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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that pre-sales for the Motorola Atrix 4G will begin February 13th and will be released March 6th for $199.99 after a two year contract, citing AT&T themselves. We believed $149.99 could be a reality – Amazon helped us with as much – but that could either have been a placeholder or the price they intend to sell it for.
For $499.99, you can get the phone and the laptop dock in the same package – that might be your best bet considering the laptop dock alone will sell for $499.99. Steep, no? But that’s the price we pay for ahead-of-the-curve technology. [via BGR]
[Update]: Considering we’re not subscribed to WSJ, we got most of our information from BGR. But according to this press release from AT&T themselves, the dock is $499.99 when purchased separately, and the phone/dock combo is $499.99 – just as we stated previously. (Clearing up some confusion in the comments section.) The rest of the prices can be had in the release below.
AT&T Announces the World’s Most Powerful Smartphone, the Motorola ATRIX 4G, Will Be Available for Preorder on Feb. 13
Unique line of Accessories, Including the Motorola Laptop Dock, Available with Bundled Pricing
DALLAS, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ —
Key FactsAT&T* begins pre-sales for Motorola ATRIX™ 4G on Feb. 13
Motorola ATRIX 4G, powered by the Android 2.2 platform, available exclusively for AT&T customers for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement.
Motorola ATRIX 4G is expected to be available from AT&T and select retail channels for customers by March 6 or earlier.
AT&T will offer bundled pricing for the Motorola ATRIX 4G and the Motorola Laptop Dock.4G Portfolio
AT&T is the leader in smartphones, and expects to widen that lead in 2011. In January, AT&T committed to an industry-leading Android portfolio in the U.S. in 2011 and said it plans to offer two 4G smartphones in the first quarter. An industry first, the Motorola ATRIX 4G is the leading edge of more than 20 advanced, 4G devices AT&T plans to deliver in 2011. AT&T has completed the deployment of HSPA+ to virtually 100 percent of its mobile broadband network, which enables 4G speeds when combined with enhanced backhaul.
Motorola ATRIX™ 4G
The Motorola ATRIX™ 4G Android 2.2 smartphone will be offered exclusively by AT&T and is the world’s most powerful smartphone. Featuring a 2×1 GHz dual-core processor for a total of 2 GHz of processing power, a unique webtop application, the world’s first qHD display, and Adobe flash player, the, ATRIX 4G delivers a remarkable combination of application processing power with 4G speed capability and a high-resolution qHD display, a first for the industry.
It will be complemented by breakthrough accessories that include a revolutionary, super-thin Motorola Laptop Dock — for which ATRIX 4G is the “engine” — and the Motorola HD Multimedia Dock that uses ATRIX 4G’s HDMI video output capabilities and processing power to enable a revolutionary browsing, application and media experience.
AT&T will offer two special packages for customers who choose to purchase ATRIX 4G in addition to these unique accessories. The first combines ATRIX 4G and the Motorola Laptop Dock for a promotional price of $499.99 after a two-year service contract and $100 mail-in-rebate after subscription to Data Pro smartphone data plan and tethering add on. Customers who choose to purchase the Motorola Laptop Dock separately pay $499.99. AT&T is also offering an Entertainment Access Kit for ATRIX customers which includes the Motorola HD Multimedia Dock, a Bluetooth® keyboard and mouse, and a remote control for $189.99.
Motorola ATRIX 4G will also include AT&T Mobile Hotspot service built into the smartphone, allowing users to connect additional Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
AT&T U-verse® TV customers will be able to manage their DVR recordings – and U-verse customers with a qualifying TV plan can download and watch hit TV shows – right from their ATRIX 4G handset using the U-verse Mobile application. In addition, any ATRIX 4G user, whether or not they have U-verse TV at home, can still enjoy a variety of video options – including live TV – with the new U-verse Live TV application, preloaded and available for $9.99 a month.
For more information, visit www.att.com/atrix4G. For photos and more information about presales for ATRIX 4G, visit www.att.com/mobilephones-news
Those prices suck thank God I chose the inspire
To hell with that dock then. Hopefully the Amazon price is accurate.
