So I waited for the price to drop below $200, before I purchased. I bought a refurbished unit for $175. (I heard you can by them for as low as $100 now.) I must say that I am really impressed with this Lapdock and it far exceeded my expectations. I am running Gingerbread with Firefox 4.0. (It is fast at loading pages.) I don't own any mobile devices like a tablet, laptop, ipad, etc. Just my Atrix.
It meets all of my needs and more. You don't need the 4G tethering plan to use Firefox. You can use wifi and when on the go, just use the browser app, within the mobile view. (I kept my unlimited data plan.) I have had mine for about a month now and still learning how to use it and new tricks. Since there is no users manual, as to all of the features, you will have to discover them by playing around with it, forums like this, trial and error. So here are the pros and cons I have discovered so far.
Pros:
1) Netbook experience, but has limitations.
2) You have complete access of your phone's functions and apps within the mobile view.
3) If you have a word processing app on your phone, you can create/view and edit: PDF, excel, word documents and powerpoint presentations. (Even though there are no spell check for android any of the word processing apps, you can still use the spell check/word suggestion, from the on screen keyboard, while using the qwerty keyboard.) You have to right click on the mouse to get the dialog box and choose multi touch keyboard and then just minimize the on screen keyboard.
4) You can access the internet thru the mobile or webtop view. (Don't need a tethering plan.)
5) You can access all of your videos, pictures and documents in both mobile and webtop view.
6) You can save movies to an SD card or flash drive and play them with in the mobile or webtop view. (There is some choppiness, but its not bad.) The bigger the viewing window, the chopper it is. This works for movies rented from the android market too.
7) You can hook up a USB or cable mouse.
8) The lapdock charges your phone really fast, when docked. (It doesn't matter if the lapdock is plugged into an outlet or not.) You can easily get 2 full charges on your phone if your phone is down to 30% battery, if the lapdock is fully charged.
9) The key board is really nice and spacious. Easy to type on once you get use to it. Has a lot of quick function keys like: Vol., screen brightness, etc.
10) The mouse pad is easy to use, really big, can be turned off and has two function buttons. (Its not multi touch, but you can double tap to scroll.)
11) Its very lightweight, thin and easy to carry around.
12) You can set up your webtop desktop background to whatever you want and can customize the dock bar with mobile apps and web apps/shortcuts.
13) In the Firefox window, you can customize it how you like and can choose your default home page. (I have mine set to Google.)
14) You forget your using your phone to power the lapdock.
15) All of your internet bookmarks show up in Firefox as well as the mobile browser. (I doesn't matter if you created them in either or.)
16) Playing your MP3's or streaming music, sounds pretty good thru the lapdock speakers. (You can use mobile and webtop view.)Listen privately using the head phone jack on the phone.
17) Multitasking is really easy in both the mobile and webtop view.
18) You can answer and make phone calls. Send text and e-mail, etc.
19) You can enlarge mobile and webtop view to take up the whole screen or resize windows as you see fit. (Just like on a windows PC.)
20) File management is really easy and you can view your pictures in list or thumbnail view.
21) You can still access all apps in airplane mode that doesn't require a data connection. (I used my lapdock while on a plane and the experience was really nice.) I had all my music and movies on SD cards to listen to and watch.
22) Most games play just as good as it does when using the phones screen. (Racing games or any that use the accelerometer, require you to tilt the lapdock.)
23) The battery life is 8 hrs on full charge. (Will be less, depending on how low the Atrix Is, video play back and what you are doing.) It definitely will last longer then any laptop, netbook or tablet.
24) Over 6 ft. Charging plug.
25) You have a tab view in both mobile and webtop view. (Much easier and faster to move around apps.)
26) User interface is really nice and surpasses some netbooks and laptops functions. (Scrolling view of all open windows with in webtop.)
27) Only have to carry around your phone and lapdock.
28) Screen is beautiful, bright and sharp.
29) Flash video and playback streams nice with no lag or choppiness.
Cons
1) Dock is useless without the Atrix 4G and only works with the Atrix 4G.
2) It will lag, if you have to many apps or website tabs open at one time.
3) Video play back is a little laggy, when viewing full screen.
(Doesn't matter if it was saved to SD card or streaming.)
4) No way to view powerpoint presentations on a view screen.
5) Can't add apps to webtop desktop.
6) No touch screen.
So, I hope I was able to help you in deciding if this lapdock is for you or not. You wanna know something else, I typed up this review on it and it was cool.
Its a completely transforming experience. It is way better than having a Netbook to lug around. Actually, in last two weeks it has replaced my Macbook Air and also my home PC (I am using Home dock). The idea is great although execution in some areas is poor and price is high. Having said this, I'd have gladly spent $400 for it than buying a Netbook.
I use it for my daily commuting and it saves me time and it is headache free. For example, before it I need to worry and make sure that I have three devices working and charged: Phone, MiFi and Macbook Air (I have also used Netbooks in the past). Now charging is headache free and also I just realized that I have not formally charged my phone for last 3-4 days and it is still working. Making sure that my phone has a juice has always been an issue in life, especially ever since I started using its hotspot feature. Now my smartphone gets charged automatically during my one hour commute to NY city and back.
Before Atrix I used MiFi for two years and then tried Samsung Epic for few months. I would have to make sure that I have a charger or extra battery at work because phone's battery was around 40% when I reached office because of using its mobile Hotspot feature.
Taking calls is now fun. Actually, in general running Android applications is great, especially all media ones.
There are also other things which has completely won me over and I have no desire now ever to return to a Netbook world (at least run of the mills Netbooks though maybe Macbook Air, which was a nearly perfect device!). I hope the future docks would be less expensive. That is the only real negative I have against this thing.
