Motorola Atrix Smartphone [CES 2011]

This week at CES, AT&T and Motorola announced the Motorola Atrix 4G, a dual-core smartphone which docks into a laptop-style base running a “full version” of Mozilla Firefox.

Before we jump into the device’s full specs (which are pretty impressive), let’s explore Motorola’s revolutionary ‘Webtop’ application. Webtop allows one to mobilize a desktop and surf the web with a full Firefox browser, create and edit docs and photos, and access music and video content. Motorola claims that Webtop is “exclusive to the Atrix 4G”, meaning this app isn’t coming to the average Droid anytime soon.

The Atrix 4G has some impressive specs. According to Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, it’s an Android 2.2 smartphone with a dual-core 1 Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a “qHD” display, a fingerprint recognizer and a huge 1930 mAh battery, all in a 10.9mm-thick case. The Atrix will connect to AT&T’s HSPA+ “4G” network, AT&T said.

One of the most innovative features is the Atrix’s docking ability. At CES, Motorola showed the Atrix docking into the “Motorola Lapdock,” a brainless 11.6-inch, 2.4-lb magnesium alloy laptop which uses the special Webtop app to provide a full screen, keyboard, speakers, and 2 USB ports for the Atrix’s abilities. The dock has 8 hours of battery life.

So what does all of this innovation from Motorola mean for AT&T, which is about to lose its iPhone exclusivity on Tuesday to Verizon? Of course, it’s a nice win for the network, and AT&T certainly needed at least one powerful flagship model introduced at CES 2011 to not make it look like a complete loser this week. Fortunately for CEO Ralph De La Vega’s crew, Motorola delivered with its 4G capable, Webtop enabled, dual-core 1 GHz monster, the Atrix.

Looking for more of the best news coverage of CES 2011? You’ll want to check out Dell Venue Android Smartphone and Motorola Xoom Tablet.