Took the plunge and got a new phone

Grant Lamontagne · **on:** May 13, 2011, 04:15:38 AM

Well I did it- I finally replaced my HTC Touch. I love that phone, but it's too badly out of date now to really do much of anything with, and the battery life is pretty much shot. So, it was time for a new one, and I am now the proud owner of an Android phone, the Motorola Atrix.

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-ATRIX-US-EN

Dual core processor and a screen bigger than my old phone! Pretty sweet little machine, but it's taking a bit to get used to- I've never used a Droid before. Still, I'm having a lot of fun figuring it out- so far I've installed Google Latitude, Drive Safe.ly, Tapatalk and a few other things.

Def

ducttapetech · **Reply #1 on:** May 13, 2011, 04:22:08 AM

Nice! Just make sure the phone doesn't out smart you.......

jekostas · **Reply #2 on:** May 13, 2011, 04:51:21 AM

Ooooooooooh fancy

Gonna get the laptop dock as well? And the giant mecha suit dock?

jzmtl · **Reply #3 on:** May 13, 2011, 04:57:31 AM

Nice, I'm looking at a Sony experia for a new phone too, just going to see if I can get the plans hammered out.

thebullfrog · **Reply #4 on:** May 13, 2011, 05:11:16 AM

The Atrix is a beast.

Whoey · **Reply #5 on:** May 13, 2011, 05:14:25 AM

if my Motorola Defy is anything to go by, the Atrix must be awesome...

665ae · **Reply #6 on:** May 13, 2011, 05:20:56 AM

Did you get the laptop dock too? That phone looks sweet.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #7 on:** May 13, 2011, 01:35:43 PM

No I didn't get the laptop attachment. Initially I wanted to but it needed to tethering plan to work. I will wait to see if they come out with a second generation version of it. It's a great idea but it needs to be developed more.

By the way I've dictated this entire message and auto typed. Pretty sweet.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Threeme2189 · **Reply #8 on:** May 13, 2011, 01:52:29 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on May 13, 2011, 01:35:43 PM

No I didn't get the laptop attachment. Initially I wanted to but it needed to tethering plan to work. I will wait to see if they come out with a second generation version of it. It's a great idea but it needs to be developed more.

By the way I've dictated this entire message and auto typed. Pretty sweet.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Have fun with it!!!

Sent from my PC using a keyboard

665ae · **Reply #9 on:** May 13, 2011, 02:33:38 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on May 13, 2011, 01:35:43 PM

No I didn't get the laptop attachment. Initially I wanted to but it needed to tethering plan to work. I will wait to see if they come out with a second generation version of it. It's a great idea but it needs to be developed more.

By the way I've dictated this entire message and auto typed. Pretty sweet.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Hell, someone's probably rooted that model already. You can probably root your phone and get some tethering software that works for free

edcgear · **Reply #10 on:** May 13, 2011, 02:35:53 PM

Great phone matey... I'm sticking with NOKIA as allways, the best IMHO...

Though this one is great!! Congrats!

Beerplumber · **Reply #11 on:** May 13, 2011, 02:45:36 PM

iPhone4 is my recommendation, only had it for a coupla weeks but don't know what I would do without it now, it performs so smoothly

airballrad · **Reply #12 on:** May 13, 2011, 07:58:51 PM

I have a co-worker that went from an iPhone 3G to an Atrix. He has been a very happy camper.

I've been running an OG Droid for 15 months and I've been quite happy with it. The Droid is pretty underpowered now with current software but it's holding its own. My answer to the battery life problem has been to let it sit and charge whenever I'm not out and about. There are some apps that will let you easily turn off certain components when they're not in use (Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi), but I'm usually too lazy.

jekostas · **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2011, 09:59:51 PM

If you're worried about the GPS/Wi-Fi/Data Sync sucking down battery life, there's a great widget called Power Control with one click on/off for all those from the home screen. Very useful.

82brutus · **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2011, 11:04:33 PM

Good for you Def! I went out and bought mine the day them came out after researching a bit about them. I love it.

My wife has the iPhone so it's been fun comparing them. So far, my battery life is pretty good and I have very few complaints about it, well at least it's been very consistent. I tend to turn off GPS and other stuff when I don't really need it to save power and I have become good friends with the droid task manager tool to end the applications that I am not currently using. And of course, got to have the Droid Flashlight app as a backup light.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #15 on:** May 13, 2011, 11:24:21 PM

One thing I find amazing- this thing is HUGE!

In fact, the screen on this one takes up more real estate than my whole other phone did. I kind of miss the d-pad and hard buttons on my Touch (and previous PDA's) but I'm sure I'll learn to live without them.

I also got the Otterbox Defender case (what else would I get?

) since I wanted more protection than the Commuter because I work outdoors in a wet environment. That makes it seem even bigger, but it feels so small and dainty without the case. Without the case it seems like it would be a lot more fragile than my old phone, and that scares the crap out of me! This will be an expensive phone to wreck.... or at least replace.

I could use a couple of good, mindless games for it, so if anyone has any suggestions I'll have a look at them.

Def

airballrad · **Reply #16 on:** May 13, 2011, 11:26:04 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on May 13, 2011, 11:24:21 PM

I could use a couple of good, mindless games for it, so if anyone has any suggestions I'll have a look at them.

Angry Birds. Excellent at making you mindless.