It is an integrated experience and one needs to use it for 2-3 weeks to understand what it really means. This is the future.
I bought it with full intentions of returning it if the concept did not work out. I bought it from Radio Shack (Phone + Dock for $479.00)
Buy AT&T Laptop Dock for Motorola ATRIX 4G - Retail Packaging Now
So I have had my Atrix for about 4 months before i got around to getting the laptop dock. Reviews have been up and down. Finally i saw it on a nice sale and fair price in my opinion of $250.
1st and foremost. The Atrix is the most amazing Superphone out there with the Nvidia Tegra processor to handle the Android OS the way it was meant to be. The Tegra processor is amazing, no lag time, plays Hd video in WMN and MP4 flawlessly and the battery life when used correctly out does any other smartphone with a high Mhz processor. I had the Backlip and the Droid X, and the Atrix gets 2x the life than i did before.
As far as the laptop dock. as stated i think that $250 is a fair price for it.
PerformanceUnfortantly the webtop application in its current form does not take full advantage of the Nvidia GPU, the interface is emulated, but it is snappy and quick. in Laptop dock it does have a full version of firefox and not google, mainly because the webtop ap is a lynix based merged with the android. I can browse with 3 tabs and not have lag issues on wi-fi. 3g it does lag simply because of the speed restrictions of wireless 3G.
As stated in the webtop Youtube videos do not play as smoothly as they do just in the phone, that is due to the problem that the webtop is not using the GPU like it could be. Im hoping that motorola fixes this. i can play 480p fine on a wi-fi and 720p is playable but does get choppy.
They did inclued the entertainment center and i can play a 1080p video in MP4 or WMV without a hickup. it doesnt show it in that, but i dont need to worry about down converting 1080p when i move it to the SD drive or a USB flash drive.
Accesories: Wonderful thing works with plug n play mice and keyboards and flashdrives, external harddrives. At first i used a addon wireless mouse off my desktop computer and pluged it in, and it worked right away. I later bought a bluetooth mouse and bluetooth headphones.
The only problem i have run into is getting my shared printer on my network to be recognized by my Atrix.
Battery life: AMAZING, i have used the atrix for 6 hours straight with the atrix on half charge, at the end of the 6 hours of me using it my atrix was fully charged and the laptop dock still had 2/5 power left. i have not drained it, got to 1 /5. It charges the phone quickly and the dock itself will charge competly up in an hour pluged in.
Here is the big kicker, At&t wants you to pay for their tethering plan to use the laptop dock on their network, it will work right out of the box on wi-fi no problem (which is where i use it most) but i do like to bring it to other places without wi-fi and still use it, so i do. there is a way.
This is not a replacement for a computer. I have a rather hardcore gaming rig for my main computer, but when im traveling, or at work or just chilling out on my back porch its nice to have a device to listen to pandora, browse the web, play movies, music, show photos, edit word docs or play some angry birds full screen. all you can do on the android you still can do, and anything you can do online you can do. and 10x more power efficient and powerful than any netbook.
Keyboard, Im over 6 ft and 220 lbs, with average hands, the keyboard is well sized and proportioned, the touch pad is large and can disable quickly for long typing without worrying about moving the mouse around.
All and all, this is a great accesory along with the car dock. only reason i am not giving it 5 stars is that the webtop ap doesnt take ful advantage of its powerful Nvidia GPU
Read Best Reviews of AT&T Laptop Dock for Motorola ATRIX 4G - Retail Packaging Here
The Motorola atrix is a AWESOME device and the laptop doc completely finishes off the package. Why get a tablet when for the same price or less you can get a full keyboard that, in my opinion, is more usable than a tablet. One note is that this lapdock is designed for light word processing and mostly web browsing a video watching/ web surfingmore of a netbook then a full laptop. But if thats what you are looking for the device is great. It also powers up instantly as soon as you drop your phone into it which is nice.
Want AT&T Laptop Dock for Motorola ATRIX 4G - Retail Packaging Discount?
While the commercial blurs the line of the Motorola Atrix with it "is it a phone?" "is it a computer?", that line is made perfectly clear what AT&T considers it. The Atrix is a phone and the laptop dock is a computer. I purchased the laptop dock on impulse at Best Buy for $399. I did not even realize the phone I owned was the phone on the commercial until I saw the dock in person. I thought it would be a better way to utilize my AT&T unlimited data plan by streaming Pandora or checking email at work or having a large display while on car trips. Right up front I want to make it clear that the laptop dock is a paper weight and battery without the phone. It does nothing, zilch, nada, NOTHING! It very much needs the phone to be the brains. My main and really only beef with the whole setup, is when I did plug in my phone and try to start Firefox, the system did a check and found that I did not have a tethering plan. AT&T considers this data usage a tether. Basically, connecting a display, keyboard and a trackpad to my phone is the same as tethering a regular laptop to it. AT&T wants charge you $20 to give you the option of using a keyboard, mouse, and display with your phone.
I did spend some time on wifi with this. You if you have wifi available where you use this, you will be happy for the most part. When the phone is not bogged down with open applications taking valuable resources, the laptop dock is a pretty good experience. If you are a person that does use this on the road and is willing to pay for the tethering option to be connected full time, I would say go for it. I am not sure about a sales person or corporate executive being able to use this setup to VPN to a company intranet, so you might not be able to replace your current laptop with the dock. Do some checking on this first.
I for one, think that the tethering argument is super weak, and returned the laptop dock to Best Buy. I want to finish by saying that not only the gal that sold it to me, but the clerk I returned it to, did not realize that a data plan with a tethering was necessary to use this outside of an area without wifi. I am not the only one who thought this was too good to be true!
-Scott
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