AC @ MWC: Hands-on with the Motorola Cliq XT for T-Mobile's Android line

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

The Motorola Cliq XT (Android 1.5 and MotoBLUR) won't be released for another month, but we've already gotten our hands on it at Mobile World Congress. Here we go.

It's the first incarnation of MotoBLUR to not have a physical keyboard. But that doesn't slow it down any, especially because it is one of the first phones to take advantage of T-Mobile's new deal to pre-install the Swype keyboard.

Its 3.1-inch screen is adequate. It has a nice heft to it and feels good in your hand. The buttons at the bottom are physical, and not capacitive like on other Android phones. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 5MP camera.

More shots after the break.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
5 Comments
  • Hopefully when it hits the shelves, 2.1 will be running on it along with the update pushed to the Cliq. It was the slide out keyboard that turned me off on the Cliq (along with Android 1.5 not getting much app love).
  • Look for the CLIQ XT to ship in black and white colors, similar to the two designs offered for the CLIQ. Early photos of the CLIQ XT showed the device in white and the leaked roadmap shows it in black. No price point has been announced, but expect something similar to the current T-Mobile CLIQ which debuted at $199 with 2 year agreement and now sits at $149. Feeds: http://pinoytutorial.com/techtorial/motorola-cliq-xt-quench-motoblur-spe...
  • I just purchsed the CLIQ and am now wondering if I should take it back and wait for this to hit the shelves. The only thing that would make me keep the CLIQ is, believe it or not, the physical keyboard. I like having that option as I find the touch keyboards often inaccurate and hard to use. I do like the fact that this new version has a flash, but that said, on my Blackberry units the flash always washed out the picture. As far as 2.1 goes, the CLIQ will be getting that soon enough so not an issue from that perspective. I am a bit surprised at the thickness of this new unit however.. a lot more heft then I would have thought. The other negative is that huge button on the bottom... it isn't very attractive looking.. and it isn't a "track pad" like the new Blackberry track pad configuration. The CLIQ is much cleaner looking. I believe I have until the end of today to return my CLIQ if I so choose. Decisions, decisions!
  • Why do new devices still have 1.5 on it? This is pointless.
  • I don't understand why anyone would want this device. The cliq is so much better.