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We saw the Motorola CLIQ pre-pre-order page go live about seventeen seconds ago and we’ve already got an update for you: the pre-sale will occur between October 19th and November 1st and orders will be shipped as they are received. It will cost $199.99 on a 2-year agreement and those wishing to purchase it in-store will have the opportunity starting November 2nd.
This news came via Press Release and has caught fire across the interwebz in outrageous and expected fashion. Here is the full thing:
BELLEVUE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the Motorola CLIQ™, the first Android™-powered device from Motorola Inc. and the first device to feature the innovative MOTOBLUR™ solution, will be available for pre-sale for existing T-Mobile customers starting Oct. 19 at http://www.t-mobile.com/CLIQ.
Customers who order the CLIQ during the pre-sale period, Oct. 19–Nov. 1, will have an opportunity to be one of the first in the U.S. to experience T-Mobile’s latest Android-powered phone, which automatically syncs and streams social messaging updates, text messages, and work and personal e-mail directly to the home screen. Devices ordered during pre-sale will be shipped to customers as orders are received and will include a complimentary car charger. The CLIQ will be available exclusively to eligible T-Mobile customers for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement.*
Beginning today, customers can visit http://www.t-mobile.com/CLIQ to register for CLIQ updates, learn more about the phone and check out a demo of MOTOBLUR. Those that register to receive CLIQ updates are entered into a grand prize sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip with five friends to one of four select destinations. In addition, those that register before Oct. 19 will also have the opportunity to instantly win a new CLIQ.
“T-Mobile customers text message and access social messaging on mobile devices more than those of any other carrier,” said Wendy Piñero DePencier, vice president of brand marketing, T-Mobile USA. “That’s why we’re excited to give them the first opportunity to purchase the CLIQ, and then in early November offer the CLIQ prominently at T-Mobile stores nationwide in time for the holidays.”
About Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR
CLIQ is Motorola’s first Android device and the first to feature the innovative MOTOBLUR solution that manages and integrates communications — from work e-mail to social messaging activity — all to your home screen. Updates to contacts, posts, messages, photos and more are streamed together and synced from sources including Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace®, Gmail™, and work and personal e-mail. MOTOBLUR automatically delivers these updates to the home screen in easy-to-view streams so there is no need to open and close different mobile applications to keep up with the latest content.
In addition to the unique MOTOBLUR experience, the CLIQ features a premium design with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.1-inch HVGA full touch-screen display. The phone delivers a powerful mobile Web experience by harnessing the strength and speed of T-Mobile’s 3G network and Wi-Fi. Additional CLIQ features include a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture, a 3.5mm headset jack, a music player with pre-loaded Amazon MP3 store application, Shazam, iMeem Mobile, AccuWeather, MySpace Mobile, Quickoffice and a pre-installed 2GB microSD memory card with support for up to 32 GB of removable memory. TeleNav GPS Navigator is also preloaded on the device with a free two-week trial, including voice-activated turn-by-turn directions.
With integrated Google technology, CLIQ brings one-touch access to the popular Google™ mobile services millions use every day, including Google Search™ by voice, Google Maps™ with Street View, YouTube™ and Picasa™. CLIQ also provides easy access to both personal and corporate e-mail, calendars, and contacts supported by Exchange Server and Gmail. E-mail is also supported by Yahoo!, Windows Live Hotmail, and other POP3 and IMAP e-mail services.
T-Mobile’s 3G network is currently available in 222 cities nationwide and covers more than 160 million people. By the end of 2009, T-Mobile USA expects its 3G network to be available to approximately 200 million people across the U.S.
Pricing and Availability
Motorola CLIQ with MOTOBLUR will be available exclusively to T-Mobile customers in both Titanium and Winter White beginning Oct. 19 at http://www.T-Mobile.com/CLIQ or by calling customer care. CLIQ will be available in stores nationwide and online beginning Nov. 2 for $199.99 to eligible customers with a two-year agreement.* Customers can visit http://www.T-Mobile.com/CLIQ to learn more about CLIQ and MOTOBLUR and register for updates.
So now that you know the price… the date… the carrier…. ALL the pertinent details…. are you in?
I don’t like Moto….too bad. Excited for my MyTouch in a week (and my wife’s G1 because she wants to physical keyboard) but not worth dealing with another Motorola phone again
@Dan My wife isnt too happy with her MyTouch, I think she would rather have her G1 back.
Im onboard too buy a cliq as long as something better isnt announced soon. I really can’t deal with the 3.5 adapters for too much longer.
