Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on
By Joanna Stern 
posted Mar 9th 2010 9:10PM
posted Mar 9th 2010 9:10PM
- We've been getting off on the right foot with the CLIQ XT. Though it's a bit thick -- it's a tad thinner than the Droid -- the 0.28-pound handset actually feels lighter than we expected, and the rubbery back feels nice in hand. Judge us all you want, but we do think the included purple back is a nice accessory.
- While some may miss the physical keyboard, we're really digging the preloaded Swype virtual keyboard -- we've set it as the default and it's been incredibly accurate in figuring out our text. We do wish that it had a ".com" shortcut, though.
- The clickable touchpad is just fine for maneuvering through smaller menus, but we've been all touchscreen, all the time.
- Speaking of the multitouch feature is everything we dreamed of, pinching to zoom is very responsive in both the newly improved Photo Gallery and in the browser.
- As for Flash Lite, we we're able to watch a YouTube video in the browser when we switched over to the "desktop" version in order to avoid launching the YouTube app. Video was laggy over 3G, but that's to be expected here in New York.
- We'd be remiss not to mention the 5 megapixel cam -- we've taken some nice shots so far with it, though it does seem to be a bit slow to launch
- Overall performance seems good enough, but it's not going to blow you away. Toggling through the Blur menus was snappy and keeping open four browser windows didn't seem to slow too much down.
Blur still doesn't appeal to me...
and dear god the bezel!
@RyanWhit123
Yeah that bezel is killer! Definitely never going to break that screen if dropped on its side! :P
@Mr Oos
The bezel has a screen, you see. From that point of view, it's not that bad. :)
Blurr isn't that awful but I need to see the on screen keyboard to pass full judgment.
@grydlok: you have "better keyboard" available to install just in case you don't like the Android standard
My eyes just kinda erased the Q and the X.
@the33dude33: LOL. I was thinking in my head "what is this guy... OH. nice"
@the33dude33
You my friend are very clever.
is the search Google or Yahoo!?
@Viakenny
Google. Haha.
Only AT&T pulls shit like that.
Were you being sarcastic to prove a point or were you really curious? ;)
@hellojoaquin
Putting Yahoo on a Google phone is such a huge slap in the face.
@hellojoaquin just curious, also because the Brazilian Motorola DEXT (the international version of the original CLIQ) has Yahoo! search instead of Google.
nearly all other Android phones sold here have Google.
This phone just looks kind of odd to me
Swype does have .com, just drag from the period to the letters. it takes just about the same amount of time as pressing the button. It really is the best way to type, I can't wait til it's ready for every Android phone, because using a trial they don't want out doesn't feel right. These guys actually deserve my money!
@Fadakar
They released an OFFICIAL BETA, for testers. I downloaded and installed it on my Nexus 1, it is good and fast.
http://www.swypeinc.com/
@Beatnik Oh I've been using this, guess I had no idea, I've updated it more than once. Can't wait 'til this becomes the standard.
@Fadakar Swype is indeed very awesome.
Kinda ugly.
I don't know why people complain so much about this phone. I don't think it's ugly, and I don't think it's hot either. It's plain and generic enough to appeal to a mass audience. If you want something sexy, then get the Nexus One.
OT but my g1 got an update today.... anyone know what it was?
@lalaluluj just an update to the radio.
@gonintendo
aha... i got kind of excited when i saw that and prayed it was 2.0... like that's ever going to happen :(
@lalaluluj I have a g1 as well...and i am still hoping they haven't forgotten about them. It seems like its getting left behind.
@kappachinoja
Yeah, me either.... i'd love to see the g1 get more updates but I doubt that's happening. I just don't have the cash to get a new phone... plus a physical keyboard. I just don't wanna have to see the g1 in the dust so quickly :(
@lalaluluj
Same here, I really want to see the G1 get android 2.1 too. Hopefully in the summer. If not, I'm going to root it.
Looks like a car dashboard.
How can someone design that and think it looks good?
@IcerC If they work for Moto, that's how :D
is that the squircle?
@silversun IT IS!!!!!
Wow that is ugly.
@Schmid7y
agreed... this device looks awfully fat at front view and the d pad is wayyyyyyy too big... stick to and optical like HTC
@mattyboy1013
Looks like a toy, seriously people need to take note of the way Palm, Apple, and HTC do things.
@Schmid7y
Or, maybe, they intended this somehow for people who a top-end device is NOT aimed at.
Why does this have such different features from the Devour? Weird that different Blur implementations have different capabilities. The internals must be pretty much the same.
Who Agrees with me that Engadget should no longer do reviews or hands on Android phones running anything under 2.1..Its March 2010 Motorola, HTC, etc....your only bringing down the Android legion of doom by taking sooo long to update your skins ..Motorola i say do us all a favor and scrap Motoblur...Its useless anyway..
P.S
I have a dream that all Android Devices will run the same version number of Android..no fragmentation..if this is achieved..you can kiss RIM, APPLE, and WM U.S market Share goodbye
"Who Agrees with me..." -- I do NOT agree -- I may end up picking up this phone (need one bad), and I appreciate this write-up. There IS no 2.1 phone on T-Mobile, anyway (don't say the N1, I'm aware of it).
"As for Flash Lite, we we're able to watch a YouTube video in the browser when we switched over to the "desktop" version in order to avoid launching the YouTube app. Video was laggy over 3G, but that's to be expected here in New York." Um is it just me but isn't New York's 3G signal should be relatively strong considering it is a major U.S market
@Android4Eva
Lots of building and concrete wreak havoc on signal strength.
AT&T is infamously bad in NYC.
I just really really wish the Cliq was on AT&T and not the crappy Backflip. I love that phone their.
Does I see a Zune Pad?
Once BLUR finally hits a decent-sized screen, I'll be interested. But for now, the Nexus One and iPhone are the only smartphones with ANY appeal to me.
What's with that horrendous bezel? That's a fail right there Moto...
You know, I love Moto, but they're doing the same thing they did with the razr, release one awesome device everyone likes that puts them at the top of the game, then release a bunch of variants. this creates 3 things: 1 people say oh that sucks but it's ok because they make the droid/razr 2 people compare there new devices to the original one because it's.a benchmark and 3 they don't innovate very much because the original keeps selling well, the variants sell kinda well because they're similar and then a few years later everyone else has moved on and they still have the same exact device. Now hopefully they won't do that, but seriously moto: release a higher end not lower end device with a different formfactor then the droid and keep iterating the droid on the same carrier with the same software
I don't know. For some reason I'm really feeling the bezel and the navigation pad. Something tells me this will sell well with the females. I predict a red version coming up.
its going to be 99 dollars from best buy on a new contract and 69 on an upgrade
@Incoherent -- how about full price (i.e., for Even More Plus) -- is that an option thru Best Buy? Never bought a phone there before. (Rumored price via TMO is $330, btw: http://www.tmonews.com/2010/03/htc-hd2-nuron-and-cliq-xt-pricing-cometh)
I actually just played with the demo at T-mobile in St. Louis (the joys of knowing someone who works there). I thought it was pretty slick. The upgrade price is $129 for sure, not sure of the other prices. It releases tomorrow (March 10).
i really wanted to get this because i feel the need to get something new (my good ole trusty g1 feels so dated) right now its a toss up beteween this and the hd2, the hd2 is in the lead.....
@ericisthename
LOL I don't understand how it would be a toss up between this and an HD2. Next to an HD2 I wouldn't even consider this awkward looking phone.
Moto continues to pump out uglified devices...
I actually considered getting this thing weeks ago until a friend of mine put his Nexus One in my hands. Loved it so much, I bought one using his N1 right then and there.