Despite wearing the mantle of being the most powerful smartphone on Earth, the Motorola Atrix 4G may not have a price tag that reflects that bold description.
Android Central found both an Amazon product page and a Costco inventory screen that listed the high-end smartphone at $150.
This price point, if it bears true when the device launches from AT&T at the end of February, is surprising for a couple of reasons.
First, that’s $50 cheaper than the now customary $199 launch price of high-end Android handsets. Second, the Atrix 4G shouldn’t be like the previous top-of-the-line Android models.
While devices such as the Motorola Droid X and Droid 2 sport 1GHz processors, the Atrix 4G will be the first Android device in the market running a 2GHz chip, which features two 1GHz processors on a single die.
However, there are some caveats to the positive price point. Amazon ripped its Atrix 4G Web page down. Also, as Android Central noted, third-party retailers usually sell phones for lower than the suggested price, making it likely AT&T will sell the Atrix 4G for $199 or $249.
Also, the smartphone is intended to run with desktop and laptop docks that allow users to hook up their Atrix 4G to a computer to access their phone’s applications via the Mozilla Firefox browser on a larger display.
These docks are expected to cost $150, which combined with the Amazon and Costco suggested retail price means a bundle of $300 for a phone. That will put the handset in the no-buy zone for many consumers.
Also, Motorola said the Atrix 4G won’t record 1080p videos or output them through its HDMI port at launch. These perks will be enabled thanks to a software update after release. Until then, buyers will have to make do with 720p resolution.
The Atrix 4G, which has a 4-inch screen, also boasts 1GB of RAM, front-and-rear cameras and a fingerprint reader, and it runs Android 2.2.