Imagine how you’d feel if you peaked in middle school. That’s pretty much what happened to cell phone maker Motorola Inc., which had a megahit in 2005 with its Razr handset but has since failed to fashion another that can approach its popularity.
Now that the rest of the cell phone market has matured and feature-packed “smart” phones are becoming the choice of many consumers, Motorola hopes to entice people with the Cliq, its first phone that uses Google’s Android software. T-Mobile began selling the Cliq ($200 with a two-year contract) to existing customers on Monday, and it will be available to all comers starting Nov. 2.
The twist in the Cliq is that it combines social-networking features with slick hardware. The Cliq won’t eclipse Apple’s iPhone, but it shows Motorola is serious about carving a new niche in a fiercely competitive market.
The Cliq looks sharp but not too original on the surface: Its front is dominated by a brilliant 3.1-inch touch screen and a few navigation buttons, while a spacious full-sized keyboard with a multidirectional controller slides out from the side. A standard headphone jack sits on the top.
Turn the Cliq on, however, and it’s quite the social butterfly. A little application “widget” on the home screen dubbed “Happenings” constantly refreshes your friends’ latest updates to Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. Another widget aggregates all the messages you get from various social networks and e-mail accounts and gives a preview of the latest one. A third widget shows your most recent status update and lets you easily update one or several social networks at a time.
The Cliq’s never-ending deluge of data about your clique comes courtesy of Motorola’s new Motoblur software, which gathers information from your various social Web and e-mail accounts. All you have to do is set up…