Motorola’s First Android Device: the CLIQ

Motorola announced their first Android powered device, the CLIQ, at the Save the Date event in San Francisco yesterday. Motorola’s Android venture is their attempt to get back in the big league of mobile phones, since they’ve been losing market shares in recent years. Frankly, I can’t see what all the fuzz with the CLIQ is about. In the hands-on videos I’ve seen the interface lagged quite a bit, and although Motorola’s custom Android interface MOTOBLUR seemed alright, with unified messaging and integration with social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, I still prefer HTC’s counterpart – the HTC Sense UI.

Motorola actually released the world’s first commercial cellphone, the DynaTAC 8000X back in 1983. That was 26 years ago, and they have fallen behind. Will their Android phones be the success they badly need? That remains to be seen. Their upcoming high-end device Motorola Sholes hasn’t been officially announced yet, and it’s rumored to have a 3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen with WVGA resolution, a hardware QWERTY keyboard and hotter 3D graphics than the Playstation Portable – I will surely keep my eyes on that one.

Here are some more information about the Motorola CLIQ:

• Motorola MOTOBLUR Simulator
• Motorola CLIQ: first hands-on impressions (Engadget)
• And Here’s the Motorola Cliq! (AndroidGuys.com)
• Introducing MOTOBLUR (AndroidGuys.com)
• Motorola CLIQ: Official Specs From Motorola (Phandroid.com)