500 for a dock?? Might as well just buy a labtop
What a sad day when the accessories cost more than the phone
That’s like $3000 rims on a $200 car FAIL!!
Since I can’t see the full release on WSJ.com, because I’m not subscribed to it, I did some digging. Gizmodo is siting that WSJ said the dock is only $300.
The price is astronomical. Absolutely not paying 500 fire the dock when it only runs a cloud os. Huge mistake motorola.
$500 for the dock?!?!
FACK THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moto must be outta their damned minds
I think the $500 is for the phone AND the doc. It’s tempting and it would be fun but the locked bootloader brings back the reality of 2 years being stuck at the mercy of at&t upgrades. Not going to pay for a phone to have what I can do dictated.
Sorry, but the Atrix is going to be an awesome device and you figure $500 for the device and the laptop dock…you’re right, it as much as a laptop and that is, basically what you’re buying, a laptop that can make phone calls. Sign me up.
March 6th? Anyone in the SoCal area that can come by and kill me?
oh wait, its 500 for the phone AND the dock. how much off contract tho? 500 for the phone $300 for the dock? Still way too much.
For 500 clams I can buy a dual core AMD netbook with ATI graphics and a real operating system. Screw you Motorola!
oh crap, it is 500 alone. WTF?!?
Haha I knew it would be as expensive as a netbook.
Still, the Atrix will be a great phone but nobody will get the laptop dock.
I hope everyone stops comparing touch screen tablets and smart phones to netbooks and laptops. The comparison has no relevance. I’m somewhat disappointed that the Atrix will have Moto Blur and the Bionic will have vanilla Android.
Nope @ MT: the dock alone is $499.99. You’ll only get the dock for $299.99 if you buy it bundled with the phone, which itself costs $199.99. Read the post update.
The price is steep,but I think its a price you pay for added capability. Hell look where phones were just a couple years ago! Just to do be able to have the ability is amazing. Dual core, 3D displays,its moving at an incredible pace…….and with such advancements comes a cost….IMO
@jmax
I don’t compare a phone to a netbook, I compare the laptop dock to a netbook. I beleive they serve similar purpose.
I think that $500 for the dock by itself is too high a price. If it was functional by itself, maybe.
–
I think they are playing on the fact that people think it is a laptop, with the same functionality, when it really is just a screen and keyboard.
–
It’s a great phone, and a unique idea, but I think I will wait for the price to drop significantly if I am going to buy it. Which should only be a few months with the rate of development of these devices.
ALSO the $499.99 price for phone/laptop combo is only if you get the tethering plan, else it is $100 m ore
The Attic
is nice but the dock is junk
@zorxd
Netbooks and laptops don’t have touch screens or access to the Android Market. Therefore, you still need a netbook/loptop if you buy the dock. The purpose is to TRANSFORM your netbook/laptop into an Android device. Since you need both a dock and a netbook/laptop to achieve full functionality… it makes zero sense to compare the dock price to the price of a laptop/netbook.
am I reading right that not only is it 500 (even 300 seems too much) but you also need to get the $25 data plan AND the $20 tethering add on? Phone still looks awesome. Phone is underpriced, accessories overpriced…
Hahahaha. I should buy the phone and and a iPad. $500 is waste of many i think.
I have to agree with others. . . the price for the “laptop dock” is crazy. I can buy a nice laptop for $500. . .
Lol, so I am supposed to fork out $689, change my data plan so I pay more for less, and I get a locked bootloader? Sounds like the worlds most powerful phone is also the most powerful rip-job. Way to go att. And congrats motorola! I’ll be waiting for the mobile conference to give me some news on new stuff.
Damn, I’ve been waiting to upgrade on att for this phone since November, when it leaked, and then I read this terrible news. $50 more for the phone than expected? Doesn’t launch until March 6th? Accessories are way too expensive? WTF just happened?? I might not be able to wait any longer to upgrade off my crappy messaging phone, and may jump ship over to the inspire. Totally disappointed in this news.
