Motorola Cliq: The Lifestyle Phone

Sep 13 2009, 1:09pm CDT | by Robert Evans

Well boys and girls, it looks like yesterday's rumors have been confirmed. Thanks to some leaked roadmaps from Boy Genius we now have proof that the Motorola Cliq will, in fact, be joining the T-Mobile family this October. Huzzahs all around.

The actual road-map photo shows the Cliq launching in November, but BGR assures us that this is due to the 'map being outdated. They have it on high ninja-authority (and you know how honest ninjas are) that the Cliq will be coming in mid-October.

In terms of hardware, the Cliq is a fairly solid offering, but it isn't exactly a mind-blowing piece of mobile technology. What sets it apart from the herd is the introduction of Motorola's 'motoblur' UI. This new interface integrates every single aspect of your digital life together and keeps you abreast of everything that happens within your social circle. When your best friend calls, you'll be treated to her picture, info on her Facebook status, and more, all in the blink of an eye.

The bits blog at the NY Times makes the point that Motorola is focusing on software now, instead of hardware. That's a sensible move to make in today's mobile economy. The differences in hardware between most smartphones are rather minimal. What really separates one smartphone from another are things like the different apps available or how easy the UI is to use.

Smartphones, after all, are lifestyle devices. They form the backbone hub of our social lives, and help us coordinate every aspect of our existence. It is more important for a smartphone to be intuitive than it is for it to be lightning-fast or even pretty. If Motorola can create a UI that allows their users to keep abreast of their social lives at a glance, than the Cliq will be a success. It's as simple as that.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.