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The Motorola Atrix was one of our favorite phones this year, for the incredibly clear, easy-to-read screen, extremely responsive at everything, and most of all for the lapdock, so you can actually use your phone as the brain of a laptop that you can carry with you everywhere. It makes web browsing incredible, since the screen of the lapdock is quite large. And the fact that you never have to sync the phone with the laptop, because the phone IS the CPU for the laptop. And now, Moto has taken this amazing phone and made it even better, updating it with even better resolution, the newest version of everything, including CrystalTalk to make it easier to hear on both sides of your conversation. It also has DLNA built in (Digital Living Network Alliance), to stream/share content with a multitude of devices around your house. It's not a quantum leap the way the original Atrix was, but some performance bumps in a few key areas, like faster connectivity (up 10 21 Mbps), going from a 5- to an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and from 720p to 1080p in the Atrix 2. It also goes from 4 inches to 4.3 on the QHD (Quarter high definition, 960x540 pixels). It still has a micro USB port and mini-HDMI, but the ports are flipped compared to the original Atrix. Moto did this to make it compatible with the Bionic and Photon, which share the same lapdock. If you have the original Atrix, your lapdock won't fit the  Atrix 2, but it looks like the Atrix 2, Bionic and Photon may have the new standard that could be around for a while and integrated with a lot of other future Motorola smartphones. The phone runs Gingerbread (Android version 2.3.5) and will probably be getting the next Android OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich (sandwich alludes to the fact that it integrates the features of Gingerbread AND the tablet operating system, Honeycomb), sometime this fall.

Ultra-fast, 4G-enabled smartphone running Android 2.3; capable of running full Firefox desktop browser with optional accessories

Dual-core 1 GHz processor; Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (with optional Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot and tethering capabilities); GPS navigation

8-MP camera; full HD 1080p camcorder; front-facing video chat camera; Bluetooth stereo music; 8 GB memory plus 2 GB microSD card; corporate and personal e-mail

Up to 8.5 hours of talk time, up to 380 hours (15.9 days) of standby time; released in October, 2011

What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, travel/USB charger, USB cable, 2 GB microSD card, quick start guide

For more information or to purchase a Motorola Atrix 2 4G Android Phone, visit Amazon.com. Read our Senior-Friendly Guide To Smartphones.