Motorola CLIQ listed for free on contract at T-Mobile, $400 straight-up
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 10th 2009 6:08PM
posted Sep 10th 2009 6:08PM
Update: Aw, seems like someone on the other end already caught wind of the slip-up and yanked it. So, can we take that as confirmation?
Very nice price, if $400 is for unlock version i would actually might buy it.
Yea, except that it probably only will work on Tmobiles random 3G frequency.
That kills the Pixi before it gets launched.
And maybe the Pre, too.
According to this:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Motorola-CLIQ-phone-p_3855.html
It has Quad-band GSM and Tri-band UMTS...
Tri-Band UMTS gives me hope. If I can get this baby unlocked, I'd have no problem paying the straight up $400 and bringing it over to AT&T (where I'm stuck in contract for another 1.5 years, but am not eligible for an iPhone reduced price upgrade)
This cinches it; Motorola officially whipped Palm in strategic planning. An Android phone for FREE? This is just gonna kill the Pre and Pixi.
UMTS Triband won't just cut it for ATT's 3G. It needs 850MHz too which this phone is lacking! Yet to see an Android phone for ATT (not counting Canadian Android phones). Google/Apple/ATT/T-Mobile are playing a smartphone OS game with their offerings. Screw them bitches!
C'mon, T-Mo...the sooner you put these babies on the market, the sooner I can say baibai to Verizon....
you're going to switch from verizon to t-mobile?
@Cheami90
That's what I gathered from his comment...
I've been with Verizon for a decade and watched things get continually worse. At this rate, I'd switch to Boost Mobile if they came out with something decent enough.
I worked for verizon for a year and I'm on t-mobile now. Sure, the network is worse, but I can use it overseas and t-mo unlocks my phones for free. Also, the customer service is MUCH BETTER.
my thoughts exactly. i used to be on tmobile. i was with them for several years. loved their service and comparably cheaper rates. then i switched to verizon. although the coverage is better, i've been itching to get back with tmobile. customer support with tmobile is the best i've ever experienced. verizon customer support pales in comparison. the sudden surge of great android phones on tmobile gives me hope. and if the cliq does turn out to be free with a 2 year contract, i will pay whatever the fee is to terminate my verizon contract and jump ship.
interesting....
looks like your t-mobile link isn't work, unless i'm missing something.
Is Motorola taking a loss on this? Or are they just way more efficient than HTC, Apple, Palm, Nokia, et. al.?
no when the g1 came out it was 400 unlock and that was a year ago so the prices for materials must have come down from then (g1 and this phone has a lot of the same specs other that ram and camera). moto will still make a profit but i'm not sure if it will be greater than htc's with the g1 when it initially came out.
If it gets people interested in Moto's lineup again they'll consider it worth the tradeoff.
A loss? Today's smartphone components are not as "expensive" as you think. The margins on smartphones are very high. Just think about this, Nokia can make a profit out of a $300 unlocked E71. At $400, and considering the "old" spec, surely Moto is making a profit. Plus they don't have to come up with an OS from the ground up, reducing a lot of R&D cost.
T-mobile has already pulled in from their site. Somehow I don't think that pricing will stick.
That's the right price point! But I can't find it on T-mobile's site... Engadget's link yields nothing.
Sign me up for a contract renewal. My t-mob contract is been up since June.
Only thing is I want that All-U-Can-Eat plan for $69.99 on TMob or no contract renewal
:-)
I clicked that buy button so many times...someone should be back handed for playing with our heartstrings like that.
Still, $400 bucks is better then expected. I would love it to be lower though.
Also I guess I am in before "But you can buy a TouchPro for that or more/less"....I think.
I get the feeling it will be lower (though not free, sad to say). But hey, free works, too!
So WinMo has demised finally.
Um, no.... When every major carrier is is rushing to get the Touch Pro2 out before Xmas and Samsung has the Omnia 2 and Omnia Pro on deck it proves that WinMo is still where the premium money is spent.
It's unlikely that will ever happen as long as Microsoft is in business or at least as long as they dominate the OS space.
I prefer pricing mix-ups where I actually get to place the order and they're nice enough to honor it. Oh well, I'd say maybe it will actually be free with contract, but I'm not holding my breath.
wow, $400 unsubsidized... Moto seems to be pretty desperate. Wonder what the build qualitiy is?
The guts are the same as the G1 just with a little more RAM and a 5MP camera. Mass production on these things will be pretty cheap.
So what's with the other HTC's prices then? I mean, there's got to be a reason why HTCs are so expensive. Touch Pro2's price for example. They're basically the same, except for the OS. hell, CLIQ's even got a better camera :P
Not to mention the lack of a 3.5 mm jack in their phones. I dunno why they are more expensive really. I personally love HTC phones. They feel very solid to me. I used to own a razor before I moved on to smartphones, and it was solid too. But they have produced so many of these processors and sticks of RAM that it should be cheaper by now, thus the price drops on the g1 on Mytouch.
well, maybe it's just that: HTC is HTC. My TyTN II does beat my previous smartphones, SE P1i and Nokia E61i, but in a lot of aspects it doesn't beat the samsung i780 i had. But the i780 was still way cheaper than the tytn ii. :)
Anyway, is there anything more that the manufacturer contributes to the price, than the build quality? I mean, SenseUI or MOTOBLUR aside, Android is Android. And TF3D aside, WM is WM...
If this thing actually is free with a contract, that may just be enough to get me to switch.
So, the MyTouch 3G has the same processor, RAM/ROM, screen size as this and this one even has a slide out keyboard and 2MP more on the camera. So, if this is sold for free with contract, I wonder who would prefer the MT3G for $99 over this one? Maybe only the die hard soft keyboard or HTC fans.
