phone. This would be important for the development of CyanogenMod 9, since the existing kernel of the Atrix (based on Linux 2.6) was incompatible with Ice Cream Sandwich drivers. Though ROMs based on Ice Cream Sandwich could still be used, important features such as hardware acceleration did not work.
Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android OS, Android. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational technology company ...
was then acquired by Google, and the online support page still claimed that the Atrix would receive ICS. However, eventually the page was updated stating that the Atrix would not receive the ICS update, meaning that development would be extremely difficult to move forward.
Eventually, developers were able to get a testing version of the incomplete AT&T ICS ROM, leading some to believe that ICS progress would move forward again. However, that build drained battery power rapidly and did not come with the kernel source, meaning that it could not be used for stable development purposes.
Some developers eventually developed a Jelly Bean ROM from the leak with minimal bugs.
Developers then decided to build their kernel based on the Nvidia Linux 3.1 kernel. According to kernel developer Krystian, "Motorola helped the team, and give them a little boost. We cannot say they played fair, but at least they help a little.". As for the kernel, it is being made "with ported code derived from a combination of sources."
In August 2014, a release of CyanogenMod 11 (based on Android 4.4 "KitKat") was made available.
Successor
The
Motorola Atrix 2 was released in late 2011 for AT&T. This was followed by the
Motorola Atrix HD in 2012. A variant called
Motorola Atrix TV was released in some markets including Brazil, featuring an antenna for digital television.
See also
*
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom is an Android-based tablet computer by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was the first tablet to be sold with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The Verizon branded Xoom was the first tablet to run Android 3.1. The ...
*
Motorola Droid Bionic
*
Motorola Cliq 2
*
Galaxy Nexus
The Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9250) is a touchscreen Android smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung Electronics. It is the third smartphone in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer devices built by an original equipment manufactu ...
*
Comparison of smartphones
This is a comparison of the various internal components and features of many smartphones.
Hardware and OS
2020s 2022
2021
2020
2010s
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2000s
2009
...
Other phones with Tegra 2 SoC:
*
LG Optimus 2X
The LG Optimus 2X is a smartphone designed and manufactured by LG Electronics. The Optimus 2X is the world's first smartphone with a dual-core processor and the third phone in the LG Optimus-Android series. LG introduced the Optimus 2X on Decembe ...
*
Samsung Galaxy R
The Samsung Galaxy R (Royal)
(GT-I9103) is an Android smartphone that was announced by Samsung on August 10, 2011 as a variant to the Samsung Galaxy S II.
Launch
The Galaxy R was launched in September 2011 in Taiwan.
Issues
The phone has an ...
*
Motorola Photon
*
Droid X2
The Droid X is a smartphone released by Motorola on July 15, 2010. The smartphone was renamed Motoroi X for its release in Mexico on November 9, 2010. The Droid X runs on the Android operating system, and the latest version supported was 2.3 G ...
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Android (operating system) devices
Linux-based devices
Smartphones
Atrix
Mobile phones introduced in 2011
Discontinued smartphones
Active noise control mobile phones