$300 extra for the dock is pushing the limits. You can get a netbook for that price.
Hello Verizon & the Bionic
wow, anyone defending this price is delusional or a corporate plant. The phone price is alright (with the early adopter tax), but I’ll wait for the inevitable price cut in a month or two once other dual cores start coming. Anyway the laptop part is a joke, when you’ll be able to buy much more capable laptops/netbooks for similar prices very soon. It was really just a sweet gimmick that was thought to be cheap enough to go ahead and buy it at 150, but at 300 (much less 500) theres really no point in buying it, I would rather have my phone + a working laptop.
Maybe they’ll be some 3rd party docks…
Why is there nothing on at&t’s website about the pricing? I am only finding this information on other sites.
Count me out on this one. I just found out that to use the laptop dock you must have a 2gb data pro plan and tethering plan. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!!
Yes Dave,
A netbook that runs Windows, has a keyboard, doesn’t have a touch screen, doesnt have mobile internet without the use of an external modem, and doesn’t have access to the Android Market.
I’m not saying the price of the dock is justified, but I think a lot of Phandroid posts are missing the point. In no way is the dock meant to REPLACE the use of a netbook or laptop. In fact, both depend on the other if you want to mirror Android to your conputer. Compare the prices all you want, but it’s irrelevant in my eyes.
HTC Inspire- see you in a few days.
I was all set to buy em both.. I think I can live with the $50 bump for the phone, but I’ll just get the multi dock and hook it up to my PC monitor to play with webtop, and wait them out until the laptop dock price drops to at least half that.
@jmax Who said the labtop dock has a touch screen??
im not go complain, im jus not buying the accessories, but i will get the phone, i already said march 6 is the day i was goin to upgrade, looks like i hit the date on point and neva even new it, but aye motorola is goin to be the one that spend mad money on accessories and watch it all go to waste when people barely buy that shit, its they fualt, oh well, still getting the phone tho
Will we be able to purchase this off contract and run it on T-Mobile without having to root the phone?
Can anyone find this news release on AT&T’s web site? I cannot, so at this time I am wondering if it’s just bad propaganda.
@HA!
It obviously doesn’t, but the phone does. My comments on this thread are directed at people who are constantly complaining about the pricing of tablets and cell phones, while comparing tablets and cell phones to netbooks and laptops. How easy is it to complain about price? What about quality and service? If I’m paying 100plus dollars a month for data, messaging, minutes etc., I’m going to buy the best device on the market. This is why I wouldn’t mind buying a Xoom. As far as the dock is concerned, it’s meant to bring the functionality of Android to your laptop. I would never buy it, because YES it’s too expensive IMO. However, the price of a netbook or laptop has no bearing on my decision. I just don’t have much use for HDMI mirroring–at least from what I’ve seen. If you want to buy a netbook for $300 then be my guest, but it will not fulfill the use and functionality of an Android tablet or smart phone. Despite what people seem to believe, there’s a demand for tablets, netbooks, and laptops.
@jmax If the laptop dock is not meant to replace a laptop or netbook, what would you say it is meant for? My intention was for it to replace the netbook that I carry, I don’t see any reason for having both. If the unit price is $499, there really is not any value in the dock. A 15″ dell dual core laptop with 3GB of RAM and 320GB storage runs less than $400. That, plus any phone similar to the Atrix (including current Android phones) can provide hotspot functionality.
I knew it would be spendy, and the thing is such a gimmick, just like tablets. Between my smartphone and laptops, I have it covered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEyFsO4XZ4
(Hitler reacts to Atrix pricing )
@Jon
It mirrors Android from your phone onto your netbook. So no, it’s not meant to replace your netbook. In fact, if you bought the dock you would have to keep your netbook. My concern would be enjoying Android via mouse click rather than via touch screen.
The price will be much lower than that. They released that price to get a reaction from y’all. I assume it will be about 350 with dock. If not then AT&T and motorola will have a serious problem at launch.