To compete with the iPhone T-Mo is going to replicate a lack of functionality. It's not a dig at Apple, but the MyTouch is designed to compete in the same mass market as the iPhone. The users for the MyTouch aren't going to be tech-savvy and it's really an attempt to make Android mainstream instead of an enthusiast choice. The custom faceplate will mean more to them than the qwerty keyboard. Price won't matter much.
Actually, the CLIQ has 256 MB of RAM, instead of 192 MB (the HTC Magic has 256 MB elsewhere, but the MyTouch has 192). On the negative side, the CLIQ's screen is slightly smaller, at 3.1" to the MyTouch's 3.2".
Im not sure, but due to the hardware keyboard the Mytouch is probably slimmer, but it isnt worth the $99. I'm expecting a price drop
This is pretty darn tempting... T-Mo has good pricing too for data/messaging. What's keeping me with AT&T's mediocre 3G (yes, I realize T-Mo practically has no 3G) is my persistent upgrade eligibility, it's really nice for someone like me who gets new phones all the time (currently using a 3GS waiting for the BlackBerry 9700).
How do you pull off persistent eligibility?
@Sandeep - No idea actually. Either something is broken with my line (I'm on a family plan with five lines, everyone else has the standard upgrade term) or AT&T is "rewarding" me for buying all their newest phones (iPhone, iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Bold, iPhone 3GS). It's usually about 24 hours after I get a new phone before my line is eligible again.
I'm on T-Mo and for my family plan I can just upgrade any of the lines. It may not be that you have unlimited upgrades, just that you upgrade and use your family's upgrades.
@Wii60 - I've done that with AT&T too. The issue is I'd be switching by myself to get the Cliq. I'm generally happy with AT&T's phones, but their service leaves something to be desired. Unfortunately T-Mo also has less than stellar service in my area as well.
Lucky you. I tried looking into iPhone eligibility (I'm 7 months into my contract) and of course, none of our 4 familytalk lines are eligible.
You could make some serious pocket change buying the subsidized phones and flipping them on ebay!
@Sandeep - Oh I know! I've thought of that before, but I really don't care. I don't want to lose the persistent eligibility from selling phones. Sure, I'd have enough $$$ to buy the new phones outright, but I'd rather just leave it as is.
Phone looks nice and if its really free on TMO I might go for it. I prefer not to be on a contract and finding unlocked TMO 3G phones outside of TMO is next to impossible ( I know of one). I think I'll stay with AT&T right now, just for the 3G though my new phone I just got (unlocked HTC HERMES non-AT&T branded) so I could sell my Samsung Omnia, didn't work as plan too much (AT&T knows what it is....)
T mobile is the best carrier in the usa, when it comes to good customer service and unlocking phones without issue. Problem is the strange 3g bands and Lack of coverage =(
I'm in UK, saw Motorola's website, they say will be exclusive to Orange. That sux their call plans are bad and expensive + only 500mb use of internet, T-Mobile allows 3GB, but Orange owns T-Mobile UK now, I don't like that.
Motorola's website also says it has VOIP...
Doesn't anybody think a MSRP of $400 is a bit high for a phone that's essentially carrying last year's components? I read that the unlocked price for the DEXT (European/Rest of World name) was 155EUR, which is a lot closer to what I'd expect something like this to cost. If I buy the phone with a data plan (which I'm guessing it'll require), can I cancel it a day later and not pay anything?
SO T-Mobile messed up again and the Cliq is not UMA. I live 16 miles outside of Boston and have no signal with T-Mobile. They said this phone would have UMA so I could at least use my home network to pick up calls but they did not do it. Nothing keeping me from and i-phone which oddly works here. T-Mobile shame on you.
If the iPhone works then a tmo phone should, maybe you weren't using a quad band gsm phone when you tested tmo's coverage.
Is it me or url is down?
i want this phone, but i wish the d-pad was on the right side of the keyboard. or maybe just no d-pad and an even more spacious keyboard.
How much does a t-mobile equivalent of the simply everything plan cost?
If it's free on contract, then that's great pricing. Too bad about T-Mobile's 3G coverage though. Here on Long Island, NY, T-Mobile 3G is almost non-existent, mostly EDGE, and even that cuts out. I had them for almost a year and became tired of not being able to make phone calls in my apartment.
Which U.K carrier? When? How much? ...Deal or no Deal?
@likemyiphone
I guess I guess these specs from the official motorola site must be wrong.
NETWORKS
WCDMA 900/1700/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (Category 7/8), EDGE, GPRS Class 12, AGPS
The 850 next to GSM seems to conflict with your comment. Unless your referring to the processer. But I'm sure you don't beleive that every phone, or any phone for that matter, that is operating on AT$T's 3g network has a 850MHz processor. Either way you are quite wrong on this one.
To me having a physical keyboard is important. This phone has it, latest HTC phones do not. I currently own Android Dev Phone 1 (first HTC Android phone == T-Mobile G1). It was quite easy to make it working with AT&T http://cgi.ebay.com/%3D%3DUNLOCK-CODE-FOR-T-MOBILE-MOTOROLA-CLIQ%3D%3D_W0QQitemZ320424082577QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090914?IMSfp=TL090914166005r4614, but due to a frequency mismatch it does not support 3G. So, is it going to be the same with Cliq (if unlocked?) I'm thinking about buying one for my daughter. AT&T charges $30 per month per phone for data plan :(, but I'm not ready to leave it yet.
Do you think this offer http://cgi.ebay.com/%3D%3DUNLOCK-CODE-FOR-T-MOBILE-MOTOROLA-CLIQ%3D%3D_W0QQitemZ320424082577QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090914?IMSfp=TL090914166005r4614 is not a scam?