Atrix release date set (kind of) - dock to cost $500

[Judgement]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...aptop-dock-500-with-contract-hits-march-6.ars

ETA March 6th, with pre-orders starting Feb 13

the companion laptop dock (referred to by Motorola reps as a "lapdock") will cost $500 on its own, or it can be packaged with the Atrix and a two-year contract for a total cost of $500.

No Thank You!

I've been waiting months to upgrade my phone as I knew after CES new stuff would start rolling out and I didn't want to be stuck with something for 2 years that was already getting dated. This is what caught my eye at first, but now I am sorely disappointed.

No way in hell am I paying that for a wannabe netbook without any guts that locks me into a tethering contract...

Now I have to decide if I want to get the Atrix phone based on what it can provide on its own, which still sounds good until you see them talking about no Gingerboard or 1080p until some future, as of now unannounced, date. Do I really want to pre-order a phone with unproven battery performance (new cpu), a locked bootloader, no gingerbread at release, etc with other phones on the way? If Samsung didn't suck I would be holding out for whatever is going to end up replacing the Galaxy S

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I was surprised this wasnt posted earlier. Leave it up to ATT of course to fuck this up.

You can buy a full on real AMD fusion 11.6 for like 450, seriously what the hell is up with that.

 

[kaerflog]

Motorola has been producing some really nice stuff lately but the pricing is atrcious.

 

[MrX8503]

$500? What the frick!?

Isn't the dock just empty? All of the grunt work is from the phone.

 

[Strk]

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the pricing for the lapdock. It's a screen and a battery, yet costs more than an actual laptop? No thanks.

 

[zerocool84]

$500? What the frick!?

Isn't the dock just empty? All of the grunt work is from the phone.

That's no-lube anal rape.

 

[Pliablemoose]

LOL, ever get the feeling they set the prices after they see the reaction on forums and from bloggers?

The phone was rumored to be $149 and the keyboard/screen was supposed to be the same price with the AV dock @ $50.

The other issue is the OS, they notebook shell is running Android plus to make it work, this would be a slick setup if it could run Windows or iOS for a Mac...

Now there's a product for Apple, a fusion device... Hmmm

 

[gsaldivar]

Leave it up to ATT of course to fuck this up.

This.

 

[ultimatebob]

$300 for a phone laptop dock is insane, considering that you can get a pretty good netbook for that price.

 

[kaerflog]

$300 for a phone laptop dock is insane, considering that you can get a pretty good netbook for that price.

$300 ?? Try $500.
$300 is if you buy the dock with the phone and agree to some hotspot crazy data plan crap.

 

[foghorn67]

lol. All these news items about pricing and rate changes are making my blood boil.

 

[cbn]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...aptop-dock-500-with-contract-hits-march-6.ars

The Motorola Atrix 4G, a smartphone that can be docked into a laptop, will arrive no later than March 6, according to AT&T. The phone will be priced at $200 and will be available for preorder through AT&T starting February 13, but the peripherals that have made the phone such a hit pre-launch may drive the price of adoption up significantly.

The Atrix garnered a lot of attention at CES last month for its ability to dock into a laptop and power the laptop's entire experience with its Tegra 2 processor and dual 1GHz cores. But the companion laptop dock (referred to by Motorola reps as a "lapdock") will cost $500 on its own, or it can be packaged with the Atrix and a two-year contract for a total cost of $500.

Motorola is also making a multimedia dock for the Atrix to connect the phone to an HD screen. AT&T made no indication the dock will be sold separately, but will instead come in a package with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse‚ and a remote control, for $190. We've seen whisperings, though, that the dock may be sold standalone by third parties for $60.

The Atrix does have a couple of drawbacks: it's shipping with Android 2.2 Froyo rather than the latest 2.3 Gingerbread. It also will not be able to play or record video at the promised 1080p resolution when it launches, though Motorola has promised to enable these features in a software update. It seems like the fully enabled Atrix will be able to envelop your entire media experience if you let it; we're already wondering how many customers will get on board.

