Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Motorola, Android, Smartphone | Themes: Smartphones
Motorola has finally launched its first Android phone, the CLIQ.
As we suspected (reports go back as far as this time last year), Motorola's first Android offering is a smartphone geared toward social networking addicts. The company announced the CLIQ yesterday; and when it comes to aesthetics, it's not exactly what we expected. We figured Motorola would go for something flashy with a full touchscreen, however, the CLIQ is actually quite understated, with a slide out horizontal QWERTY keyboard.
QWERTY keyboard aside, the CLIQ features a 3.1 HGVA touch screen with a 320x480 resolution. Packing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and all the usual Google bells and whistles (YouTube, Maps, GTalk), it also comes with a dedicated Last.fm application and is 3G-capable.
Okay, so not too different from any other Android handset that's already available, right? Not quite. This is where MotoBlur comes in by forwarding all incoming mail, be it SMS, emails, tweets or Facebook/MySpace messages, straight to your home screen. No logging on to this site or that site to keep up with what your friends are doing. Whether or not that's a good thing, we can't decide. It might be awesome to have everything in one place, but it could also be really messy and confusing. Let us know what you think!
The CLIQ is expected to be available in time for the holidays on T-Mobile. Pricing has yet to be announced however Engadget reports that T-Mobile had the device listed on its website for $399 off contract or free with a two year contract. Though the information was quickly removed, it would be a tempting offer.
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Looks kinda cool. Now if we could just get something going on Verizon.
With android, certain hardware specs must be met. These include certain dedicated buttons, the inclusion of a full qwerty keyboard, etc.. etc... Without these specs, it would be anyones guess as to which apps in the Android Marketplace would work on which phones.
This means most Android phones will be somewhat similar. If you think this is a problem, how many different iPhones can you buy from Apple in an AT&T store? One? Exactly.
Now we need an official review.
That's pretty funny that it does best at social networking, and the name of the phone is the CLIQ. If it was truly living up to its name, it should only work with other phones of its type, and snub all the rest
One question I would have about this phone is what CPU does it use? The reason is that once you start put all these gadgets on your home screen it's going to kill you phone performance. I think it needs to be more powerful than the current G1 and myTouch to handle that stuff without hanging every second.
I like it, now I can't wait to get it off ebay or from and authorized dealer.
I like how the Android platform supports apps and "widgets" as well, where widgets are app daemons that integrate into the Android OS and can take over some functionality like the google Voice App. I wish Apple would support Widgets too but make development only eligible to trusted app makers.
Can an Android 1.5 OS phone be updated to a 2.0 OS?
That reminds me of the PSPgo.
So $400 for a netbook, a gps and a phone - in one device?
It does look good and the price may be right.