LAS
VEGAS—Motorola Mobility CEO
Sanjay Jha unveiled two new Android 4G smartphones and the highly anticipated
Xoom Android 3.0 tablet computer, all powered by dual-core processors, at the
Consumer Electronics Show here Jan. 5.
The
Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone, which will launch on AT&T in
the first quarter of this year, runs Android 2.2 and is powered by an Nvidia
Tegra 2 dual-core chip.
Each
core runs at 1GHz, making the device ideally twice as fast as today's standard
single core, 1GHz chips, according to Jha.
With
a 4-inch qHD display, the Atrix 4G has more than speed in store for consumers.
The device also docks with a PC or laptop to make users' content accessible on larger
screens via Motorola's Webtop application, which runs a full Mozilla Firefox
3.6 browser.
The
Atrix 4G enables serious multitasking. Users can run their Android apps, browse
their favorite Websites with a full Firefox desktop browser, send instant messages
and make phone calls.
Calls
continue uninterrupted if users remove the phone from the dock. Ideally, the
docks and Webtop app will deliver a more "computerlike" experience
for users.
The
Atrix 4G, which also sports 1GB of RAM and
front and rear-facing cameras, is one of more than 20 4G products coming from
AT&T in 2011. No pricing has been set.
Motorola's Droid Bionic, meanwhile, is another Nvidia Tegra 2
dual-core (each 1GHz) handset running Android 2.2 at 4G speeds. However, as the
Droid name portends, the device will run on Verizon Wireless' network sometime
next year.
Verizon
is promising speeds on its 4G LTE network of as much as 10 times that of the
3G, rendering music, video and Web pages richer with Adobe Flash Player and
HTML5.
The
device has a 4.3-inch qHD screen and 8-megapixel camera, as well as HDMI
connectivity to let users hook up their video and games to large-screen HD
televisions in full 1080p.
There
is no word on pricing or availability for the Bionic, though one can guess it
might be this quarter. Verizon won't want to trail AT&T and its Atrix.
Jha
saved the Motorola Xoom, the gem of his company's launch, for last,
perhaps because neither the tablet's hardware nor software is polished yet.
Xoom
will run the forthcoming version of Android—Honeycomb—which is not ready but
will be optimized for tablets when it is.
Google
Android creator Andy Rubin, who showed off Google Maps 5.0 for Android on a
prototype Xoom a month ago, said in a blog post that widgets, multitasking, browsing, notifications, customization
and other features will be improved in Android 3.0 when it's fully baked.
Like
the Atrix 4G and Droid Bionic, the Xoom will be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2
dual-core processor, with each core running at 1GHz.
However,
this device will sport a large, 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, which also
powers 1080p HD video and has an HDMI output. In addition, there is a
front-facing 2-megapixel camera accompanied by a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera
that captures video in 720p HD. The cameras support video chat over WiFi or
3G/4G LTE,
Xoom
will be available from Verizon Wireless as a 3G/WiFi-enabled device in the
first quarter of 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in the second quarter.
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