Square Motorola Android slider leaks out, causes consternation
We swear we've seen a Motorola phone that looks like this odd square thing before, but it's also possible we're crazy. Either way, it looks like Moto's working on a new Blur set running Android 2.1, and if you thought screen size and resolution issues differences were a big part of Android fragmentation before, well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Oh, and as for the story that this pic came from a student who borrowed the phone from a friend whose dad works for Moto? We'd be more skeptical, except that's exactly how we've gotten other dead-on Moto leaks. So... yeah. Anyway, a square Moto slider running Blur. Does that do anything for anyone? No? Okay.
























Is it just me or are Motorola designs are getting uglier and uglier?
@Johnny Rockets
Is it just me or are Motorola smartphones getting crappier and crappier? I mean, they release ONE decent phone, the Droid, and they feel they have license to make crap from then on?
@Johnny Rockets Big time!!
@Johnny Rockets How much do you want to bet this goes to AT&T?
*cries*
@Johnny Rockets
I don't understand how they go backwards after releasing a phone as great as the Droid...just blows my mind. The "square" phone looks like a POS, lets be honest...
@Johnny Rockets
hold up guys!!... those 3 phones they launched in China are sickly designed... and by that I mean they are beauties... why we cant have them here I don'o?!
@Johnny Rockets It's not even the design of the hardware that's worst for me. I hate the Blur UI. It is a hideous combination of random colors and icons with no thought as to the presentation or flow of information. Seriously, I wouldn't doubt that the Dad whose kid is responsible for these leaked photos has another kid in kindergarten who is responsible for Moto's UI design.
@Johnny Rockets lol me and my girl both went "ew" at the same time.
very weird looking phone, but it looks very portable
@AlexSanchez I just have to say, I think it's odd that some couples (apparently, from comments) read Engadget together.
But maybe that's just me being a big jealous because my girlfriend is not technically inclined whatsoever.
@NikAmi That is so true. +1.
@Johnny Rockets i swear its like they sit down at an oblong table and say to each other "There must be a way that we can make every phone uglier than the one before it. The Droid looked too nice we must show Americans how much we truly despise them!"
@Johnny Rockets No it's not just you! The Droid was a success but everything else Motorola has produced is a failure.
@Johnny Rockets it should live in a pineapple under the tree
@Johnny Rockets it should live in a pineapple under the sea
@brrip damn it. i clicked stop. I DID! AHHH. THE SHAME.
@Johnny Rockets
this handset is vile. A real design failure, hard to imagine that this design went through a series of approvals before manufacture :|
@FallenArms3
i feel ya dude. I talk about something cool gadget wise, and eventually realize my girlfriend is falling asleep while nodding and agreeding with me.
@Johnny Rockets yes motorola are get cheap on the phones the best phone they have is the droid and cliq
It reminds me of the Nokia Twist. I can see this phone ending up like that: Buggy and very low rated, resulting in no stores even carrying them.
@Johnny Rockets I was just thinking how nice this one looks.
@Johnny Rockets I don't know why everyone here just emits a "yuck, what a hideous design"... you know, there are OTHER countries with OTHER tastes, and in fact, square designs with sliders are very attractive by teens on my country (and i know that at least two big markets, japan and italy, like those designs too)... so, everyone should remember that because YOU don't like it doesn't mean anyone else wouldn't like it
@Johnny Rockets Amen
Damn that looks hideous.
Wait, are we talking about the phone or Yoda?
@Lord Vader
Someone uprank him! This is a disgrace!
@artemis360 Gooood, Your impatience will bring you into the dark side
@Kwame Nkrumah Hello Moto? Goodbye Moto.
@Lord Vader
Not amused
@Lord Vader
I bet it can stay running longer than a Death Star though...
@Kwame Nkrumah
It looks like Motorola and Kyocera's design teams have partnered up.
@Lando Calrissian
Burn dude!
HTC has officially replaced Motorola as the company that understands phone design.
@DanMan I agree. HTC phones are so slick and beautiful compared to most phones Motorola is putting out these days. Motorola's build quality is still much better than HTC's though.
@DanMan
This might just be a concept or mock-up device, don't count moto out just yet.
@ai4281 How can you say that? I have dropped my N1 a thou times and it keeps going. Made by HTC
@scioncas
sh*t happen after one year...as soon as the warranty is out. 2 of my HTC actually went bad like this. So becareful.
Motorola peaked with the StarTAC. Seriously. The Razr was thin, but was hobbled by glaring design blunders, like the button on the side that would continually bump against something and turn off the ringer.
This will be a hit in Japan.
It reminds me of the Motorola Hint, for US Cellular...
But this looks a heck of a lot better than that, even though like Johnny said above, Motorola doesn't know how to make 'em anymore.
The BEST last phone's they have made were the i9 and RAZR2... And they didn't have smartphone OS's.
@APV
Man, I used to LOVE their i860 (on Nextel). That thing is BEAUTIFUL still, to this day.*
*But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
Motorola's design department needs to be put through a filter...leave the one normal guy and have him hire a whole new staff.
Looks like the dreadful Motoblur UI isn't dead after all. There it is, showing us all a clusterf*ck of information we don't need to see.
@TareG Do the Fragmentation Dance! All you need is a group of friends; you slide to the right, while everyone else slides in all different directions.
@N900 Fun to watch
@N900 I literally LOLed...
I don't think it looks TOO bad..On the bright side, this phone looks like it was meant to be put in a pocket unlike some others *cough* nexus */cough*
@Frawley
As a current Nexus One owner (and former iPhone owner) you must have the tiniest pockets known to humankind. The N1 fits into a pocket very nicely, better than the iPhone in fact.
@AltairDusk
HTC says it's not meant to go in pockets though :)
I kind of agree, this form factor isn't completely ridiculous - except android is designed to work well with a lot of vertical resolution. If it was a feature phone running custom firmware it'd probably be fine - you get a compact phone with a more typeable portrait QWERTY keyboard.
@Bratyr
I think he was referring to the screen colors going nuts when placed in pockets for prolonged periods of time (which is ridiculous). Even worse was HTC's response.
Waiting for the front-cam equipped, flash HD capable, Nexus Two... Unfortunately, the HTC EVO 4G isn't a world phone and won't do me any good.
after droid ...moto seems to back at digging their own grave