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Motorola CLIQ (DEXT)
| Pros: | TFT capacitive touchscreen Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor, 5 MP Camera |
| Cons: | No Led Flash,lacks a file manager |
| Outline | With its excellent design, user interface improvements, and admirable feature set, the Motorola Cliq gives a big boost to the Android operating system. |
Motorola CLIQ (DEXT) Specs:-
2GNetwork---------->GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3GNetwork---------->HSDPA 1700 / 2100 / 900
Available------------>Released 2009, October
CPU------------------>Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processorOS------------------->Android OS, v1.5 (Cupcake)
Dimensions-------->114 x 58 x 15.6 mm
Weight-------------->163 g
Display-------------->TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colorsSize----------------->320 x 480 pixels, 3.1 inches
Internal------------->1 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM
Cardslot------------->microSD (TransFlash), up to 32GB, 2GB included,WLAN-------------->Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Java---------------->Yes, MIDP 2.0
Camera------------->5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocusSecondary---------->No
Video--------------->Yes, 720x480@24fps
Bluetooth----------->Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Infraredport-------->No
AudioJack---------->3.5 mm audio jack
USB---------------->microUSB v2.0
Battery------------->Li-Ion 1420 mAhStand-by----------->Up to 320 h
Talktime----------->Up to 6 h
Price --------------->399 USD approx Unlocked
199 USD approx On T-Mobile Contract
Motorola CLIQ (DEXT) Review
It would take a particularly generous reviewer to describe the CLIQ as handsome, but it’s a reasonably solid, sensible chunk of hardware. Measuring at 2.28 x 4.49 x 0.62 inches and tipping the scales at 5.6oz it’s shorter but broader than the T-Mobile G1, never a device we described as especially svelte, while the plastic back cover lack the solid feel we’ve grown used to from HTC’s recent Android range. We can’t help but wish some of the metal and industrial design of the original RAZR had found its way in the CLIQ’s DNA.
Still, all that chassis space has allowed Motorola to fit in a 3.1-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, together with a D-pad and a few minimal front-panel buttons: home, menu and back. There’s also a volume rocker on the top left-hand side, flanked by a microUSB port and a mute-switch, a 3.5mm headphones jack on the top, and a power/lock/unlock button and camera button on the right-hand side.
Like the case plastics, the QWERTY keyboard is solid but it’s unlikely to convert BlackBerry addicts. The text legends (and backlighting) are easier to read than on the G1 and the key-feel, while firm, is fine for frequent use. As for the display, it’s bright and colors are vivid. The touchscreen is responsive, but it’s slightly on the compact side and we were glad of the hardware keyboard since the on-screen version is slightly cramped.
As for connectivity, there’s no shortage there either. The CLIQ offers triband WCDMA 900/1700/2100 and quadband GSM, together with WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, GPS and AGPS. In addition to Google’s Gmail app there’s Exchange support and QuickOffice for document viewing, plus the usual Android apps such as Google Maps (with Street View and a digital compass), the Android Market, Search/Voice Search, GTalk and the YouTube viewer. It’s important to note that MOTOBLUR pulls email to the device and does not use push. The quickest automatic pulling is 15 minutes, and according to Motorola it also the most efficient. Additionally, when you access the inbox (in-between sync intervals), the device will automatically sync with your email and pull in any updates to keep it fresh. To manually sync, press the icon at the top left of the inbox. Motorola also add in the Amazon Music Store app, imeem, Shazam and LastFM, together with the Accuweather widget. Unfortunately there’s no multitouch support anywhere in the handset, despite the capacitive screen, which means no pinch-zooming in the CLIQ’s browser.
The CLIQ runs Android 1.5 (Motorola are yet to announce any plans regarding the recently launched OS v1.6) and unlike, say, with HTC Sense, they’ve not performed a full reskin of the platform. That means the usual drag-down status/notification bar is at the top of the screen and the pull-up main menu at the bottom, with a tweak to the desktop to allow for five rather than the traditional three homescreen panes. What you do get is MOTOBLUR, which we’ll circle back to later in the review, which attempts to pull all of your social networking interactions into a single desktop widget.
As a phone, the CLIQ puts in a decent showing. There’s no hardware send/end buttons, either on the front fascia or the slide-out ‘board, but you do get an on-screen phone shortcut and a contacts shortcut flanking the menu tab. The CLIQ supports voice-dialling, which we had mixed accuracy results with, but there’s a broad range of ways to view recent incoming/outgoing calls including sorting by frequency, time and whether or not they were answered. In addition to caller ID, incoming calls are linked to their contacts social network status – if available – so you see name, number, photo and their most recent update. Best of all there’s no noticeable lag in pulling up that data, so you’re not waiting for the CLIQ to update the display while it’s simultaneously ringing.
In fact performance overall was generally good, and though we did encounter a few performance hiccups – especially when navigating through and between particularly data-heavy MOTOBLUR pages – our CLIQ review unit showed a marked improvement in speed compared to the demo devices we played with at the smartphone’s launch. What we would say, though, is that as mobile devices are approaching desktop levels of social network accessibility, so the need for processors such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon will increase.
Battery life is often the downside to any media- or social-centric device, and having read previews criticizing the CLIQ’s runtime we were nervous about whether MOTOBLUR might prove too much for the standard 1,420mAh li-poly pack. In fact, we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the CLIQ’s longevity. With the display set to remain on unless actively shut off, and with the full gamut of RSS, Twitter, Exchange email/calendar/contacts streaming, the CLIQ lasted 9-10 hours. That’s with incredibly heavy use, certainly above average, and leaves us in no doubt that you can certainly manage a full day. A recharge from flat to 100-percent, meanwhile, takes 90-100 minutes.
A 5-megapixel autofocus camera with geotagging puts the CLIQ on a par with what HTC’s latest Android devices offer, though like those phones the quality lags behind of what you might find on some of Nokia and Samsung’s recent photography-centric handsets. Still, the autofocus is reasonably speedy and there’s decent integration with MOTOBLUR for actually sharing out your photos and video rather than simply having them sitting on the phone. Incidentally, we missed multitouch again in the photo viewer; the HTC Hero’s pinch-zooming is far more usable.
MOTOROLA CLIQ VIDEO REVIEW
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