Posted by Nick in Featured, Motorola Cliq XT | 0 comments
Hands on impressions of the Motorola Cliq XT
It’s not every day that we walk into a carrier’s store and get to play with a new Android handset, but those days are becoming more and more common… especially at T-Mobile. As expected, the new T-Mobile Cliq XT was launched today. The rumored price was $99 with a new two year contract, but it appears as if someone got the numbers mixed up. The Cliq XT is actually selling for $129 with contract and $329 if all you want is the phone. On paper, the Motorola Cliq XT and HTC Magic (myTouch 3G) are nearly identical in size, but somehow Motorola has managed to make the Cliq XT feel a lot smaller in your hand. It could be an optical illusion from the design cues and all the sounded corners or the slightly smaller 3.1 inch screen.
If you’ve played with the Motorola Cliq, the Cliq XT really has nothing new to offer. Internal hardware on the two devices is identical and Motorola is shipping Android 1.5 with MOTOBLUR on both devices. In essence, the Cliq XT is to the Cliq what the myTouch 3G was to the G1. Same handset, just no QWERTY. Since I’m a proud owner of a G1 and a huge fan of QWERTY keyboards, I have a hard time trying to imagine who would be interested in handsets like these when their older brothers offer a much better messaging option at slightly cheaper prices. But then again, my biggest gripe that I had about the original Motorola Cliq was the poorly designed QWERTY keyboard. With the XT, Motorola has removed the phone’s major fault and has taken a step further to improve the typing experience on the phone by adding in the new Swype keyboard.
Overall, the new T-Mobile Motorola Cliq XT is a pretty decent Android phone. Some might complain that it’s running on Android 1.5 or that Motorola screwed up Android by including MOTOBLUR. The average Joe who’s walking into a T-Mobile store looking for a new phone doesn’t care or even know what Android 1.5 is and having access to all his social media all in one spot is most likely a huge selling point over the Samsung Behold II or the HTC myTouch 3G.