Sort of disappointed in the price. I was hoping it would be free like in the UK, its the reason I did not get the mytouch with the oprah offer. Now I am torn between the mytouch now, or even the G1, or waiting for the CLIQ. Is it true 2.0 will not work on the G1? Anyone have any advice?
Is it just me, or does MOTO Blur look like a clusterf*ck with all that garbage on the main screen. Hopefully you can customize it and make it appear a lot cleaner.
How can anyone charge $200 for a phone when you can get the iphone for $100????? All android phones have been overpriced.
$200… i might wait for the high-end one on Verizon late this year…
I agree, it looks bloated.
It’d be nice if there was a phone released with better specs instead of just releasing the same phone (as far as proc, memory, etc.) over and over with different software. I really don’t care that much for a new interface, if the hardware is going to be bogged down.
@Jeff
They’re widgets. you can disable them if you want or put different ones on there as you like.
Looks like they’re going to push this thing pretty hard. The CLIQ was all over CSI Miami last night. Bad news is it looked every bit as bad on the show as most of the internet pictures we’ve seen.
@Jeff
If you do a little research, you will find that the Motoblur widgets are just like normal widgets and icons. So you have the freedom to move them to any of the 5 panels that you wish, and you can choose not to use some of them or even any of them at all. So relax, it is Android after all…
@ lowendale, true but you can’t erase them
Eff the moto blur. Not until they (Google)
Decide what cyanogen did was. Cool
@ lowendall sorry for misspelling ur name.
i thought the whole point of the moto cliq was to bring a more affordable android phone to people. so why is it the exact same price as the other android phones when they first launched.
Maybe for $100. The price is too high for a toy
@Terran Yeah I was under that impression as well :(
@jae
You CAN erase them. You can simply long press and drag them to the trash bin. I have seen it done on one of the video reviews. You do NOT have to live with Motoblur if you do not want to…
@Terran
Sorry to say, that was one of the earliest rumors about this phone when it was called the Motorola Morrison. Just like it was a rumor about the phone being free, which was spawned from the “budget phone” rumor. The fact is that Motorola never made any mention that this phone would be a cheap “budget phone”. Alot of ppl got caught up with the phone looking “childish” and just decided that it must be a really cheap option from Android. This is why you shouldn’t allow yourself to be completely taken by what is said and speculated within blogs and articles…
JAE that’s where you are wrong. When you register your phone for the first time you can choose if u want your twitter,mypace and facebook account on it or just one or none so it’s basically up to you on how much widgets you have running all at once.
@Lowendall
It was more that the DEXT is free, and the articles on engagenet that made us think that it would be cheaper or free. Check out some of the history on these articles. It seemed fairly convincing, even for a blog post.
Ok, well if one of you guys (jusblase–Lowendall)
gets it and it does what you guys said i will apologize
=~(
@Brian W,
If you do a little research, you will find that the hardware is not the same.
Cliq beats the G1
—————–
on Memory:
CLIQ: 256 MB RAM / 512 MB ROM
G1: 192 MB RAM / 256 MB ROM
on Camera:
CLIQ: 5.2 MP Autofocus
G1: 3.2 MP Autofocus
on Headphone connector:
CLIQ: 3.5 mm
G1: HTC ExtUSB
on Battery:
CLIQ: 1420 mAh
G1: 1150 mAh
on Phone Calls:
CLIQ: Crystal Talk Advanced with Dual Mics.
Cliq beats the My Touch 3G
————————–
on Camera:
CLIQ: 5.2 MP Autofocus
MyT: 3.2 MP Autofocus
on Headphone connector:
CLIQ: 3.5 mm
myT: HTC ExtUSB
on Phone Calls:
CLIQ: Crystal Talk Advanced with Dual Mics.
on Keyboard:
CLIQ: QWERTY slide out.
Cliq beats the 3G Hero (some competition here)
———————————————-
on Keyboard:
CLIQ: QWERTY slide out.
on Phone Calls:
CLIQ: Crystal Talk Advanced with Dual Mics.
CLIQ has Blur (push technology) which may be better than Sense, but we have to wait for a full review with a production phone.
It also comes with the new Media Link that Motorola had Nero write for them which is a better alternative to iTunes and can import playlists, generate ring tones etc.
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/technology/100178234-1-motorola%2527s-itunes-competitor.html
I sent my G1 back after 4 days! the phone was rushed and not well thought out! Went with a blackberry 8900!
I had a few problems with android (nit snycing with yahoo, no mass forward texting and emailing) I find myself missing the android OS and the touch screen! i hope this one wasn’t rushed through production as the last 2 for t mobile!
I think my 14yo might be getting a slightly used BB 8900 for Christmas!