Don’t care about the dock….HELLO ATRIX!!!
@jmax – The laptop dock does a little more than just mirror the Android OS from your phone. The WebOS component runs the desktop version of Firefox which will allow you to use any web based applications (i.e. Google Docs, Windows Live Office, on top of the full sized browser. As this constitutes what I do with my netbook currently, it would replace it just fine, just not at the apparent price. (Base on the build quality, the most I would pay for a laptop dock is $150). Android, and the WebOS are both icon based interfaces, using a mouse/touchpad should be easy enough.
The Atrix will be awesome. 2gig dual core, 1gig RAM = awesome.. And yes you’re going to have to shell out some cash to get one, but what I want to know is why nobody is talking about the fact that it’s coming with Android 2.2?! With 2.3 already out on the nexus s, a phone like the Atrix should have nothing less. IMO.
@jon
“Android, and the WebOS are both icon based interfaces, using a mouse/touchpad should be easy enough.”
What about multi-touch gestures?
@jmax
Not positive, but my current netbook touchpad has multi-touch capability. However, I have not been able to find specific information on the Laptop Dock.
Fuck that. I’m not paying $500 for a phone and cheap dock. I’ll just wait for the galaxy s2 which will probably be better anyway.
@Jon
True. Pinch to zoom will work ok, but is the touch pad to scale with the screen? If not, screen origin/point of contact is a problem. But even then, the size of the touch pad is a factor. Especially with four touch gestures. I thought about hot keys, but that seems annoying.
I’ve always wondered how Google could create a seamless, interoperable experience between an Android tablet and Google TV?
For instance, is it possible to play Angry Birds while operating the game using touch screen gestures via tablet–while viewing the game via TV–without having to look down at the tablet? How can the user have a point of reference without looking at and/or using the original screen? This is precisely the problem with this Motorola laptop dock. Perhaps, Google can implement faded outlines where your touch screen gestures occur? For now, I’m sticking with the Xoom for my enlarged Android experience, and I have no qualms dishing out 700 dollars for it.
I think a lot of people are making the wrong comparisons. For $500 (same as an iPad) you’re getting the best smartphone on the market,plus the laptop shell which makes all your data instantly synced all the time. Additionally, you have the Firefox browser running at the same time as Android in separate screens and an also under-reported feature…desktop virtualization through the Citrix Receiver.
You’ll be able to log into your business PC and launch applications on your Atrix lapdock. Can you do any of this on a $500 iPad, let alone separate the two so you can just carry a phone that retains all the contents of what you created on the lapdock? It’s the ideal road warrior combo. Something you can actually use to do real work, not just toy around on.
I suggest everyone look up Citrix.
Why have we all jumped the gun over what wsj has said? I work for Att and I constantly look at our intranet home page for news on most of these phones, especially the atrix… When it was announced about the release of the Inspire it was on our intranet immediately…So until i see an official announcement on that page or from Att itself…I will view this all as speculation and say shame on wsj for starting all this madness… Also I have been looking at the Att press release website and there has been nothing the past month about the Atrix… Just my 2 cents…
FINALLY IT COMES. now I’m ready to get the world most powerful phone. AND I SAY SCREW THE LAPTOP DOCK PRICING 500$ FOR A FREAKING BATTERY COM ON AT&T GETTING GREEDY AGAIN.
That is sooo much money for a dock! I bet a lot of people are changing their minds about this phone, at least about the dock. Without the dock tho, its not that impressive IMO.
hey guys just give it a couple of months. the dock is gonna be 100$ soon enough haha
ATT is stupid if these rumors are true! they can make so much more profit if they sell it for 150$ for example, because i am sure it does not cost more than 100$ to manufacture.
motorola will try to sucker as many people with this 500.00 dock . I just want the phone .
@New2Droid and everyone else, here is the link to the AT&T press release:
http://shar.es/3gREu
It is official, and I suspect that I, along with most, will only be getting the phone. I won’t pay that much for a shell.
fucked up with the dock pricing