Face off: Motorola ATRIX vs Asus Padfone

What makes Motorola ATRIX and Asus Padfone unique in the smartphone market is that these are convertible devices. You can bear both the smartphones in pocket while you are on the go so like a typical smartphone. But during your leisure time, you can convert both ATRIX and Padfone into tablets. You can watch a film or surf the Web on the tablet-like accessories that come with the smartphones.

Motorola ATRIX vs Asus Padfone

Motorola ATRIX 4G comes up with an accessory named Motorola Laptop Dock. The device has a display of 11.6-inch, and a standalone identity with separate battery, HDMI, and USB ports. Asus Padfone advances up with a tablet-like case of 10.1-inch display. With Motorola ATRIX users are expected to dock the smartphone into the back of the Laptop Dock. But with Asus Padfone the handheld device can be slipped inside the touchscreen accessory.

Performance

ASUSTeK demoed Padfone at the Computex Taipei. But the Taiwanese company is yet to divulge the complete technical specifications and features of the device. The company just revealed that the device will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the upcoming Android version. The tablet accessory will have a touchscreen of 10.1-inch. Motorola announced ATRIX 4G at the CES 2011 in January. The Libertyville firm unveiled the device in February itself. ATRIX 4G has great technical specifications along with the 11.6-inch Laptop dock. The smartphone runs on a dual-core 1GHz processor, and has qHD resolution display. The software of ATRIX is Android 2.2 or Froyo.

Winner: It is almost impossible to judge the winner in this category, because we are still unaware of the entire tech specs of Asus Padfone. So Motorola ATRIX 4G that has been attracting rave reviews since its launch can be counted as the winner in absence of its rival’s tech spec details.

Screen size

Motorola ATRIX’s Laptop Dock has a screen of 11.6-inch. That means it is almost similar to a laptop or netbook. Meanwhile, Asus Padfone’s tablet will have a display of 10.1-inch only. In fact, it is in the size of the leading tablets in the market such as Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola Xoom.

Winner: As far as the screen size is taken into account, ATRIX 4G is indeed the winner, because it has an 11.6-inch display.

Software

Motorola ATRIX 4G runs on Android 2.2 Froyo. Meanwhile, its Asus competitor is to play on the next Android version Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0).

Winner: Here the winner is Asus Padfone, but the device is several months new to ATRIX 4G that hit the stores early this year.

Conversion accessory

Motorola touts of a laptop as an accessory with its ATRIX smartphone. But Asus Padfone has a tablet. And so, the devices respectively differ in screen sizes as 11.6-inch and 10.1-inch.

Winner: Here the winner can be both the devices considering the tastes and preferences of users. There might be people who love a laptop or those who admire a tablet.

The verdict:

It is the smartest way mobile phone users can stay away from the need to have separate tablets or laptops. If you own an ATRIX 4G or Padfone you will have a smartphone in the pocket and a tablet at home. You can enjoy using a tablet or laptop in your living room. You can watch videos and surf the Web in the large scree instead of the smartphone’s smaller screen.

According to Motorola, users can experience Mozilla Firefox 3.6 and Adobe Flash Player support on the larger platforms. But the biggest shortfall is that you will have to purchase both the devices for separate prices. Critics have blamed Motorola that its ATRIX 4G and Laptop Dock in company wanted a price of almost a normal laptop in the market. But the smartphone with the Laptop Dock became a hit in the market. Motorola sells ATRIX 4G handset alone also.