Oh what will the full price be? any word yet
@Tony
I can certainly understand how one could assume such pricing when one is not familiar with how other parts of the world operate with the same phones. For instance, the HTC Magic aka Mytouch3G is offered for free with contract pretty much everywhere in Europe. Same with the HTC Hero, free with contract. But if you look in the states, the HTC Hero is selling for $179 w/contract and the Mytouch3G is selling for $150 (but was recently $200). So just because the Dext (Euro version of Cliq) was selling for free, which is the trend there, certainly did not mean that Tmo USA would be selling the Cliq for free or even for cheap. It really doesn’t make sense to sell a more functional phone with better specs (slightly) for less than they would be selling the G1 and Mytouch3G. Period. Of course there was no harm in dreaming! lol
This is not good. I thought this was supposed to be a cheap Android phone? This is another could-have-been, killed by wrong pricing. It could have been great!
@lowendall
Seems we are use to just bending over and signing a new contract while forking over $200+ over and over and over… Carriers, may I have another… While our cousins across the pond just scratch their heads and laugh…
I have yet to find any compelling/rational/sensible argument why smart phones that are free under contract in a smaller market which I believe Europe is (I could be wrong) keep showing up here (usually after months of the original release aka old tech/soft) being sold for bundles of cash… Other then us being masochists… Guess till we learn not to drop our skivvies for old crap… We will be stuck paying for something that should be free under a long ass 2 year contract. $200 + 2 year contract should buy u the latest, greatest that is ready for at least the life of that contract… Not Europe’s hand-me downs…
As for the MotoCliq… The design is blah… Not bad but nothing to write here about… The Blur UI doesn’t do anything for me… Not even what I’ve seen of XPeriaX3 UI looks all that interesting other then the hardware, the UI is to hollywood…
Guess I fell for Rosie hard, thanks to Haykuro showing us what it looked like & did(Imagine that… A modder made a fanboy out of someone that has never own a Android phone with a leaked Rom.. hint, hint, Google, Google)
But I will wait till T-Mobile(Best signal & customer care where I live & from what I keep reading most places once they get their 3G at full speeds) gets a 1GHz HTC /w Rosie to commit to her for 2 years of my mobile life… I do…
The OS seems tweeked for teenyboopers who want to facebook all day. Yet, not well thought out even for tweens. How can you facebook or text in the tiny little bubbles? I suspect they will never be used and real texting or FB appps will be launched instead.
Seems overpriced to me. What is their higher end phone going to cost?
It’s not the $200 that should bother people, but the ridiculous cost of the required data plan. If they get THAT price down, then I won’t mind the price of the phone so much.
But it looks like I’m still stuck with my Blackberry– As far as I know, the Cliq (and other android phones) can’t do digit dialing over bluetooth; it’s not truly hands-free when you drive. I wish Google would release the bluetooth APIs!
I’m not really impressed enough with it to upgrade my G1. Not for $200, certainly.
Okay, it has a much better battery. That’s a plus. And the camera’s a bit nicer. But, I’d say the G1’s camera is good enough, and the battery almost always lasts me a full day and I charge it up overnight. A little annoying, but completely workable.
The rest of the specs? They’re a slight improvement, but just not that much. Same processor, IIRC. Plus, it’s a motorola phone, and I’ve never had good luck with them. My girlfriend’s never had good luck with them, etc. Just seem like shoddy hardware.
If it were more of an upgrade over the G1 (like the sholes over at Verizon is looking like), then I’d strongly consider it, Motorola or not.
But this? I can wait ’til the Next Big Phone.
Oh Motorola. You were almost there. But knowing their history, they had to screw somewhere ? And yes they did in pricing this phone. Anything above $99 for this phone with contract is overpriced. Sorry Moto, you had your chance but you screwed it up. Good luck with Sholes…
@herksc
Quote “How can anyone charge $200 for a phone when you can get the iphone for $100 ?????”
I want a phone with a keyboard, music bluetooth that works with headphones with next/prev keys, with solid phone performance including noise cancellation (two microphones),
also like any Android phone and not iPhone
that does multi-tasking, that allows me to bring a spare battery, that does MMS, 3G, video recording ????
Does your $100 iPhone do this ?
Uhh no. I’ll wait for something with better specs. Something that can actually compete with the iPhone. T-Mobile seems to be focused on quantity rather than quality. Oh, and looks too (see: MyTouch 3G). I need something that performs almost as good as the iPhone without sacrificing appearance.
I agree that the widgets just look cluttered and crazy, but I see this more as a teenager phone and judging by the cluttercrap of myspace the clutter will not turn those buyers off. My only concern is how it will run. My MyTouch chokes bad when I even have one or 2 widgets open. I am chomping at the bit to see if the Donut release works any magic on this.
