Imagine this: the clinician moving from place to place, accessing docks along the way (or carrying their own) which are light, inexpensive and ‘dumb’, or other monitors at stations or even TVs with HDMI. From a security POV, I’d believe that it simplifies matters in that only the phone–not phone and tablet–have to be secured (personal security note: the Atrix has a biometric fingerprint reader), it eliminates synching and it makes it possible to access a larger screen when needed for detailed charts or presentations. When docked, it can switch to the webtop app for full web. For more ‘inside baseball’* read the articles for various caveats and concerns. For this editor [Donna], it’s a whole new way of looking at the situation rather than juggling multiple devices. Launch with AT&T this quarter. (I suppose we won’t find out what it can really do until it hits the market.)
Fortune: Android phone becomes a laptop (includes demo video); The Motorola phone that becomes a laptop (analysis)
New links 7 Jan: ZDNet’s James Kendrick dubs this CES’ ‘best of show with ‘mobile mojo’...and addresses the importance of not pricing the phone/dock combo too high. Max ‘inside baseball’: Laptop article/video.
And…there’s more (13 Jan): ZDNet’s Jason Hiner raves about the Atrix, although he’s concerned about its acceptance and doesn’t think the phone design is ‘high end’ enough. Article.
*’Inside baseball’ is a US idiom for the obscure details or minutiae of a subject appreciated only by the true cognoscenti. It’s beyond ‘jargon’.
Motorola Atrix: Terrible execution
Hi Donna,
Forget these proprietary docking stations, there are much easier ways to do this that are much more future proof eg. Nokia N8 running with the Big Screen app enables you to just plug in your mobile phone to any TV with HDMI and your charts can be displayed.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWUkOFzEDtA
Here’s a video showing how accessories can also be used eg. a bluetooth keyboard or even a Wii remote!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAPXU9ddVhY
Then all you need is relatively cheap TVs drilled into walls with HDMI extension cables (knotted around the back of the hardware) and left hanging out.
The issue here is that the replacement cycle for mobile devices is/can be much quicker than the screen hardware. Motorola could cease production of the Atrix (or modify its design slightly) in a few months and this would leave a facility with a lot of redundant kit.
The “inside baseball” point is also related to replacement cycles. Proprietary connectivity options have a habit of preventing staff benefiting from upgrades to newer devices/software.
Nokia vs. Motorola
David–I agree with your point on the proprietary dock. My attempt here is to look at the idea, not necessarily the ‘bits.’ The Atrix would also connect via HDMI and Bluetooth, which in my limited techiness would indicate to me that you could use TV or desk monitors like Nokia.Again I’m not at CES looking at it but the impression I got was that the dock is supposed to be ‘cheap and dumb’. Initially, cheap it may not be.
I also confess to being US-centric where our dominant brands differ. It’s news when Samsung, LG, Apple, BlackBerry and Motorola innovate. HTC is also grabbing market share with the EVO. Nokia’s big news everywhere other than here!
duh… what am I thinking talking about Nokia to an American!
Sorry Donna my mistake.
But don’t worry Nokia’s No1 competitor is Samsung and they have all the same stuff (and more) being lined up.
Being a TV brand places them even better for this eg. they’ve sold Bluetooth & WiFi TV’s for years and they’ve even made (and got approved!) an app for the US’s favorite smartphone (the iPhone) that turns it into a remote control for Samsung TVs.
IMO The ideal solution would be WiFi connection with a Powerpad situated to locate and keep your clinicians device batteries topped up!