Okay, so I've had this Motorola Atrix 4G smart phone for a couple of weeks now and all I can say is I'm glad I only paid a penny for it. Yeah, it's a cool gadget and all, but I'm on my laptops so much I really find its computing function to be superfluous.
When the late Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone and with it the era of the touch screen smart phone, he characterized it as three new devices in one: a new iPod with a touch screen, a phone, and a mobile computing device. That's a pretty fair assessment of not only the iPhone's functionality but that of every touch screen smart phone out there, regardless of manufacturer or operating system. So let's see how the Atrix stacks up in these three areas:
Music player--To be honest, I really haven't yet had the opportunity to do much testing in this area. There was one mp3 file on the 512 megabyte micro SD card that I transferred over from the RAZR and that played just fine. I just bought a 32 gigabyte card online, so I'm looking to do a bit more testing when it arrives. Since I have Macs and a Linux laptop, the only way to get music onto the phone seems to be download it over the Internet on the phone itself or plug the micro SD card into a USB adapter and copy files over from my computer as if it were a flash drive. That's simple enough except for having to remove and replace the fingernail-sized memory card.
Phone--As I mentioned before, the sound quality on the Atrix is every bit as good as that of the RAZR, but there are two areas where it doesn't stack up so well. First is the user interface. Making and answering calls is simply a more complex task. I miss being able to answer the phone with the Captain Kirk 'whip-n-flip' maneuver--whipping out the phone and flipping open the cover with one hand in a single, fluid motion and hanging up simply by flipping the phone closed again, also with one hand. On the Atrix--or any smart phone for that matter--it's a two-handed, multi-step operation. This burying of the phone function is yet further reinforcement of the idea that a smart phone is not primarily a voice communication device but a mobile computing device, a touch-screen PDA with integrated telephony.
So how does it stack up as a computing device? For me, it's not that great. I went through a PDA phase back in the early 2000s with a couple of Palm devices and a PocketPC device and right now, I'm feeling a great sense of deja vu. It's a neat gadget, and it's pretty cool to be able to check my e-mail or Google something while I'm in the grocery store or wherever, but at the end of the day, it has little real utility for me. As I said earlier, I'm at my computers for so much of any given day that adding an additional means of data access just isn't a life changer for me. But then again, maybe I just haven't found that killer app yet. For now, when it comes to computing, I'll just stick to my computers.
One final note is on battery life, which seems to be a real problem for many smart phones. When I'm teaching, especially afternoon and evening classes, I see students scrambling for seats closest to the walls so they can plug in their smart phones to charge them. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that is not the case with my Atrix. Granted, it's not as good as the RAZR, but it's definitely acceptable. While I could go two or three days between charges on the RAZR, unless I had a marathon phone conversation, the Atrix's battery lasts between one and two days.
I have invested in a second battery and an external cradle charger for the Atrix, as I did for the RAZR. This allows me to have a fully charged battery ready to go whenever the one in the phone becomes depleted. Charging time is only a few hours, so the odds of having both batteries drained at once are pretty slim. This is something I would not be able to do with an iPhone, which has a sealed case.
So, do I regret replacing my trusty, if aging, RAZR with a newfangled smartphone? Not really. I needed to learn about touch screens and such, and I'm sure I'll occasionally find a use for some of the phone's advanced functions, but it really isn't a life changer, nor did I expect it to be. The interesting thing is that while I no longer find myself envious of folks with smart phones, I still don't understand why they're such a big deal.
Once again, Mr. Spock's parting words to his rival, Stonn, in the Star Trek episode "Amok Time" ring true: "After a time, you may find that to have is not nearly so great a thing as to want."
Friday, December 30, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Smart Phone--A Smart Decision?
Yesterday, I joined the ranks of the smart phone users. I've wanted an iPhone since they first came out, but I never could justify the expense, even though I qualified for an upgrade. It also didn't help that the iPhone didn't qualify for the discount I get through my employer, so I've just contented myself with a Motorola RAZR.
The good thing is, if you've got to content yourself with a phone, the RAZR is a great one to settle for. I've been using one since 2006 and it's given flawless service. I was actually kind of sad yesterday when I shut it down and pulled out the SIM card for the last time.
The decision to make the jump to a smart phone was kind of an impulse. I was on AT&T's Web site late last week, making an adjustment to my account that would save me a few bucks a month, and I decided to see what phone upgrades might be available. I looked at several Android smart phones and read some scary user reviews, then I spied the Motorola Atrix 4G. There were no user reviews, but when I brought up reviews from respected publications like PC Magazine, C-NET, and Endgadget, the consensus I read was that it was a pretty good piece of hardware. It even compared favorably with the iPhone 4. As if the reviews weren't a good enough enticement, AT&T was offering the Atrix 4G for a penny. It's sort of hard to argue with that kind of a price tag.
Placing an order for the phone on AT&T's seemed like it would be an easy thing, but I couldn't have been more wrong. A malfunction on the site prevented it from processing the instant rebate of $199.98 and thus was attempting to charge me $199.99 instead of one cent. Repeated online chat sessions with a supposed customer support representative didn't solve the problem. I'm nearly convinced there wasn't actually a real person there. The responses were too formal and too formulaic.