Anyone have a general timeline for when the next android with a qwerty on T-Mobile comes out? My old blackjack is fading fast, and I am wondering if I should just try this or wait even longer.
If this phone is worth 2 bills then the Hero should be sold for 4. It looks a bit like a kids phone but maybe I’ll change my mind on that when I see it in person. I’m wishing nothing but the best for Moto. They’ve pulled themselves out of a hole before and I think they can do it again.
I’m with ftlum. The company that gets the data price down wins. Not only in my book but with millions of others that would love to step up to a smart phone but don’t want to pay $30 a month when they have no business use for the service.
Unless Verizon drops the price of the data plan I’ll be heading to Sprint.
Moto Cliq is a way to go…ditching my iphone
by the way, iphone voice and speakerphone quality sucks
Well, there goes your one chance at making yourself a household name, and revitalizing your brand and image Motorola. Instead of selling X phones @ $100 w/plan, you’ll now sell X/5 phones @ @200 w/plan. You guys do the math.
Time to look into the G1 again.
If you say so man… call me selfish, but I am not concerning myself with Moto’s strategic planning mumbo jumbo. I just want a great phone. The Cliq out classes the G1 in every way and if you and others feel that it is worth saving $70 to have a dramatically inferior phone (G1 is clunky, BAD battery, slower CPU speeds with older chip) then perhaps you should just be looking into the phone plans that include the little free flip phones. That way you don’t shell out any money at all. Would that make you happy? You would have paid $179 for a new G1 a few weeks ago and a lot of you have already paid $200 for a Mytouch3G, which both are less functional than the Cliq. Let’s keep things in reality please!
Or you could spend the same money and get a much better Hero which will also save you on monthly bill, or you could pay $99 and get iPhone 3G. May be you do, but we don’t have infinite supply of money to spend on these toys. So yes people will make a decision based on what your getting for your dough….
@skurtis
Sorry to say your iphone logic is a little flawed… You will suggest paying $99 for an iphone, save $100 upfront, but then pay $400-$600 during the 2 year contract period for a phone plan that comes close to what you would get with Tmo for several hundred dollars less. So yes, I too do not have an infinite supply of money to spend, so I choose to look at the big picture, not so much at the initial amount of one phone. True, you get a great deal at Sprint for the Hero ($20 less) and their plan, only if the Hero is the thing for you. But if you like the Cliq, then why let $70 or $50 or even $20 upfront swade you from getting the phone you like and staying with a cheap phone plan, good service, no ETF, etc? Of course I would like the PS3 and Xbox 360 to be $100 too! But if I really like a product, I will save up a little dough and spend it on something that I know I will truly like, rather than just settling for an older cheaper Gamecube or Nintendo 64. Like I said before, just keep a things in a more real perspective.
i work for tmobile and have had several trainings on this phone, i have messed with it for a couple hours. Here is the truth…
It’s an android phone, works basically just like the G1 and the mytouch, only difference is motoblur/happenings widget. phone has the ability to be tracked online via GPS, remotely wiped, and the coolest part is a universal inbox. All your email/sms/mms/myspace/facebook/etc messages roll to the same universal inbox
contacts include current facebook/myspace pictures/status/moods and the ability to send that person a message /write on their wall/leave them a comment etc through the phone book
thats all i remember
Okay people. No need to fight about getting it or not. If you don’t want/like it , then don’t get it! Period. I want to wait a little longer and see if they will release a nicer one. They always release a new phone every 2 months or less?! I think its better to wait & see the next one. Then decide if moto cliq is the right one for me or nottt !
I’ve messed around with one for 2 days. Aesthetics are subjective so I’m not going to go into that. It is noticeably faster with regards to the OS than the G1 which I’ve had since launch. It moves in and out of apps quicker and the browser is much faster loading and scrolls nicer than a G1 which tends to ‘hang’ a bit. Also-and this is a pet peeve-when you zoom in on a page it doesn’t get all janky and bounce around to a different area from where you zoomed into. It has the standard headphone jack and the keys are nice and big.
The trackball is not what it should be and although the tiny one on the G1 is not as nice as a mytouch it’s still better than what this offers, but it’s functional.
It’s not a huge upgrade over the G1 but at the end of the day if you’re fed up with how sluggish (and utlra poor battery life) of the G1 and want something much snappier I think it’s worth the upgrade.
I really love my cliq but I keep getting dissappointed to my friends when I tell them how cool it is but I cannot do almost anything without this flash player I am not looking so cool since december dude I swear to god my next money is not with tmobile and this dissappointment in my pocket. Sucks..