AT&T 4G SMARTPHONE BATTLE: HTC INSPIRE 4G VS MOTOROLA ATRIX 4G

AT&T has released two of its new HSPA+ 4G smartphones in the market. The HTC Inspire 4G and Motorola Atrix 4G are both solid additions to the carrier's line-up. However, consumers might find it hard to choose between these handsets as they offer different price tags and key features. Let's compare these AT&T 4G smartphones to help one to decide which handset to purchase.



Overall Design
The Atrix 4G features a full touchscreen design with rounded corners and tapered edges that make it comfortable to hold. This 4G device also sports a cool carbon fiber-esque pattern on the rear battery door and a the power/lock button that can double as a fingerprint scanner for extra security. This 4G smartphone feels solid and well-built but I have to say that the matte black plastic casing makes it a bit slippery. The dimensions for this handset is 4.6 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and it weighs 4.8 ounces.

The Inspire 4G also sports a full touchscreen design but it is adorned with a chrome earpiece on the top and four flat capacitive touch buttons on the bottom. It offers a mix of metal and plastic for its battery cover and a useful green LED notification in the earpiece, which can be configured to show an indication of missed calls, emails, SMS, and more. At 4.8 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide and weighing 5.78 ounces, the Inspire 4G is a large handset. Fortunately, it is 0.46 inch thick making it relatively slim for its size.


Display/Touchscreen
The HTC Inspire 4G's design include a very large 4.3 inch Super LCD display with WVGA (480 x 800) resolution. The large size and high-resolution of this touchscreen combines to produce a fantastic level of clarity and color reproduction. The viewing angles on this 4G smartphone also ensures decent outdoor visibility. If you are looking for a handset that performs well for viewing Web pages and multimedia, then one should consider this smartphone.

The Motorola Atrix 4G sports a stunning 4-inch qHD (quarter high-definition) capacitive touch screen with a 960x540-pixel resolution. It's smaller than the Inspire 4G's display but it makes up for it by offering more resolution. This high-end display renders colors very well and one can observe that the panel is very bright and evenly lit. The display is also very responsive with the aid of the super fast dual-mode processor.

Camera 
The Motorola Atrix 4G is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, autofocus, 720p video capture, and digital zoom. It performs admirably in both high and low light conditions. The camcorder also did well when capturing HD content. The editing options include five picture resolutions and a variety of scene modes and effects. We did observe that the color quality or saturation was a bit off but overall the images produced were sharp. This smartphone also comes with a VGA camera on the front of the device, which is useful for self-portraits and video calls

The HTC Inspire 4G offers a more powerful 8-megapixel camera with auto focus, dual LED flash, and HD video recording at the smooth rate of 28 frames per second. Some might find it difficult to use the zoom feature because it is controlled by touching the screen rather than using the volume button. The images it produced outdoors have bright, natural colors and crisp details. The indoor shots this camera produced were a bit over saturated but they were very good overall. I also like the easy-to-use camera user interface and the Sense Gallery that allows one to sync photos with Flickr and Facebook.


Operating System/ User Interface
The Inspire 4G runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC’s updated Sense UI. A number of tech experts have observed that HTC Sense is the best combination with the Android OS, but I'll let you be the judge of that argument. This user interface offers enhanced social networking, navigation, and integration with connected services from HTCsense.com. Integration with HTCsense.com allows users to back up and manage the contents of the Inspire 4G. It also offers a phone locator function that will set off the ringer (even if in silent mode) in case you've misplaced your handset. This feature also  gives you the ability to remotely wipe your handset if it is lost or stolen. Many users will also like the Friend Stream feature that aggregates social networks. Users can view status updates, shared links, and pictures in one seamless view. Other notable software features for the Inspire 4G include a unified inbox, new tools in the camera app, and a power saver feature to conserve battery life at critical levels.

The Atrix 4G also runs on Android 2.2 (Froyo) but it is paired with the Motoblur UI. This user interface was not very popular with a number of Android users, but Motorola has refined it to become more useful and reduced the information overload aspect. Users will have seven home screens that can be personalized with various widgets and shortcuts, such as a social network feed, weather widget, and mini media player.This OS has also provided QuickOffice for users who need an app for documents and PDFs. Unfortunately, the Atrix 4G comes with a bit of bloatware. One can delete some of the unwanted programs that shipped on the handset, but you can't get rid of them all.

Processing Power
The Samsung Captivate is equipped with an ultra-fast fast 1 GHz Hummingbird processor and 512MB of RAM. However, the Motorola Atrix 4G is one of the most powerful smartphones in the market with its 2x1 GHz dual-core processor that gives it a total of 2 GHz of processing power.


Battery Performance
The Atrix 4G  is equipped with the biggest batteries, if not the biggest among the smartphones offered in the US market. This 4G smartphone ships with a 1,930mAh lithium-ion battery with a rated talk time of 9 hours and up to 10.4 hours of standby time. The Inspire 4G sports a more modest 1,230 mAh lithium-ion battery with a rated talk time of 6 hours and up to 15.5 days of standby time.

Memory Storage 
The Inspire 4G offers 4GB of internal memory and comes with an 8 GB microSD card. This 4G smartphone can support up to 32 GB microSD of expanded memory. The Atrix 4G also comes with loads of memory. This handset can support up to 48GB of memory(16 GB internal memory, up to 32 GB external memory).

Price
The information on this section reflects the price of the handsets as seen on the AT&T website at the time this article was published.

The HTC Inspire 4G is offered at $99.99 with a 2 year contract. It also requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month.

The Motorola Atrix 4G is available at $199.99 with a 2 year contract. It also requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month.

Conclusion
The processing power and price tag are the main difference between these AT&T 4G smartphones.

The Motorola Atrix 4G is more expensive with a $199.99 price tag. For this price, one will get the handset's powerful 2x1 GHz dual-core processor, 16 GB internal memory, 1,930mAh lithium-ion battery and a front-facing camera. If you are looking for a powerful device with a lot of memory and are willing to pay its premium price, then the Atrix 4G will fit one's needs.

The HTC Atrix 4G is one of the best smartphone one can get at the mid-range price of $99.99. For a hundred bucks, you will get a HSPA+ smartphone with a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch display, 8-megapixel camera, and Android 2.2 with HTC Sense. If your budget limits one to a mid-range price, then the Atrix 4G is one of the best choices in the smartphone market.

Disclaimer: All information on this blog has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.