The last chat session ended with the suggestion that I call the customer service number, which I did--and got transferred a total of three times--before I ended up talking with someone who was empowered to process the order and apply the discount. The individual even waived the $18 upgrade fee to compensate me for my inconvenience It only took me three hours to make all that happen, and three days later, the phone was in my hands.
Since I've never owned or used any other smart phone, I have nothing with which to compare it except the other mobile phones I've owned. All but one of those phones has been a Motorola and all but one of those has been of excellent quality, so with the good reviews I read, I had few qualms about going with a Motorola smart phone.
The Atrix 4G seems to be built to Motorola's usual high standards, although the plastic back panel is a bit of a disappointment after five years of the RAZR's machined aluminum outer shell. While it doesn't exactly feel cheap, the panel's satin finish makes it somewhat slippery and hard to hold onto. It's also a bit difficult to remove. This design was improved somewhat with the Atrix 2, which has a rubberized back panel. Too bad they aren't swappable.
As a phone, the Atrix seems to function acceptably with excellent sound quality. I actually got rid of my landline a few years ago because my RAZR's sound quality was so superior to that of the house phone that I tended not to use the latter if I could avoid it. But the phone function is also where this device begins to differentiate itself from the RAZR. Whereas the RAZR was primarily a phone with a few PDA-like features thrown in for good measure, the Atrix 4G--probably like all smart phones--is a handheld mobile computing device that also happens to function as a phone. As it turns out, this is an important distinction because the Atrix takes an extra step or two just to access the phone to make a call. It's actually little wonder that so many people who have smart phones tend to text more than they talk.
So right now, I'm on a learning curve with this phone. Some features are more intuitive than others, and dialing on a slick glass surface takes some getting used to. I'll check back in when I've had more of an opportunity to live with it and let you know whether I'm a convert.
The good thing is, if you've got to content yourself with a phone, the RAZR is a great one to settle for. I've been using one since 2006 and it's given flawless service. I was actually kind of sad yesterday when I shut it down and pulled out the SIM card for the last time.
The decision to make the jump to a smart phone was kind of an impulse. I was on AT&T's Web site late last week, making an adjustment to my account that would save me a few bucks a month, and I decided to see what phone upgrades might be available. I looked at several Android smart phones and read some scary user reviews, then I spied the Motorola Atrix 4G. There were no user reviews, but when I brought up reviews from respected publications like PC Magazine, C-NET, and Endgadget, the consensus I read was that it was a pretty good piece of hardware. It even compared favorably with the iPhone 4. As if the reviews weren't a good enough enticement, AT&T was offering the Atrix 4G for a penny. It's sort of hard to argue with that kind of a price tag.
Placing an order for the phone on AT&T's seemed like it would be an easy thing, but I couldn't have been more wrong. A malfunction on the site prevented it from processing the instant rebate of $199.98 and thus was attempting to charge me $199.99 instead of one cent. Repeated online chat sessions with a supposed customer support representative didn't solve the problem. I'm nearly convinced there wasn't actually a real person there. The responses were too formal and too formulaic.
The last chat session ended with the suggestion that I call the customer service number, which I did--and got transferred a total of three times--before I ended up talking with someone who was empowered to process the order and apply the discount. The individual even waived the $18 upgrade fee to compensate me for my inconvenience It only took me three hours to make all that happen, and three days later, the phone was in my hands.
Since I've never owned or used any other smart phone, I have nothing with which to compare it except the other mobile phones I've owned. All but one of those phones has been a Motorola and all but one of those has been of excellent quality, so with the good reviews I read, I had few qualms about going with a Motorola smart phone.
The Atrix 4G seems to be built to Motorola's usual high standards, although the plastic back panel is a bit of a disappointment after five years of the RAZR's machined aluminum outer shell. While it doesn't exactly feel cheap, the panel's satin finish makes it somewhat slippery and hard to hold onto. It's also a bit difficult to remove. This design was improved somewhat with the Atrix 2, which has a rubberized back panel. Too bad they aren't swappable.
As a phone, the Atrix seems to function acceptably with excellent sound quality. I actually got rid of my landline a few years ago because my RAZR's sound quality was so superior to that of the house phone that I tended not to use the latter if I could avoid it. But the phone function is also where this device begins to differentiate itself from the RAZR. Whereas the RAZR was primarily a phone with a few PDA-like features thrown in for good measure, the Atrix 4G--probably like all smart phones--is a handheld mobile computing device that also happens to function as a phone. As it turns out, this is an important distinction because the Atrix takes an extra step or two just to access the phone to make a call. It's actually little wonder that so many people who have smart phones tend to text more than they talk.
So right now, I'm on a learning curve with this phone. Some features are more intuitive than others, and dialing on a slick glass surface takes some getting used to. I'll check back in when I've had more of an opportunity to live with it and let you know whether I'm a convert.
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