Motorola CLIQ: first hands-on impressions (update: with video)
By Chris Ziegler 
posted September 10th 2009 11:59PM
posted September 10th 2009 11:59PM
- Despite the MSM7201a core, the UI is definitely faster than any factory ROM we've used before on any Android device. A good test of this is to quickly swipe open the app drawer -- the action's smooth on the CLIQ, whereas most Magic ROMs would stutter.
- The screen is glass capacitive, and it feels that way. There's no "give" like you've got on a G1 or Magic, for example.
- Expanding on the glass screen, the device feels absolutely fantastic overall. Through Motorola's thick and thin, you've got to admit that the company has a reputation for building ridiculously rock-solid phones, and we're pleased to say that the trend is continuing with the CLIQ. Pictures don't do it justice -- the white model looks particularly cheap at a glance -- but in the hand, it feels like it's fashioned from a solid block of metal.
- The camera button has a focus detent, which makes it a heck of a lot easier to properly harness the power of your 5 megapixel autofocus optics. The jury's still out on photo quality, but it seems promising and focusing is relatively quick (though our disappointment in QVGA 24fps video still runs pretty deep).
- This probably blew Google's mind, but MOTOBLUR has five home screen panels along with a small indicator similar to the iPhone's to show you which one you're currently on. Who knew that someone might want more than three? [Yes, we know HTC's bringing additional panels to the table in Sense as well -- thing is, stock Android doesn't, which a majority of Android phones in circulation still run. It'd be nice to see Google take something like this into the trunk in Donut or Eclair. -Ed.]
- The keyboard feels great. Truly stellar, actually -- and we don't think there's much room for complaints about layout, unless you're really into the dedicated horizontal number row.
Update: More screenshots of CLIQ and MOTOBLUR UI, including the back panel designs and some comparison shots. Interesting to note that the keyboard aspect of the device is just slightly thinner than the iPhone 3GS.
Update 2: Now with more video!
See more video at our hub!
Lol yeah.
i think the Engadget people standards are too high,what they call lag seems to be quite snappy to us commoners
but maybe it's just me
seemed pretty laggy to me, especially compared to the iPhone. Flicking through pages seemed kind of slow and jumpy, compared to the smooth movements on the iPhone, and as much as I dislike the iPhone, that's really the standard in smartphones right now, and is what it's going to be compared to.
Lots of unblurred contact info. Those people aren't gonna be happy.
must.. have....... shooooooollleesss............
actually.... need..... service coverage........
Slow slow slow.
It has all the right features (a faster processor would be nice though) but will it be able to rip out the teenager UI and put classic Android on it? Otherwise, I might be --> Sprint.
I'm really curious as to the media playing capabilities.
Same here. I don't care if they have added any fancy skins but it would be absolutely phenomenal if they added in Divx/Xvid support before the release date.
Anyone call Kate?
does the browser have flash?
Lol, I love how the guy says "lets say I just got out of a poli-sci lecture" Anyone who has ever attended college would lol at that.
No complaints about the keyboard? I can't imagine getting used to the 4 way rocker being on the left.
True but I imagine to most gamers, it'd be more natural
I hadn't thought of that. I did just get a phone with a keyboard and the D pad is on the right and I can't imagine having to do the same thing with my left.
@edu300 sorry, my analogy was flawed. It is more like 2.8Ghz/1066FSB vs 2Ghz/800FSB. Do the math - that will give you 37/25% difference on CPU and memory clocks.
@EvanR - i can only speculate on pricing (and I do not want to), but that isn't the only reason for sticking with that chipset. If people knew what's actually involved in making a phone, they'd understand why vendors like to stick to known hardware. Starting a new project on new chipset (new as in "not shipped on any phone yet"), using new SW platform (new as in "not used by you or almost anyone else before"), and adding your own new applications/UI layer ... let me try another analogy.
You need to build a full subdivision of houses, for a client, with your own money. You are proposed to use new materials that nobody has built a house with before, using new blueprints from an architect that has barely designed one house yet and it did not exactly meet the building codes (and not even used those new materials). There's economic crisis going on, you are in difficult financial position, if you fail you're broke and out of job. Oh, and if you're late, your client will either pay much less, or cancel. Good luck pitching this plan to your stakeholders.
