Motorola today introduced the Cliq, the company’s first phone based on the Android mobile operating system. The device will have a custom interface called Moto Blur that will bring together e-mail messages, text messages, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and photos into a single interface.
The phone has a touch screen and a physical slide-out keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, the ability to shoot video at 24 frames per second, a standard headphone jack and GPS capability. The phone will be available on T-Mobile’s network in the fourth quarter. Motorola officials did not disclose the price for the phone and would not let any attendees at the Mobilize conference, where they announced the phone, examine it closely.
“This is the first phone with social skills,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology officer at T-Mobile. “Cliq and Moto Blur is the start of the next chapter of Android and shows significance of the platform.”
The phone will also be available internationally under the name Moto Dext.
Motorola also plans to introduce another phone in the next few weeks, in time for holiday season sales.
Motorola needs a hit. Financial problems over the last two years have forced the company to slash its workforce. The company has said it will focus on creating Android-based handsets but this is the first glimpse of what the company has been working on.
The Cliq also helps establish momentum for the Google-designed Android operating system. Last October HTC and T-Mobile released the first phone based on the new OS. Since then HTC has announced three more phones that run Android OS. Other handset makers such as Sony and Samsung are also reportedly working on Android phones.
The new Motorola phone’s biggest asset will be its custom-designed user interface, Moto Blur.
“The Blur makes text, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter feeds and photos from sources like MySpace, Gmail, Yahoo and corporate e-mail appear in a single stream and sync them together with no different logins,” says Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola. “This means you can focus on what people have said instead of how and where they said it. ”
The Blur also backs up user contacts, log-in information, home-screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages on Motorola’s Blur servers. If you lose your phone, Motorola says you’ll be able to locate it through their online portal using the integrated GPS, and you can even wipe its data remotely. Both features are similar to what Apple offers iPhone users through the Mobile Me service.
Motorola is not the only handset maker that’s seeking to piggyback on the popularity of social networking sites among consumers. While Apple may have kicked off the mobile apps trend, the iPhone puts different services into different buckets and fails to offer its users a smooth and easy way to access all information. For instance, the iPhone makes it difficult for users to get their Facebook and Twitter feed in a single screen.
Apple’s rivals see that lack of integrated social media features as the iPhone’s Achilles heel. And they are trying to fight back by integrating information and add social context for their customers.
Earlier this year, U.K.-based INQ released a phone designed around Facebook. Palm has also designed the user interface in its recently introduced Pre phone around integrated contacts, messaging and Facebook feeds.
But the Moto Blur and Cliq goes one step further. “The phone is really cool,” says Sean Galligan, vice-president, business development at Flurry, a mobile analytics company that has partnered with Motorola.
“We have seen apps and other handsets take on content aggregation and deliver personalization to users but the Blur offers a level of deep integration that is not available in other devices,” says Galligan.
Motorola is also counting on the success of the Android apps marketplace to attract customers.
“By the year end we will have a really good idea of what the consumer thinks. The Android apps are there and growing and social aggregation is clearly the new trend in mobile phones,” says Galligan. “But the true test will be when the consumer decides whether to buy these devices or not. ”
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