Motorola Atrix 3: The superphone we'll all be lusting after this year?

Samsung’s flagship device has always been the Galaxy. Nokia has the Lumia 800/900, HTC has the Sensation/Incredible, and Apple has the iPhone. But what about Motorola? Last year at the Consumer Electronics show they announced the Atrix, their first dual core smartphone. Roughly 10 months later it was replaced by the Atrix 2, which didn’t really bring anything new to the table except for a larger screen and an improved camera. Most people don’t remember the Atrix 2 because less than one month later the Motorola RAZR was announced. Spec wise, the RAZR is basically the Atrix 2, but in a body that’s much thinner and far more attractive. So assuming the Atrix brand represents the pinnacle of Motorola’s achievements, what does the Atrix 3 have in store? According to a leak discovered by the folks at Pocketnow, it’s the RAZR Maxx on steroids. Here’s what’s expected: quad core NVIDIA Tegra 3, 2 GB of RAM, 4.3 inch 1280 x 720 HD screen, 10 megapixel camera, and a ridiculously large 3,300 mAh battery. It looks exactly like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from the two images we’ve seen, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.

Big battery, sharp screen, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, is this going to be the superphone that’s going to stay in our hearts and minds for 2012? That depends. When exactly will the Atrix 3 hit the market? How much will it cost? How bad will Motorola’s Android skin be compared to stock Ice Cream Sandwich? We’re supposedly going to find the answer to all these questions at Mobile World Congress later this month.

What sort of competition will the Atrix 3 have? There’s Samsung’s Galaxy S III, which will likely be announced in April; HTC’s One X, which will also sport an NVIDIA Tegra 3; and then there’s the elephant in the room … the iPhone 5. Nokia’s not going to bring anything interesting to the table until Microsoft release Windows Phone 8, and LG will continue trying to get us to pay attention to their 3D devices, when in reality we couldn’t care less.

Update: It should be noted that this rumor conflicts with a rumor we posted yesterday that said Motorola’s first Andoird 4.0 smartphone will have an Intel chip inside.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

http://smartphonegeeks.in/ Rohit Palit

Seems like “The Phone” to me! Price won’t allow me to even dream of getting it when it releases, though.
http://twitter.com/UgglyUI UgglyUI

Looks good.
http://twitter.com/UgglyUI UgglyUI

I think Stefan Constantinescu is a fanboy, Elop fan. Lumea is so terribly poor battery life. My HTC Trophy is better than Lumia phones. Most of all I wish for a phone with quad core
TRDRACER21

if this has STOCK android it will be a huge win!!!
- http://smartphonegeeks.in/ Rohit Palit
  
  There’s a great chance! A big MotoBlur hater here.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/A6B52JQCM5KL5JVK4MGYPXDHPA Randi
  
  bnjkn
- http://profile.yahoo.com/A6B52JQCM5KL5JVK4MGYPXDHPA Randi
  
  bnjkn
- http://profile.yahoo.com/A6B52JQCM5KL5JVK4MGYPXDHPA Randi
  
  bnjkn
Kwaku Bonsu

Looks just like the original Atrix, only 4.5 instead of 4.0. Notice the wrap around battery cover.
Not even close to the Galaxy Nexus.
Kwaku Bonsu

ATT will most assuredly lock the bootloader to stop customers from tethering for free. I’m not sure why people are still going on about this. Bootloaders are locked in the United States. If you don’t like it, then buy the overseas version.
- The Dude
  
  My phone’s boot loader was locked, and I just unlocked it so I could circumvent their protections. It is not all that hard.
- The Dude
  
  My phone’s boot loader was locked, and I just unlocked it so I could circumvent their protections. It is not all that hard.
http://www.facebook.com/bdallison78 Brad Allison

With the nevending barrage of Android phones that is continuously released, I just can’t get excited anymore. Even with quad cores it will probably still be laggy,