Review Of Motorola Cliq T-Mobile Cell Phone

Cell Phones — on October 28, 2009 at 1:30 am | 1 Comment

Cliq asserts that the Google Android OS has a bright future. A fun to use phone with the best slide out QWERTY keyboard we tested so far.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

A great design with an excellent ergonomic keyboard. Cliq is packed with features and a beautiful new interface. MotoBlur is also a welcome addition.

Thumbs Down:

Cliq lacks some of the basic features that were needed. There is no file manager, and some basic organizer features. A flash for the camera would’ve been welcome. The memory card slot is located behind the battery cover, and is quite cumbersome to extract. Occasionally, the call quality seemed below average.

Inside The Trunk:

Technology – GSM
Band – 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz
Phone Design- Slider
Caller ID- Yes
Additional Features- Google Android OS, WiFi, and MotoBlur

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The future of Google Android OS seemed a big question before the launch of Motorola Cliq, which single-handedly has drawn in tons of believers. This beautiful looking cell is packed with features and Android being an open OS, promises a world of promises. Widgets are being developed everyday and this helps keep your Cliq refreshed and as exciting as when it was new! So, Cliq will virtually keep upgrading itself each day and with each new application.

Razzle Dazzle:

Touted as the “best Android Phone ever!” the Cliq is sure to start an arms war, that other cell phone makers are sure to complete. HTC was one of the first companies to start offering the Android on their systems and now Motorola has not only jumped on the bandwagon, but it has trumped HTC.

Motorola has paired the Cliq with the MotoBlur user interface, which you can use to sync your social networking websites, contacts and e-mail. This brings all your contact information in once place and eliminates the need to browse several directories or access various portals to send your message across. You could just access a contact and chose on what portal to interact through the menu. The MotoBlur is exciting, but it can become a little heavy with all the information it contains. T-Mobile will launch the Motorola Cliq on 2nd November for $199 with service contract.

Inside Dope:

The Cliq is a good looking phone, but there has been no major design breakthrough. It does, though, open a whole new world of opportunity for Android users. Cliq offers you a complete QWERTY Keyboard, which we found better to operate in comparison to the earlier launched G1. The gadget measures 4.49 inches tall by 0.61 inches thick, which makes it very comfortable to lug around. The phone feels nice in the hand, and is not heavy. The battery cover has a nice texture. It will be available in two colors, titanium and winter white.

The screen is 3.1 inches wide, but we’d like it to be a bit bigger given the amount of information that keeps bouncing on android phones. The rich resolution and color support makes it an eye-candy. There are five customizable home screens which can have several folders or widgets like weather and news feeds. The Google search Bar is located in its usual place and this time around, the music player gets it own shortcut.

The display brightness, backlight time and the e-mail font sizes are all customizable. The phone has a better security system with options of unlocking the phone with either a code or a pattern. This is a good little feature for those who store sensitive data on their phones. Since Cliq is a gateway to your social networking world, it is a great feature to block unwanted breaches. The display haptics are reserved only for the long presses.

Motorola cliq review

The controls on this phone are rather intuitive. Below the screen are three physical buttons, each dedicated to the home button, back, and menu control. The controls are flush with the body and this gives a great feel to the phone, while maintaining the looks. Apart from the three main control keys, the volume rocker, a ring silencer and the micro-USB port are all located on the left spine. Thankfully, this phone has a 3.5 mm jack for headsets and is very conveniently located on the top. The right spine has the camera shutter release and the power switch. The power switch also doubles up as the handset locking key, WiFi, airplane mode, GPS and the Bluetooth. The camera lens is located on the back and it was disappointing not to find a self-portrait mirror or the flash. Since the Cliq has a 5 Megapixel camera, these features would’ve been welcome. The microSD card is also located under the battery cover, something that should’ve been avoided.

One of the best features of the Cliq is the keyboard. Apart from being well spaced out, the keyboard as a gorgeous feel to it. The keys are slightly raised and we could type at full speed, with no errors. The letters are large and thankfully backlit. There are only three rows of keys instead of the usual four, but this has helped utilize space to the best extent possible. If this awesome keyboard is still now your thing, you could use the onscreen keyboard and go tapping away!

The media player on this phone is pretty similar to the other Android phones. The interface shows album art, shuffle repeat and a flight mode. The player supports various formats; tracks can be transferred to the device using the USB cable, Bluetooth or the microSD card. Tracks can be set as ringtones directly from the player too. The videos on the device were clear and the screen displayed a great resolution. Videos from Youtube were a little hazy though.

Running on a 528MHz processor is pretty quick at most of the features, although sometimes switching between menus gets a little sluggish. There were also occasions when the accelerometer was slow to change screen orientation. The Cliq has a good battery life, rated at six hours of talk time and about thirteen days standby. This is of course in regards to GSM services, so using the Cliq over 3G networks is going to be heavier on the battery.

Nitty Gritty:

The Motorola Cliq is quite a surprise. Its jam-packed with features and tools. It definitely gives the Android OS a well deserved boost. Plenty of highlights like the keyboard, design and the rich display make sure that Cliq will be well liked by users. There are some trivial issues though, like the lack of flash and self-portrait mirror. In spite of a good processor, it seemed a little sluggish at times. All in all, a great phone, and an excellent buy!