Motorola Atrix vs Google Nexus S

Richard Goodwin

We compare the specs of the Motorola Atrix and Google’s Nexus S to see which smartphone is worth your time and money

Published on Jan 20, 2011

Nevertheless, Google has been busy too – and not just with dodgy stuff either. The search engine giant has been busy with both Android 2.3 and Android 3.0 (for tablets). But that’s not all, Google also pushed out its second smartphone, the Google Nexus S, which is the only device on the market – at the time of writing – to feature Android 2.3.

Two key products seemed to dominate CES 2011: the Motorola Atrix and the Motorola XOOM. In hindsight, it’s easy to see why – both products, as you’re probably well aware, have hardware specs that’d probably make even Steve Jobs second guess buying an Apple product. In short, 2011 looks set to be a seriously big year for the company behind those really annoying “Hello, Moto” adverts.

But which is the best? Read on to find out.

Display
One of the key things Motorola was keen to impress when it launched the Atrix was just how powerful its display is – and Motorola wasn’t joking either. The Atrix features a 4-inch qHD 940 x 560 pixel display (275dpi), which is only marginally less than the iPhone 4’s 640 x 960 pixel retina display.

The Google Nexus S with its 4-inch WVGA 800x480 pixel display (235ppi) puts up a good fight and certainly won’t disappoint the vast majority of users but it really can’t hold a candle to the near-market leading quality of the Motorola Atrix’s display.

Winner – Motorola Atrix

Operating System
As we said earlier, the Google Nexus S is currently the only Android 2.3-powered device on the market and this is something of a USP for many hardcore Android fan-bois.

The Atrix is on Android 2.2, for the time being, which is certainly unfortunate but it’s not the end of the world as all this set to change once the device is officially rolled out in the UK. Nothing regarding the update has been officially confirmed by Motorola just yet, but we’re pretty confident the Atrix will get bumped up to Android 2.3 within a matter of weeks of its official release in the UK.

That said, we all know how useless networks can be at pushing out firmware updates – especially Android ones – so if you’re desperate to get your hands on a device with the latest iteration of Android, your best bet is to go to the source and grab a Nexus S.

Winner – Nexus S

Storage
16GB is more than enough for most users, and even if it’s not there’s always microSD support these days on the vast majority of Android handsets. So why Google decided to not include microSD support on the Nexus S is completely beyond us – seriously Google, why?

The Atrix, as you’d expect, is a big-hitter in the storage department as well. Not only does it match the Nexus S on internal storage (16GB) but also has 32GB of potential storage via its microSD card slot, which adds up to a grand total of 48GB of gross storage.

Winner – Motorola Atrix

Processor
Processing power in mobile devices is set to get a massive boost in 2011 with the advent of dual core processor chips, which can process two threads of information simultaneously – double that of a single core chipset. Fittingly, the Atrix is one of these “need breed” of smartphones, featuring a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H Dual Core processor (two 1GHz processor on one chip) and a staggering 1GB of RAM.

In this respect, the Nexus S simply cannot compete in terms of processing power with its 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor, which is single core and can only process one thread of information at a time. Generally speaking the Hummingbird is a brilliant chipset – one that’s proved its worth time-and-time again. Unfortunately, though, in this context it is thoroughly out-foxed by the dual core chipset present the Atrix.

Camera
In terms of imaging the Atrix and Nexus S are pretty evenly matched. Both device’s sport 5-megapixel cameras and can shoot video in 720p quality.

However, if you care to look a little deeper you’ll find that the similarities end there. For starters, the Atrix has slightly higher (2592 x 1944 pixels) picture quality when compared to the Nexus S (2560 x 1920 pixels).

Both devices also feature autofocus, which is certainly good to know but once again the Motorola Atrix raises the bar with the addition of an LED flash and its ability to watch video back in 1080p quality.

Winner – Motorola Atrix

Build Quality 
The Atrix is a well-designed, robust and attractive device that features everything you’d expect from a premium smartphone. The exact measurements of the device are 117.8 x 63.5 x 10.1 mm – basically, somewhere in between iPhone 4 and Desire HD size.

The Nexus S on the other is extremely plasticky, which is something we really don’t like in smartphones, especially ones that are priced like the Nexus S.

Obviously, this plastic-fantastic feel doesn’t affect how the phone functions. The Nexus S is a great device in every respect. But it does look awfully cheap – very, very cheap. And when you’ve splashed out the best part of £500 on something, this isn’t the type of ‘look’ you expect.

Winner – Motorola Atrix

Final Thoughts
Before coming into this spec comparison we knew the Google Nexus S had its work cut out for it. The Motorola Atrix is, for all intents and purposes, the most powerful handset on the face of the planet. It has cutting-edge hardware, software and a multitude of cool accessories that it can sync with such as the Motorola dummy laptop, which the Atrix, essentially, turns into a bloody netbook with its own WebTop-powered operating system.

Motorola, we salute you, the Atrix is one hell of a device featuring some of the best spec we’ve ever seen inside a smartphone. The Motorola Atrix is definitely one to watch out for in 2011.