Also:
Robo Defense
Paper Toss
Jewels

Whoey · **Reply #17 on:** May 14, 2011, 09:21:34 AM

angry birds (and variants)
atilt 3D labyrinth
pinball deluxe
250+ solitaire card

I also have a Diablo clone called Dungeon Hunter... but it's a paid game from gameloft.

jekostas · **Reply #18 on:** May 15, 2011, 10:39:17 AM

Oh, and quick tip - if you want a cheap, hardy screen protector one of the following works really well:
1. The vinyl clear coat they sell to put on textbooks (I got a roll at a dollar store), or;
2. Clear vinyl topcoat from a fabric store. You can often go to Walmart and get remnants or very small pieces for close to a dollar.

Vinyl is naturally oleophobic and scratch resistant, and both options are designed to come off without marring the surface underneath which makes them good screen protectors. Just try and find the stuff without texture or you might get a slight "rainbow" effect in bright light.

ryan1835 · **Reply #19 on:** May 15, 2011, 10:55:58 AM

Quote from: jekostas on May 15, 2011, 10:39:17 AM

Oh, and quick tip - if you want a cheap, hardy screen protector one of the following works really well:
1. The vinyl clear coat they sell to put on textbooks (I got a roll at a dollar store), or;
2. Clear vinyl topcoat from a fabric store. You can often go to Walmart and get remnants or very small pieces for close to a dollar.

Vinyl is naturally oleophobic and scratch resistant, and both options are designed to come off without marring the surface underneath which makes them good screen protectors. Just try and find the stuff without texture or you might get a slight "rainbow" effect in bright light.

ill keep that in mind, top tip there!

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #20 on:** May 16, 2011, 01:42:51 PM

Thanks for the tip, but the Defender case includes a good screen protector so for once I'm good on that front.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

RFOneWatt · **Reply #21 on:** May 16, 2011, 09:05:53 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on May 16, 2011, 01:42:51 PM

Thanks for the tip, but the Defender case includes a good screen protector so for once I'm good on that front.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

I AM JEALOUS!!!! The Atrix is BAD A** and I've always loved Motorola quality.

Congrats!

BTW, when it's time to replace your screen protector the best on the market hands down is from SGP Steinheil.

http://www.sgpstore.com/ IMO the next best is the Otterbox one, which is what I had on my OG Droid. (I've tried the Zagg, Bodyglove and others.)

Of course the SGP is the most expensive but as usual, you get what you pay for. The best price I could find was on Amazon.

Now let's see some 4G speed tests! (They finally updated the Speedtest App. so upstream is correct now.)

This is from my Thunderbolt on Verizon. I was too impatient to wait for the Bionic.. (dual core)

ryan1835 · **Reply #22 on:** May 16, 2011, 09:24:47 PM

thats crazy!

this is what i get when im staying at college

Hammer · **Reply #23 on:** May 17, 2011, 06:01:21 AM

Congratulations on your new toy (it'll be a toy for a week or so, then it becomes a tool). The only experience I have had with the smartphones is with the iPhone 4, but the more I read, the better the droid sounds.
I got the defender for my phone as well. When the phone is clad in defender armour, I don't see how anything could hurt it, but I got the MobileProtect insurance anyway. Did you get any insurance? I figure the defender will protect it from damage, but I'm prone to lose things, and with the MobileProtect I'll be covered.
Have fun with it!!
David

Hull_ n_Back · **Reply #24 on:** May 17, 2011, 10:21:26 PM

If you want to squeeze a few more hours out of the battery take a lookat 'NetSchedule' on the Market. I use it to turn off data between 1am and 7am (you can configure it however you want). Basically your phone stops trying to connect to the data network (3g, etc.). You'll still get phone calls but using this I've managed to get 3 days out of my Xperia X10

Whoey · **Reply #25 on:** May 18, 2011, 09:37:51 AM

Quote from: Hull_ n_Back on May 17, 2011, 10:21:26 PM

If you want to squeeze a few more hours out of the battery take a lookat 'NetSchedule' on the Market. I use it to turn off data between 1am and 7am (you can configure it however you want). Basically your phone stops trying to connect to the data network (3g, etc.). You'll still get phone calls but using this I've managed to get 3 days out of my Xperia X10

nice, will try that out.

RFOneWatt · **Reply #26 on:** May 07, 2012, 09:11:51 PM

Hey Grant -- I know this an old post and I'm not sure if you still have your Atrix, but I remembered you had one when I saw this:

69.99 Motorola Atrix Lapdock

http://www.bensoutlet.com/products/motorola-lapdock-atrix-4g

Sure wish I could find one this cheap for my Razr. In due time, I suppose.

-RF

Verizon 4G LTE on Droid Razr MAXX

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #27 on:** May 07, 2012, 11:29:55 PM

Yup, I am still using and loving the Atrix. I've been looking for a deal on one of those, so maybe I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up!

Def

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #28 on:** May 07, 2012, 11:31:43 PM

US only....

Thanks anyway.

Def

RFOneWatt · **Reply #29 on:** May 08, 2012, 12:35:38 AM

Aww...Bummer! Sorry about that.

Not sure what part of Canada you are in but I'm close to Detroit.

If you want to have it shipped to me I'll gladly forward it for just the postage. Not sure how much they are new anymore but I don't remember them being cheap at all.

-RF

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