The latest Android with some new spice is official. The Motorola Cliq brings an all new direction too the once leading mobile manufacturer. After the superhit days of MotoRazr, Motorola has quite failed to churn out any significantly successful smartphone. The A760 and A1000 that were amongst my favourite touchscreen devices, but the subsequent upgrades like A780 and A1200 were disappointing.
With the new direction that Motorola is now sailing towards, it bears the Android flag and the first device coming out are the Cliq. Motorola has loaded this with a custom UI called the MOTOBLUR. This integrates all your social media (online platforms) together and draws similarity to the Palm Pre’s synergy. But this reminds me more of what Nokia tried to do with live widgets in the N97.
Its our nasty habit, and not entirely justified to compare each and every full touchscreen phone with the iPhones. But the 3GS today still remains to be the benchmark for any smartphone that is touch centric. So how does things look for the Cliq vs the iPhone 3Gs?
Note: The Cliq is not yet officially out and thus we only have some early reviews on the prototype’s that people have played with and of course the details that the company has made available during launch.
iPhone 3GS vs Motorola Cliq Specifications
| Feature | iPhone 3GS | Motorola Cliq / Dext MB220 |
| Network | 2G NetworkGSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3GHSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900HSDPA 1700 / 2100 / 900 |
| OS | iPhone OS 3.0 | Android v1.5 with MotoBlur UI |
| Display | TFT capacitive touchscreen,16M colors 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches | 3.1″ Capacitive touch256k colours |
| Camera | 3.15 MP / Autofocus30 fps Video recording with audio | 5 Megapixel |
| EDGE | HSDPA supported 7.2 Mbps | HSDPA 7.2Mpps |
| Internet Browser | Mobile Safari Full HTML without Flash | Full HTML with Flash Mobile |
| Messaging | SMS (threaded view), MMS, Emails | SMS, EMAIL, MMS |
| FM | no | No |
| Processor | 600 MHz CPU | 528Mhz processor |
| Battery | Unknown | 1420 mAh – Li-ion |
| Colours | White and Black | White, Titanium Midnight |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth AD2P (headset support only)Bluetooth P2P games WiFi, AGPS |
Bluetooth 2.1 AD2PWiFi, AGPS Micro USB connector |
| Memory | 256MB RAM 16 GB/ 32 GB storage | 256MB RAM, 512MB ROMMicroSD Card Slot. 1GB Internal |
| Weight | 135 gms | 163 gms |
| Others |
|
|
A lot of features between the iPhone 3GS and MotoCliq is common. With the proximity sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, digital compass, accelerometer etc. A few areas where inherently iPhone is weak, and Cliq scores is usb connection, mass storage, additional memory cards (micro SDHC), multitasking and a PHYSICAL KEYBOARD. And yet not many are rating this as an iPhone killer. Why? Isn’t a physical keyboard a great advantage?
Well, yes the qwerty in Cliq / Dext is an awesome thing to have and I personally dont like the Palm Pre more than the iPhone at times for this same reason. But a fat device with a sideways qwerty isn’t all that convenience always. However, we will leave the design as a personal preference and as I have mentioned earlier, at times its meaningless to compare smartphones.
However, looking at the highlight of the Cliq, BLUR UI. Motorola is not the first to try a new UI to take on the App Store advantage that iPhone currently enjoys. The idea of having live widgets for the N97 tanked and that’s where Cliq also takes a beating. Making the phone UI dependent on data being fetched from the cloud over a wireless internet connection isn’t the smartest thing to do (particularly on not such a large 3.1″ screen). Though the Cliq does well in integrating your social media presence and also filtering out the less important updates on twitter etc (grouping them as happenings). A 528Mhz processor on a heavy UI and smartphone can fall short. Though not conclusive yet, I am sure this wouldn’t be real slick and fast. I would also miss the breathtaking games on the MotoBlur for now.
Heavy and fat, while this is a part of the design, its something that the iPhone manages to score better at. But if you are someone who loves openness and need that bluetooth file transfer, qwerty, 5Mp camera etc etc… MotoCliq might be for you. But if you can live without that, iPhone 3Gs gives you a LOT in terms of apps, games, sleek design, extraordinary web integration, smooth multitouch operations etc.