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Motorola has come out with a phone, the Cliq, targeted at a specific market and utilizing the power of Google’s Android platform. It is the first of a family of new Motorola phones, where the Cliq stands at the patronymic fore.
As far as features go, Cliq is doing all right. The phone is complete with a decent camera (5 megapixel), video capability, sweet media tools, a spacious allowance for microSD memory, voice-activated search features, and easy access to Google Maps (street view), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Picasa, Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and all the rest. It comes with a (teeny) Qwerty keyboard, a thankfully accurate touchscreen, and an eye-catching titanium body.
But the way that those features are bundled is what makes the Motorola Cliq standout. It uses Motoblur, which is Motorola’s catchy name for a new cloud-based social-everything service. Motoblur tries to lasso everything social in someone’s life and put it into one snazzy portable format. According to one of Motorola’s marketing slogans, “You can stream your music, why not your friends?”
In case streaming friends is a freakish concept to you, here’s what they mean. Motorola wants to put Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, et. al. within a one-tap reach of your smartphone. Thus, Motoblur syncs all of these together, using your address book contacts, and keeps everyone organized. No longer do you need to go to a separate Twitter app to trace the feed. No longer do you need to open up Facebook and check out the new picture album. It’s all there in one slick format. You don’t even have to check your e-mail. Chats, texts, e-mails-everything. It’s all right there in front of you. As the promo video quips, “Your entire life on a single stream-on the phone that’s smart enough to be social.”
The Cliq is the only phone that utilizes Motoblur, but its intent is to stand at the head of a legacy of phones that will utilize the slimming down, simplifying concept of Motoblur. The Cliq along with its sell-helper, Motoblur has an obvious demographic bent in terms of who it’s geared toward. They will sell phones to those who are plugged in to online social networks. That market segment includes teens and twenty-somethings. The Cliq is clearly a social phone. With the Cliq arriving in time for the holiday’s, Motorola may have a glimmer of hope for a future upswing if the Cliq sells as nicely as it looks.
