liliputing logo
  • Home
  • Products
  • Top stories
  • Reviews
  • Deals
  • Ultrabooks
  • Contact
  • About
 

Motorola Droid Bionic laptop dock doubles the cost of an expensive smartphone

  • Tweet
  • Email

Droid Bionic

When Motorola launched the Atrix 4G smartphone this year it was the first phone from the company to work with an optional laptop docking station that allows you to use some of the phone’s functions with an 11.6 inch display and a full-sized keyboard. But Motorola said the Atrix 4G wouldn’t be the only phone with a “webtop” docking station.

It’s taken the better part of a year, but now we have the second phone with an optional webtop: The Motorola Droid Bionic. Verizon will start selling the phone tomorrow for about $300 when you sign up for a contract. The laptop dock can be yours for another $300.

Or you know, you could just spend your $600 on two netbooks, 3 iPods touch, or you know, just not spend all that money.

Motorola webtop docking stations grabbed my attention earlier this year, since they provide a way to use your phone like a laptop without having to sync data between multiple devices. The phone is the brains of the laptop. But unlike the upcoming Asus Padfone, which really just blows up a smartphone user environment to fill the screen of a 10 inch tablet, the webtop systems use an Ubuntu Linux-based operating system that offers little more than a Firefox web browser and the ability to control your phone to make calls or run apps in a small window that doesn’t fill the whole screen.

In other words, there’s really not much reason to use the webtop when you can find all sorts of other devices for $300 or less which do just as good a job of surfing the web.

For $99 or less, a webtop would be a really nice addition to a smartphone. For $300 it’s a much tougher sell. Then again, Motorola has been offering the Atrix 4G with a webtop dock for a while, and I can only imagine the company wouldn’t have bothered making one for the Droid Bionic if the Atrix model wasn’t selling.

It turns out that if you bought a webtop for the Motorola Atrix 4G and you were thinking about upgrading to a Droid Bionic, you’ll have to buy another webtop. The docking stations are not interchangeable.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or "like" us on Facebook. Thanks for visiting!

Motorola DROID Bionic

powered bygdgt

  • key specs
  • reviews • 19
  • prices
  • TypeSmartphone
  • Operating systemAndroid (Gingerbread [2.3])
  • Screen size4.3 inches
  • Internal memory16 GB
  • Carriers (US)Verizon / Alltel
  • Dimensions5.02 x 2.63 x 0.43 in
  • Weight5.57 oz
  • Released09/08/2011
see all specs →
8.1 average user rating
  • Reception and call quality9.2
  • Display8.8
  • Battery life5.6
  • Camera6.0
  • Ease of use8.1
  • Design and form factor7.8
  • Portability (size / weight)8.7
  • Media support9.0
  • Durability7.9
  • Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.)8.6

Get better reviews from people who actually have this product!

write a reviewsee all reviews →
Posted on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011, 12:38 pm by Brad Linder




  • http://twitter.com/a1etechreviews Brewster Jordana

    This is truly unacceptable that Motorola has launched this android phone without GSM abilities .Earlier I was believed that this will be a world phone & will work on CDMA and gsm both. I don’t know what they have been doing? Motorola…

  • Anonymous

    it’s the third phone with optional webtop accessories, the photon has a HD dock to enable this. What you meant was the second phone to offer an optional lapdock.

    And the lapdock is 160, you get the 100 off on credit and another in store discount of 20% for accessories. Just ask in the store and they’ll figure it out.

    What most people fail to point out in these articles is that the MAIN point of getting the lapdock is you get a LTE notebook with no additional monthly costs for $160. That’s the real point of the lapdock. Or you can stick with a netbook/macbook then get a LTE mifi/USB dongle with an additional monthly plan. I’ve used it as a $160 LTE notebook on a beach already in Miami. no extra dongles or mifi.

    Plus it charges your phone and you can make and receive calls on speakerphone. There’s no fuss, just plug it in or take it off.

    And about interchangeability…aside from the obvious fact it’s a carrier related issue (ATT and Sprint subsidized their webtop accessories), even if you got the Atrix or Photon on launch day this year (2/22 and 7/31), why would any sane person pay an ETF to switch over to Verizon from AT&T and Sprint, unless they REALLY want LTE?

  • Anonymous

    World phone?  Motorola Photon $99 with contract.

    Verizon costs too much.

  • Otis0427

    I am using the bionic laptop dock right now, and yes its worth it.

Facebook Twitter Gplus YouTube RSS

Recent Posts

  • ZTE V66 tablet headed to Verizon, stops by FCC first
  • Samsung ChromeBox coming soon for $330?
  • Asus now lets you unlock the Transformer Pad TF300 bootloader

Featured Videos

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) video review - Liliputing
    Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) video review - Liliputing
  • Kupa X11 tablet with Windows 8 Preview
    Kupa X11 tablet with Windows 8 Preview
  • CyanogenMod 9 nightlies for the HP TouchPad
    CyanogenMod 9 nightlies for the HP TouchPad


Popular Discussions

Powered by Disqus
mobiputing logo

Latest news from Mobiputing

  • Commercial jailbreak tool for iOS 5.1.1 released, free tools coming soon
  • Amazon lets you test apps on your phone before purchasing
  • Apollo now available for Android 4.0 (CyanogenMod 9 music player)



2007-2012 Liliputing

Advertising | Privacy | TOP