Motorola Shows Atrix 4G And Xoom Tablet At CES

Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha unveiled two new Android 4G smartphones and the highly-anticipated Xoom Android 3.0 tablet computer, all powered by dual-core processors, at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone, which will launch on AT&T in the first quarter this year, runs Android 2.2 and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core chip.

Each core runs at 1GHz, making the device ideally twice as fast as today’s standard single core, 1GHz chips, according to Jha.

Mobile Multi-tasking

With a four-inch qHD display, the Atrix 4G has more than speed in store for consumers. The device also docks with a PC or laptop to make users’ content accessible on larger screens via Motorola’s Webtop application, which runs a full Mozilla Firefox 3.6 browser.

The Atrix 4G enables serious multi-tasking. Users can run their Android apps browse their favorite Websites with a full Firefox desktop browser, send instant messages and make phone calls.

Calls continue uninterrupted if users remove the phone from the dock. Ideally, the docks and Webtop app will deliver a more “computer-like” experience for users.

The Atrix 4G, which also sports 1GB of RAM and front and rear-facing cameras, is one of 20-plus 4G products coming

from AT&T in 2011. No pricing has been set.

Motorola’s Droid Bionic meanwhile is another Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core (each 1GHz) handset running Android 2.2 at 4G speeds. However, as the Droid name portends, the device will run on Verizon Wireless’ network sometime next year.

Verizon is promising speeds on its 4G LTE network of as much as 10 times that of the 3G, rendering music, video, and Web pages made richer with Adobe Flash Player and HTML5.

The device has a 4.3-inch qHD screen and eight-megapixel camera, as well as HDMI connectivity also to let users hook up their video and games to large-screen HD televisions in full 1080p.

No word on pricing or availability for the Bionic, though one can guess it might be this quarter. Verizon wonot want to trail AT&T and its Atrix.

Xoom Waiting For Honeycomb

Jha saved the Motorola Xoom, the gem of his company’s launch, for last, perhaps because neither the tablet’s hardware or software are polished yet.

Xoom will run the forthcoming version of Android – Honeycomb – which is not ready but will be optimised for tablets when it is.

Google Android creator Andy Rubin, who showed off Google Maps 5.0 for Android on a prototype Xoom a month ago, said in a blog post widgets, multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customisation and other features will be improved in Android 3.0 when it is fully baked.

Like the Atrix 4G and Droid Bionic, the Xoom will be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, with each core running at 1GHz.

However, this device will sport a large, 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, which also powers 1080p HD video and has an HDMI output. There is also a front-facing 2-megapixel camera accompanied by a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video in 720p HD. The cameras support video chat over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G LTE,

Xoom will be available from Verizon Wireless as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2.