How would you change Motorola's CLIQ?

It's a funny thing, the CLIQ. When it was introduced at a low-key press conference, the world gasped as the flagging handset maker finally made its first really bold move since the RAZR by ushering in its first-ever Android handset. Here we a few months later, and the only Android-based Moto that anyone's talking about is the Droid. That said, we're confident that a few of you T-Mobile loyalists are sticking to your guns (wouldn't want to get caught up in that whole Verizon / AT&T scuffle, now would you?), but moreover, we're certain that early CLIQ adopters have quite a bit to say now that the Droid is on the market. Is the CLIQ still living up to the hype? Are you still impressed with what it offers? What recommendations would you have for improving the next-generation? Feel free to spout off below, and hey, don't try to hide any lingering bitterness -- we won't look down on you for it.

[theylive Posted Nov 21st 2009 11:23PM]

excuse me?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 22nd 2009 4:31PM]

T-Mobile is a joke, they have awful service (because they don't have cellular licences), and a horrendously small footprint. If it was on a real network, like AT&T or Verizon, it might be interesting.

[Kirtay Posted Nov 22nd 2009 12:17AM]

maek it an iphone lol haha lol

[Kirtay Posted Nov 22nd 2009 12:18AM]

Because this, my friends, is the answer to any question.

[Redbeerd Posted Nov 22nd 2009 12:24AM]

I would have liked a bigger screen and better battery life. Even with what Moto delivered, I love the CLIQ!

[Abe Posted Nov 22nd 2009 5:15AM]

Silly rabbit; CLIQs are for kids!

[Sad Sack Posted Nov 23rd 2009 5:25AM]

1. AMOLED display
2. Snapdragon or Tegra processor
3. Any carrier besides T-Mobile (it's rated even worse than AT&T!)

[twaddington Posted Nov 23rd 2009 4:00PM]

I made the jump from AT&T to T-Mobile for the CLIQ and here are my impressions. The hardware is great. I love the physical keyboard and the overall look of the CLIQ. The Droid is so fugly. They should have gotten the CLIQ design team working on that thing. Motoblur works well enough, I love how my contacts are all integrated.

Now the cons. I'm hugely disappointed by Motorola's lack of interest in the CLIQ. It seems like since the Droid came out they've just given up on the handset. Being stuck on Android 1.5 is pretty miserable. Motorola refuses to allow even developers to root the CLIQ and upgrade it to Android 2.0.

What happened to Android being an open platform? I frankly cannot wait for an open Android 2.0 device with a hardware keyboard that doesn't look like an engineers idea of good design (e.g. the Droid).

[dtrwos Posted Nov 23rd 2009 7:28PM]

Upgrade the underlying OS - 1.5 is hot for tmobile, but comeon there up to os 2.0, and motorola already has it on their phones (droid) make it happen.

[blazeboi383 Posted Nov 23rd 2009 8:49PM]

I always wanted a G1, never got it. When i saw this i was like ok seems to be the next g1. It's more like a different G1

But to make it a better phone:
1. 800mhz processor
2. 8gb onboard memory (keep micro sd slot)
3. 800x480 resolution, 16 million colors screen
4. 3.3" amoled screen
5. 1500 mAh battery
6. notification lights
7. add row number keys
8. put an optical trackpad on the face
9. dedicated music keys
10. seperate power and lock keys
11. custom media player
12. make blur look more... uh... thought about it seems like motorola thought of the idea and made the ui in like two weeks

[msangel Posted Nov 23rd 2009 9:30PM]

I bought the Cliq on pre-order. Here are things I don't like about it:

1. Too heavy. The build quality is great, and all the reviews say that it feels "solid". Unfortunately, it is also heavy. I am a girl. I don't want a phone that is heavier than my wallet.

2. Battery life sucks. (I understand a better battery would probably be heavier.) The battery barely makes it through one day. My BlackBerry had awesome battery life. On a normal day, I can charge at night and at my desk. But if I'm out and about (using the phone most heavily), I have to ration my battery life.

3. No Android 2.0. Or 1.6. Or even a schedule. C'mon Moto, even a paltry "Q1 2010" would be preferable to the stony faced silence. And telling me to by a Droid? Hello! I'm a Cliq user, which means I'm on T-Mobile, which means there's no way I want to buy a Droid from Verizon. Besides, I bought the Cliq precisely because it didn't look like that boxy monstrosity, the Droid. So you're assuming that women who want rounded edges and social networking DON'T want the latest software? Pretty condescending if you ask me.

4. Can't delete "stock" apps. Anyone with Android can tell you that ROM space is precious. Loading "stock" apps that are non-essential (like imeem, shazaam, etc.) is annoying when you can't delete them. Not everyone wants them.

5. Can't "refresh" Accounts. I had a problem where at first my Twitter profile in Motoblur only grabbed 20 contacts. Which meant a lot less noise than I normally have, but it's not as though I could pick and choose. Since they don't have a "refresh" option, I had to delete and re-add my twitter account to get all my contacts. Then it took another 20 minutes or so to link them all.

6. No offline backup. I know Android isn't built for offline backup, since gmail, or any of the other google products are constantly syncing. Call me paranoid. But when I spend hours getting my phone exactly the way I want it with my contacts, calendars, accounts, etc., I want something tangible just in case the inevitable happens. Just ask a Sidekick user. BlackBerry was very good at giving you a full offline backup and I wish you could do that with this device too. It may not be Moto's fault, though, since Google probably needs to be on board, too.