I am very far from a PR person, but yes I do work for MOT.
@ Blur, your not very good with analogies. Seriously using materials that no one has ever built a house with. Where not asking you to make the phone out of mercury and lithium here. Are we are asking for is a faster processer. And last I checked Tegra and snapdragon have been used before. And what do you mean by Good luck pitching this plan to your. Blur If you go to your stockholders and tell them "You want to take google android to the next level by introducing MOTOBLUR on a handset that has a processor around the 1ghz speed that will be far more interesting to consumenrs than any other android device thus far" most of them will jump on board. I guess there more impressed buy putting out a device that if we put the specs side by side in a lineup with every other android device even you would have a hard time picking out wich one was the cliq. Do you think that is how apple was thinking when they came up with the iphone?
Is "recency" a real word? And let me know when an android device gets a processor around the 1ghz speed. I know what 528mhz is like on my G1, and with all these extra skins and services running at once on these new phones it won't take very long for them to slow down to the edge of unusefullness (see, I can make up words too). I noticed this thing has a 1400 mAh battery instead of the 1050mAh of the G1. With it pinging all those online services all the time i bet the battery life still isn;t any better. I appreciate what they are attempting to do, and I hope they are more successful than I think they will be with the hardware they are using.
Im Running my rooted myTouch 3G using the eViL HeRo rom and it runs faster than this. hopefully they tweak the UI to make it a bit more cpu friendly. I personally think the phone has a ton of potential to the social networking junkies.
Please, guys, please! Host your videos on YouTube! It is the only video service that still works outside the US and with a slower net connection!
I beg of you, please!
@edu300 - you sound like you haven't spoken to shareholders in a while. Or ever. And here's a little "embedded systems design 101" for you...
You can't just pick a faster "processer". These are not PCs where you have standards and can mix & match components. You're dealing with SoC (system-on-chip) designs. They all have different pinouts, custom specialized integrated HW interconnected in different ways, etc. You typically have to pair them with "matching" transceivers, power control chips, memory packages. In other words, you pick the whole "reference design" and my analogy is better than you think.
Those designs come with matching software base from chipset vendor and various designs have various levels of SW maturity. Just because a chip is out on some web page, does not mean it is available in commercial quantities or that its software base is of commercial grade. The 7201 for example did not have commercial grade SW available until June this year. Yes, G1 was really "v 0.8" as even Google admits. What do you think is the level of maturity of the Snapdragon?
Of course there is nothing impossible and Snapdragon is not the only game in town. It is just a matter of time, cost and risk. Apple chose a riskier path when they were rolling in cash from iPods. MOT is far from that, but there will be another product announced soon, as was publicly stated.
@Blur - you sound like you make excuses for a living. You must be a PR person. Your comments make more sense when you leave the analogies out. Let me translate your PR/spin comments into english so everyone can understand. Trying to pair SoC's with matching transceivers, power control chips, memory packages would take much to much hard work, time, and money. It is Way easier to Let someone else (HTC) do that kinda stuff and then just try to copy what they have done and try improve on there efforts.
Tell your shareholders you should keep taking the safe route. You see what happened to apple with all there crazy risk taking. I'm sure they'll be another product anounced soon. It;s prob bieng delayed because you havn't found the right high end android phone to copy from.
Seriously though, hurry up and release the shole. And no more excuses for less then average components please sir. But if you chose the safe/ease route again, don't get offended when we're not impressed.
@edu3000 - your ignorance is only surpassed by your arrogance. To suggest that MOT has copied Cliq design from HTC, is beyond arrogant, it's just plain stupid. You're just a troll wasting my time. I do not have to make any excuses to you or anyone else. I was simply explaining how this works. Save your insulting tone and go learn the difference between "there" and "their". After you grow up, build and ship a product of your own, you can talk again and look less like a teenager.
OMG, who ever was shooting this was so rude. Its very disrespectful to interupt someones presentation with side questions. Its a sure sign that you werent paying attention to the presentation at hand. Very rude. I hate my goodle search brought me to this forum. Boo engaget, I'll stick to my other sites. Great presentation though. To bad there was a babling idiot from Engaget being diresectful the entire time.
This phone will not be upgradable to Android 1.6 until sometime in 2010 and never to Android 2.0. So it obsolete now and will be after the upgrade.