It’s been a long time coming… exciting (and finally public!) announcement today by our Motorola Mobile Devices CEO Sanjay Jha at the GiagOM Mobilize 09 conference. Not just the new CLIQ handset hardware (show above), but the overall trends in increased mobile cloud connecvity that gave rise to MOTOBLUR: the cloud aggregation back-end powering next gen smartphone experiences. With the open-ness of Android’s software platform, plus the deep social aggregation and simplicity that BLUR brings, using silo’d apps for each type of communication and social network is going to go one day seem antique.
Motorola just announced its first Android handset, the CLIQ, which is headed to T-Mobile by the fourth quarter, or in time for the holidays. As you’d expect, it runs the new MOTOBLUR Android skin, and Moto’s calling it “the first phone with social skills” to highlight the social networking integration. It’ll come in two colors, Winter White and Titanium, and have a 3.1-inch 320 x 480 screen, 3G, WiFi, and a five megapixel camera that’ll also shoots 24fps video. Internationally, the CLIQ will be known as the DEXT, and it’ll be on Orange, Telefonica, and America Movil.
a bit From WIRED’s writeup today: Motorola’s First Android Phone Takes Aim at Social Networks
Motorola is not the only handset maker that’s seeking to piggyback on the popularity of social networking sites among consumers. While Apple may have kicked off the mobile apps trend, the iPhone puts different services into different buckets and fails to offer its users a smooth and easy way to access all information. For instance, the iPhone makes it difficult for users to get their Facebook and Twitter feed in a single screen. Apple’s rivals see that lack of integrated social media features as the iPhone’s Achilles heel. And they are trying to fight back by integrating information and add social context for their customers.
Other interesting randoms buzzing through the ether today:
- Motorola company timeline from Reuters puts the product launch in historic, (near apocalyptic?) perspective…
- MOTOBLUR Simulator an interactive demo of what BLUR does, and how it works to aggregate social services and thread them deep into a holistic device experience.
- Engadget’s liveblog of the keynote announcement, very positive liveblog with some iconic photos.
- CLIQ at GDGT – Early user comments/questions. GDGT is a smart, next-gen social gadget enthusiasts forum [from ex-Engadget editors Ryan Block and Peter Rojas]. See also their twitter feed: twitter.com/gdgt weekly Podcast.
- Official product fact sheet from Motorola
Why this matters: the future of designing mobile experiences will be cloud connected, simpler to keep that “social sixth sense” to your friends and social networks, and not play silo-keepers to your favorite apps and mash-ups. Homescreens evolve from dead icons to living portals, with fresh content – while threading social connectivity deep into (previously thought mundane?) core mobile phone apps. Smart yet innovative combinations of live data + native apps will continue to set better device experiences apart, and in service to users seeking a realtime feel. As the web goes realtime and broadband, so goes the mobile smartphone that users will increasingly turn to over their PC’s and laptops to experience it. Onward!
I’m liking the phone…it looks like it would be a marginal upgrade for G1 users: bigger battery, more RAM (though not quite as much as I’d like to see), way more ROM, higher res (and presumably better? camera, 3.5 mm headphone jack, light & proximity sensors, and it of course keeps the keyboard (which is a must for me)…