Like the article says we should be seeing third party docks/lapdocks pretty soon if this concept takes off.

 

[erwos]

Like the article says we should be seeing third party docks/lapdocks pretty soon if this concept takes off.

That's not what the article said. It said third-parties, like Best Buy, might sell non-bundled docks.

The multimedia dock for $60 is appealing, and I rather like the car dock, too. The real issue is whether they're actually going to really enforce the "you must have tethering to use Firefox" clause they shoved in the press release. It's a huge mistake as a policy, and seems dangerously close to a net neutrality violation.

 

[ultimatebob]

$300 ?? Try $500.
$300 is if you buy the dock with the phone and agree to some hotspot crazy data plan crap.

Either way, I personally wouldn't pay more than $150 for that add-on.

I'm sure that the prices will drop like a rock after they've been sitting on the shelves collecting dust for a few months, though

 

[shortylickens]

Soon as some dinky little Tawainese company releases functional accessories for one fifth the price, this shit will stop.

 

[Judgement]

Whats to stop a 3rd party manufacturer from pumping out a similar dock for half the price? There is no way the hardware justifies the cost, and I'm sure whatever hybrid OS etc is needed is already on the phone itself..

Maybe they have something in place to detect the fact that your phone is docked, and the connection drops unless you have their tethering plan? I guess I'll have to keep wondering until people start getting their hands on this stuff

 

[erwos]

Whats to stop a 3rd party manufacturer from pumping out a similar dock for half the price?

Patent on the interface if it's not straight USB, otherwise cryptographic measures. Breaking either of the two would lead to a sales ban in the USA.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Aftermarket stuff takes months to come out, with the product cycle of Android phones, they're not going to be very excited about gearing up to make something that expensive for a device that only lasts a year.

Which bring up another issue, when you upgrade your phone, will the next phone be compatible with the laptop dock?

I listened to the Engadget podcast yesterday, and they're all going to get one. I'm going to wait till gen II if I jump, too easy to replicate with a humble netbook, I can buy 2 Dell refurb netbooks for the price, or buy a slim notebook for the price. And still avoid the tethering plan on top of it...

 

[theeedude]

There is a USB and HDMI port on the phone itself.

So my guess is you can make your own laptop dock if you really wanted to.
Early adapters always get fleeced though, probably dock prices will fall once that demand subsides. Plus you have to consider that the laptop dock is probably targeted towards business users, who would have less of a problem paying $500 for it.

 

[cbn]

Which bring up another issue, when you upgrade your phone, will the next phone be compatible with the laptop dock?

I really hope so. (Being able to re-use hardware would be nice)

 

[OBLAMA2009]

would anyone really even use a dock for a mobile phone. i have a desktop on 24/7, i cant imagine ever wanting to websurf on a cellphone if i could do it on a pc

 

[DivideBYZero]

LOL + another LOL!

 

[erwos]

would anyone really even use a dock for a mobile phone. i have a desktop on 24/7, i cant imagine ever wanting to websurf on a cellphone if i could do it on a pc

It's definitely niche; I see it as being more useful as an HTPC for a secondary/bedroom TV than a dedicated surfing device, especially since it doesn't output in HD (upscaled 960x540, whee!). That's what I currently use my Zune HD dock for.

The car dock, on the other hand, looks much more mass market in its appeal... as long as it has a line-out so I can push audio to my car stereo, I'll be happy.

 

[Judgement]

Engadget review was finally posted:

http://www.engadget.com/motorola/atrix-4g-review/

Still kinda stuck between this and Galaxy S II

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

ok so SCREW the laptop dock. The phone is still $200 like any other high end smartphone.

The dock is a no go because the pricing is all fucked up, but at least the phone itself is attractive at $200 no?

I think enough people also pointed out that the whole dock concept is a gimmick. It's nice to have but it's not a serious business machine you can do stuff on. It's not gonna be super fast either. I might as well just browse on my phone, and switch to a laptop if I need serious horsepower/productivity.