Will Motorola’s CLIQ be T-Mobile’s Best Android Phone?
By mikepayne
Earlier today, Motorola revealed the Motorola CLIQ android phone and a few other news bits to the tech public. The Motorola CLIQ will head to T-Mobile, where it will join the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream) and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G as the mobile provider’s flagship smartphones. With this phone’s featureset, we believe it may become T-Mobile’s best Android device as soon as it hits market. The G1 and the MyTouch 3G are not without flaws, and the Motorola CLIQ might be a better alternative for this Autumn’s Android consumer.
While we’re quite happy with our T-Mobile G1, it could certainly use some improvement. While the bottom, non-sliding portion of the phone does have helpful buttons, they keypad itself suffers with a small size. Typing can be a bit clumsy, especially since your right thumb is offset by that section to the right. Beyond the build factor issues, the phone is pretty capable for Android. It has the accelerometer, the camera, the GPS and otherwise, but we wish the phone was a bit more solid and benefitted from a larger keyboard. Beyond that, we’ve had serious problems with HTC products before– and we’re already on our second G1 after the first one fizzled out.
Comparatively, the MyTouch 3G is not a clear hardware upgrade over the G1, as the exclusion of the keyboard hamstrings its efficacy as a well-rounded phone. The Motorola CLIQ has a few hardware features that might entice Android buyers to take it over the other options. The full-size keyboard is not obstructed by the bottom piece of the G1, nor does it exclude the button and trackball functionality– it just leaves them on the top sliding section. Other than that, the camera gets a slight sensor upgrade (and the megapixel enumeration will matter to consumers) and some basic software add-ons not available for the other Android phones. While it’ll likely come down to price, the Motorola CLIQ appears to have a slight perceived advantage over the T-Mobile G1 and the MyTouch 3G.
Friday, September 11, 2009 1:36AM
blew my load
Friday, September 11, 2009 12:00PM
[...] investors tick (if we did, we’d be rich), but they seem to have taken an unnatural liking to Motorola’s Android-powered Cliq phone. Motorola shares rose 6.5 to $8.49 on the news, after an initial 1.5 percent increase, so it [...]
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 11:31AM
[...] devices. HTC now has four Android devices, including T-Mobile’s G1. Motorola’s got the CLIQ, and may be unveiling another Android phone for Verizon Wireless soon. Dell’s got an Android [...]