Motorola is planning similar laptop-like docks, similar to that of the Atrix 4G, for all its high-end smartphones, the company reported on Monday, Feb. 28th, during a presentation by CEO Sanjay Jha to investors. That means that Webtop apps and their corresponding docks will be gracing Motorola's high-end smartphones in the second half of this year, which makes sense: the Atrix 4G and its dock could be an ecosystem that spreads across carriers.
It's unclear if each device would get its own customized dock, or if Motorola would adapt them to use the dock already created for the Atrix. 4G. If the latter, that, of oourse, would mean that all of them would have to have the ports in exactly the same position for each phone, which might prove limiting.
Alternatively, we could see Motorola differentiating between them to ensure more hardware sales, just as manufacturers did (and still do, though less often) with cell phone chargers.
One problem we noticed when we played with the Atrix 4G and its dock is that the dock, the way it was created, will not work with extended batteries. Since those create a "bump" in the back of the smartphon, it simply wouldn't work when we played around with inserted an extended battery in the back of the Atrix 4G (since Motorola has a history of using the same batteries across devices, we used a 3500mAh designed for the Droid X). With the bulge, the Atrix 4G wouldn't slip into the proper position.
One negative for the Atrix 4G was, for us, the AT&T network. We simply didn't want to return to the land of dropped calls after moving to Verizon. A move to spread the Motorola and Webtop dock love to other carriers would be a great move by Motorola.
Another negative is the fact that AT&T charges $20 to use the Webtop dock with the Internet connection of the Atrix 4G. We can't fault them, really: it's sort of like tethering a laptop.
To be honest, the dock itself, sold seperately for $500, is way too expensive. Combining them for a total of $500, as AT&T has, is better, but still not great. One thing: our experience with the laptop dock and the Atrix 4G did show us that the more you use it, the better you like it.
Watch a short demo video below.
It's unclear if each device would get its own customized dock, or if Motorola would adapt them to use the dock already created for the Atrix. 4G. If the latter, that, of oourse, would mean that all of them would have to have the ports in exactly the same position for each phone, which might prove limiting.
Alternatively, we could see Motorola differentiating between them to ensure more hardware sales, just as manufacturers did (and still do, though less often) with cell phone chargers.
One problem we noticed when we played with the Atrix 4G and its dock is that the dock, the way it was created, will not work with extended batteries. Since those create a "bump" in the back of the smartphon, it simply wouldn't work when we played around with inserted an extended battery in the back of the Atrix 4G (since Motorola has a history of using the same batteries across devices, we used a 3500mAh designed for the Droid X). With the bulge, the Atrix 4G wouldn't slip into the proper position.
One negative for the Atrix 4G was, for us, the AT&T network. We simply didn't want to return to the land of dropped calls after moving to Verizon. A move to spread the Motorola and Webtop dock love to other carriers would be a great move by Motorola.
Another negative is the fact that AT&T charges $20 to use the Webtop dock with the Internet connection of the Atrix 4G. We can't fault them, really: it's sort of like tethering a laptop.
To be honest, the dock itself, sold seperately for $500, is way too expensive. Combining them for a total of $500, as AT&T has, is better, but still not great. One thing: our experience with the laptop dock and the Atrix 4G did show us that the more you use it, the better you like it.
Watch a short demo video below.
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