Motorola CLIQ Review: In Depth First Impression

The speculation is over. Today Motorola announced their first Android Phone, the Motorola CLIQ, running their custom version of Android called Motorola BLUR. After spending some time with the device we have both praise and criticism - which we’ll discuss in depth below - but first we should acknowledge the bigger picture.
Congratulations to Motorola! Speculation set extremely high expectations for this event and although the best case scenario didn’t occur (multiple Androids, Verizon included) - don’t let that detract from this event’s importance. You can critique CLIQ/BLUR all you like, and perhaps the terms “portfolio” and “suite” were misleading, but the fact remains: a Motorola Smartphone that competes with the most elite devices in the industry is a serious discussion. That in and of itself speaks to the occasion’s magnitude and the product’s potential success.


Motorola is back, baby! Neither the hardware or software is perfect, but what device is? Its all about trade-offs and the Motorola CLIQ is an impressive first foray into previously uncharted Android territory. We’ll organize this review the best we can by starting first with the software (MOTOROLA BLUR) and then moving into the hardware and specs.

Motorola BLUR
I love how Motorola didn’t try to do everything with BLUR. They tried to do one thing and do one thing well - seamlessly integrate all your contacts, from all your social networks, and all your communication mediums in one consolidated and easy to use interface. Hmmmm… that isn’t really “one thing“, is it?

It isn’t… and that is exactly why and where Motorola succeeds: they’ve taken all these fragmented sources of external information and communication points and centralized them into what seems like ONE entity - your phone.