Motorola cable boxes to get Blur, connect with phones
By Nilay Patel 
posted February 19th 2010 1:56PM
posted February 19th 2010 1:56PM
Now that Moto's phone and set-top box divisions are being split out into their own company, it looks like there's some convergence afoot: the MOTOBLUR interface found on the CLIQ and the Backflip is currently being tested on the company's cable boxes with a tentative release scheduled for this year. That's the word according to CEO Sanjay Jha, who also told the Wall Street Journal that he wants Moto's phones and set-top boxes to eventually support a common platform so they can "share media and features" -- lending credence to those old rumors about Android-powered Moto cable boxes. Of course, getting custom software on cable boxes requires negotiating with cable companies, which is an even slower and tougher process than working with cell carriers, so we're not holding out hope that we'll see the fruits of this labor any time soon -- but it's nice to think about, isn't it?
This won't happen unless they can make it as slow and buggy as possible just as their current boxes are and as the cable operators love them.
@dragonfli
Indeed. Comcast would never allow this because then they'd have to redo their annoying"searchlight 888" or whatever the stupid it is. Why must FiOS elude me so?
This is great news. Personally I think all cable boxes need some new interface love
@ckent Some would be an understatement, and saying this would be an understatement.
But my Comcast Moto box, even though it is brand new, is hardly capable of DVRing properly. The GUI is slow, but not awful. How do they think they will make these boxes do any more than what they already poorly do?
@yankees368
I have a VIP1216 PVR, locks up, buggy HDMI I'm told. Shitty remote response. Noisy - like it was an air-conditioner. SLOWEST boot up from power off of any device since the days of papertapes. This is important since you have to power it off to clear it's many freezes.
@yankees368 : Just a few months ago they gave me an ancient DCT-2000. It appears to have roughly the computing power of the C64 I had in high school, so based on that we can expect that they will deploy hardware equaling today's cell phones in approximately 2030.
Not often a story is on Engadget, Engadget Mobile, and Engadget HD. Weird...
If android is going to be on my cable box, I wonder how easy it will be to Root.
So does that mean they are replacing Windows CE with Android? If so I think I know why Microsoft is adding MediaRoom to the XBox 360.
Motorola acts like they reinvented Android with blur. It's not that great at all.
@jordanbiffle
At least Android is getting some of the traction it deserves.
I actually thought that was an actual phone.
Haha..
To all the people who hate their cable boxes, get with the program and stop paying for them !
I don't care what you people say, I think that is just awesome.
I'm still waiting for Tivo to show up on my Comcast...err Xfinity HD DVR
It's an interesting concept for sure, but I'll wait to see what they come up with.
Nice photoshop.
Haven't performed rightous relevant research, but why not engineer a 'backchannel' femtocell cum cable modem combo? Circumvents licensed spectrum and appeals to box buyers.
@utilitus yes, yes...
WOW. Way to go, Moto! I take back my comments about the two divisions being hopeless about working together - great to see!
For folks who don't get it, BLUR isn't exactly set in stone - they can add new features and take it beyond just social networking. This is going to be very slick.
If they made the cable boxes to work like sling boxes, then that would work out. Streaming recorded/live tv would make android devices even better.
Wow that would be really cool. Current cable boxes have the shittiest user interfaces in the world. Hopefully this makes it to reality and if it does it actually FILLS THE SCREEN! I'm tired of these 4:3 "Centered" SD interfaces on a glorious HDTV!
Sorry. Mot and Cisco DO make great cable boxes... They just get cost reduced to rubble by the service providers until they work and look like 20 year old VCRs. Don't blame us... I wish my STB would come out to the market. The FIOS boxes are the same hardware with differrent software and mindset tongue market.
Just great...
Now Cable DVR UIs just got uglier.
I write the Motorola blog on the set-top side of the biz. There's a photo of Blur demoed on a Motorola set-top here: http://connectedhome2go.com/2010/02/18/on-set-tops-and-smartphones/