First day Motorola Cliq Review (positive)

[LpLayer]

I received my cliq today, I have a relative that works for T-mobile so I received quite a discount on it.
To start, my first impressions of the device were quite positive, the phone felt great on my hands and was more aesthetically pleasing than the G1. (my previous phone.) I opted for the titanium finish and do not regret it. The phone is thinner than the g1 yet a bit heavier, not like a brick, it makes the device feel sturdy.
The face of the device only has 3 buttons: Home, Menu, and Back it is missing the pickup and end call buttons found on the G1. The device also has a dedicated camera button on the side, a power/sleep button, a rocker button to control volume levels, and a switch that activates and deactivates a silent vibrating state, also motorola made the smart decision to include a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack, so no adapters are necessary.

When you power up the phone you are taken to a moto blur account set up screen, this takes no time. Once that is complete, you are instructed to link accounts you may have including: Google, Twitter, Last.FM, Photobucket, Picassa, Facebook, Yahoo mail, Any other email, and Myspace. Being 20 I have all but a Yahoo mail account, so I went ahead and linked all accounts, this process took about 8 minutes. Once the phone completely booted and everything was up and running, I played around with the UI, which looks better than the stock android. The icons look sharper and the screen itself seems a bit less contrasty and the color scheme works well. The phone comes preloaded with a few apps and widgets. There are a bunch of widgets set up on your home screen by default, but if you have used an android device keeping them or deleting them is as easy as drag and drop. There is quite an array of widgets including a messaging widget, weather, a happenings widget etc. All the widgets have a nice look to them and serve a purpose for example the happenings widget shows chronologically new updates that have been posted by friends on facebook and myspace.

The thing that impressed me the most from the moto blur integration is how contacts are handled. The phone matches contact names with according names on facebook, myspace, and twitter. The phone asks you what social site would you like your contacts pictures to display from. It all takes a few minutes but all contacts link into one "super contact" list with easy access to their telephone number, and social sites information.

On the hardware side of things, as I mentioned the phone feels quite sturdy. The camera works quite well and is rated at 5 mega pixels. I took a few sample shots and the camera boots quicker and has a quicker reaction rate than that of the G1. I have not yet tested the video, since the time I have had so far has been limited.

Now we come to a very important part the keyboard, which overall works excellent. The keys are set up in your typical qwerty manner but are spaced together. From pictures it may appear that the phone has small keys but it does not. The keys are domed and have a good feel to them, my only gripe is that there aren't any dedicated number keys, so to type numbers you will be required to press "alt" a few times. The keys are also well lit and visible. There is also a D-pad on the keyboard which works well and can be useful.

Final Thoughts: As you may have noticed there is a certain aspect of this phone that seems to be its main factor, yes social networking.
I believe that someone who really is not into such internet phenomena will not benefit greatly from this phone. Also this phone may have limited appeal because it may not be deemed "professional" by some. However, I personally have enjoyed the phone thus far. It is quite an update from the G1 both hardware wise and in general appeal. I liked what motorola has done, and yes lets face it, this phone does have a defined target audience. With that said, I can assume that people will look into this device if any of the above seems like something they would love their phone to do. As of now I am quite content and will continue to comment on the future I will endure with this phone.

[thefran1996]

Hope you Enjoy it

[ahugo68]

Great review. I went to tmobile yesterday to get either the cliq or mytouch. After playing with both I want a trackball and I didn't like the overall feel to the cliq. But I hope it works well for you. thanks for the review.

[scrannel]

Three simple questions, Lplayer - 1) Can you transfer files (both ways) using Bluetooth? 2) Does the email app allow you to receive and send ANY attachments even if you don't have an app to run them? 3) Is there an office app built in that will allow you to read Office dos and PDF?

Thanks

[tythoward]

I ordered mine on yesterday and should be receiving it on Friday. I'll see if I like it better than the G1.

[LpLayer]

Great review. I went to tmobile yesterday to get either the cliq or mytouch. After playing with both I want a trackball and I didn't like the overall feel to the cliq. But I hope it works well for you. thanks for the review.

You're welcome! If you did get the Mytouch I hope you enjoy that phone as well.

Three simple questions, Lplayer - 1) Can you transfer files (both ways) using Bluetooth? 2) Does the email app allow you to receive and send ANY attachments even if you don't have an app to run them? 3) Is there an office app built in that will allow you to read Office dos and PDF?

Thanks

So far out of the 3 questions I know it does not come with a pre built app to view office documents. I shall however test the other 2 inquiries today.

[Kings to me]

Good review. I still would like to feel one in my hands before I switch phones or I just may wait a few more months to see what else pops up. Thanks again.

[scrannel]

So far out of the 3 questions I know it does not come with a pre built app to view office documents. I shall however test the other 2 inquiries today.

Thanks, appreciate it.

[drewbdope]

I've had the cliq for a few weeks now and I love it too. Its my 1st go at an android phone. I love the MotoBlur feature, but I don't use my networks hardcore. I really want to get more into the opening of the OS. It functions great so far.

[Fourtysixand10]

I went from a G1 to the Cliq. A few observations:

-The keyboard took me some time to get used to. Still not quite used to it. The space bar is the biggest issue for me. Too low and too small.

-Contact list. When you first link all your accounts you see duplicate entries. If you have a friend on gmail, Facebook and Myspace you will see one for each. You can link them into one which is great. Once you do that you can see everyone's social networking updates on one page. "Happenings", very neat.

-Screen. Very sharp but too sensitive. I'm constantly trying to scroll and selecting instead. It can be very annoying. Maybe it's just me.

-phone calls. Much improved over the G1. The proximity sensor is a great idea. No need to unlock the phone to input on the dial pad. Switching to speaker is also right at your finger tips.

Overall it seem must more faster and responsive than my G1. I'm surprised since I would think that Blur would take up lots of memory. It must have something to do with the on board memory. I love the solid feel.

I'm quite happy with this phone