Motorola Atrix 2 review

The Motorola Atrix 2 isn't going to set the world on fire with any brilliant new calling features. In fact, the interface and functions for making calls and organising contacts work about the same here as they did on the original Atrix.

There's a Google Search button below the main screen, which you can use for voice search for call functions. So saying: "Call Jesse" should do just that, but this feature is hit or miss. It's not nearly as well integrated into the phone services as Apple's Siri is.

To access contacts, you press the phone dialler button and then press the Contacts tab. You can add Facebook and Twitter contacts easily, and then control which contacts are shown - for example, you can hide all Facebook contacts but show all of your Twitter friends.

For some reason, the Motorola Atrix 2 took a good two minutes to add social networking accounts. It took a couple of tries per account to add them. And finding where to add these accounts is a bit challenging - you can wade through the social networking widget, press Menu in the Contacts app and select Accounts, or go through Settings. We'd prefer an even more obvious route - maybe by adding an obvious "Add social network account" link on the main page.

There's a handy way to manage contacts between phones. You can import and export contacts to or from a SIM card or an SD card. The search field for contacts works quickly, which is handy when you have hundreds of Facebook contacts. Just type a few letters, such as Alan, and anyone with that name comes up after a short pause.

For every contact, there is a Contact History that shows your messaging history with that person. Adding contacts is easy - you just press a green plus icon.

Calls on the Motorola Atrix 2 sounded brilliantly clear and without the typical distortion of a lower-quality smartphone or feature phone. In a dozen calls, our caller reported no problems hearing us, both when using the phone normally and in speakerphone mode. We had no dropped calls either.

Haptic feedback - the slight buzz you feel when you press on the screen - helped to make phone dialling easier and faster. The Motorola Atrix 2 has a satisfying "thud" feel when you press digits on the screen, acknowledging your finger presses so you can dial faster and more accurately.