7. No dedicated send and end buttons. At first I didn't think I needed them. But all it takes is one freeze up of the screen after you accidentally started calling an ex-boyfriend at 3am (why did you even keep that number?) to convince you that you need a dedicated send and end button. I personally think too many buttons would clutter the design. But there are plenty of buttons already on the Cliq - how hard would it be for Moto to use a software fix to address this? Any one of the buttons could be reassigned during a call to be a send (or at least an end) button. I once had the phone freeze while receiving a call - same problem, the screen freezed and I missed the call. Luckily, I could call the person back and blame it on the phone.

Stuff I really like about the Cliq (and Motoblur):

1. Linking contacts. I LOVE how Motoblur lets you link your contacts to their social networking profiles. It's awesome. Google has been my main address book for a while now, when I had BB I just synced it with my google address book. But Google can't do this, and it's obviously something that people want, which is a great reason for Motoblur to exist. Maybe this will be moot in Android 2.0, I don't know. But the way Motoblur does it is really lovely, simple, transparent.

2. The keyboard. I picked this Android phone over the others because it had a keyboard, a decent keyboard that could compete with the BB. It's not as good as the BB but it's darn close. I wish the space bar were bigger and more prominent and I also wish the number keys were in a pad config like the sidekick and BB, but other than that, I love the keyboard. Oh, and why is the D-pad on the left and not the right? It's on the right on the Droid. I didn't use the D-pad once for the first two weeks I had the phone - it mostly just takes up space, but does occasionally come in handy.

3. Style. This phone is impressive, stylish, and not ugly. It's round, cute, and not ostentatious. It doesn't have obnoxious blinky lights. I have the Body Glove case (no belt clip) and the screen protector and it looks great.

4. Motoblur - Happenings. I like the Happenings widget. My twitter stream kind of makes it too noisy but I don't mind. It's quick and it aggregates all of your social networks in one stream - no need to check a bunch of different apps or get ridiculous amounts of notifications in your notifications bar. It just gives you a quick update and what's going on, and you can easily send facebook comments or @replies. And because all of your contacts are linked, you can respond to a tweet with an SMS, or a facebook message with an email, or a MySpace status update with a phone call. It's very convenient.

5. Setting your status. I love being able to set your status for all of your services from one place, located on the home screen. It saves a lot of clicks, and means that you don't have to clutter up your screen with lots of shortcuts. Moto could sell this as a widget in the Android market and lots of people would buy it.

6. News and Entertainment (RSS widgets). These are kind of unnecessary but they make your phone a great time waster in a nice looking presentation. Also gives you something to tweet about!

7, Messaging. As a former (long time) BB user, I miss my universal inbox. The Messaging App brings all of your messages (except gmail and twitter) together, just like BB would. (Twitter wouldn't make sense here, and gmail is probably not included because of google.) Android 2.0 will supposedly bring together a real "universal inbox", which I expect should include google services like gmail and gtalk. I will say that it is really strange to see my yahoo accounts front and center in the messaging widget when I mostly just get spam in them - and my gmail account I have to get to a different way, when that is my "main" email. But I don't think you can blame Moto for this.

So far I love the Cliq and I am looking forward to the improvements that Motorola will make to it. I am really hoping that the focus on the Droid doesn't take away focus on the Cliq. I mean, just because we're "young adults and women" doesn't mean that Cliq users don't know and care about Android 2.0.

[Wodenborn Posted Dec 16th 2009 7:49PM]

Complaints I have:

1) The Motorblur open Beta

It seriously has fewer features than advertised, the DROID has better facebook integration by far, the skin is obviously unfinished. The lack of home screen orientation is a big flashing sign that reads "unfinished,"

2) The Browser

The Dolphin 3rd party browser is miles ahead of the default, but still doesn't compare to Safari. 3g speed is comperable, wifi, the iphone destroys it.

3) 2gb SD Card

Are you f-king kidding me?

4) Power

It runs old games without a hitch, but at for same price as the droid, it could stand to be a little snappier.

Complaints I do NOT have

1) The form factor: LOVE IT! The heaviness makes it feel solid, multiple, terrifying drops onto hard floors confirm this durability is more than just skin deep. Keypad is the most natural thing in the world to me, none of the 'touchscreen' learning curve.

2) The D-Pad: Deserves it's own bullet point, I really am spoiled now and can't imagine playing games with a touchscreen or average keypad.

3) Battery Life: MASSIVELY improved by the firmware update, I have motoblur's data pulls set to only go when I'm using it, and I can finally make it over TWO DAYS with light usage.

4) Tmo: I've been majorly f-ked over by both Verizon and Sprint, Tmo has never inflated my bill WHATSOEVER. 3g connection speed is surprisingly robust too.

[anagin Posted Jan 1st 2010 4:29PM]

We are Comparing One Piece Of Shit To Another Piece Of Shit Any way

The Good
- CLIQ has a good Key Pad.
- Screen Resolution is good
- Processor is Ok
- Form Factor Ok

The Bad
- Poor Battery
- Blur UI Sluggish & Poor
- more screen size required
- UI Update is very very Badly needed.
- Lesser Weight.

Good To Have
- Tilt Screen after Slide Out
- Front Side Camera for V.calling'
- dedicated button to enable / disable Moto Blur Services

[logan Posted Jan 14th 2010 4:51PM]

I'd say MAYBE a bigger screen and better battery. However this isn't supposed to be high end! People don't seem to get that. I think it is a really well set up phone for the AVERAGE user. When it's possible to update to 2.1 with blur on top, I think this would be an awesome phone to have.

[kn0t Posted Jan 31st 2010 8:16AM]

Just give it the 2.0 update and I'll be happy with it. I already really like it. I just want to get the 2.0 upgrade.

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