Motorola quietly announces the Atrix 2

US PHONE MAKER Motorola has announced the Atrix 2, its upgrade to the Atrix, with AT&T, but made no big song and dance about its latest smartphone.

The Atrix 2 is the follow-on model to what Motorola called "the world's most powerful smartphone", but the firm has just quietly launched the phone with a short press release.

It seems that the first Atrix wasn't fun enough because Motorola said the "Atrix 2 combines 'extreme power' with 'life of the party'."

The handset will come with a 4.3in qHD 540x960 screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage and an 8MP camera. It will come pre-loaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and an accompanying 2GB microSD card.

It seems a reasonable upgrade from the original Atrix phone but we can't see any mention of the finger print scanner on the Atrix 2.

We've spoken with Motorola to see if the phone will tip up in the UK but the company was unable to confirm whether it will or not. Perhaps the first Atrix didn't sell well enough and the firm is going down a new route. It will announce a new product next week that could be the Droid Razr.

Motorola has also announced a new version of its Lapdock, which is called the Lapdock 100. The device does have a smaller screen than before at 10.1in rather than 11.6in like we had thought. The Atrix 2, among other Motorola handsets, will be compatible with it.

A strange change is that the docking section appears to be missing and the phone just sits next to the Lapdock connected with a cable. Motorola said the Lapdock 100 tips the scales at less than 1kg and has up to five hours of battery life. µ