Images are about all that's offered up here. No specs, no dates, no explanation. Just pics and some well-groomed fingernails:

We'll keep an eye out for more. [BGR]

Promising 10 more Androids for the coming months, Motorola's La Jolla sounds like a cheap PAYG at most. Unearthed in source code of the Cliq, the existence of the Motus, Morrison and Zeppelin were confirmed, along with a new one to us—La Jolla. Specs appear to include a Qualcomm 7201A proessor, MAX7359 keyboard and Kionix accelerometer.

Thanks to the newly-released Android 2.0.1 SDK, manufacturers are now able to use differently-sized screens, like the 240 x 400 resolution WQVGA the La Jolla supposedly has. While it won't break any records or wow with its beauty, the La Jolla will help attract the lower-end of the market to Android, thus making it more popular. [AndroidAndMe via PhoneArena]

It's believed the Sholes will be part of the Droid line, and while the two devices look fairly similar, the Sholes "tablet," as it's being referred to despite its 3.7-inch touchscreen, apparently has a HDMI port. You know, for hooking up to your TV to watch films shot with the 8-megapixel camera. There's also a Xenon flash, and internally it's running on the same 550MHz OMAP TI 3430 processor as the Droid.

This is the keyboard-less Droid you were looking for. [Mobile Android China via BGR]

The seller bills the phone as "limited edition," which means this is, purportedly, one of only five such prototypes produced. The anonymity and volatility of the Internet means I trust this guy about as much as I do a baby with a razor blade, but nevertheless there are some other key differences present that indicate this phone is slightly different than the standard Droid.

For instance the keys are silver instead of gold; the bezel is chrome, not black; and the LED lighting on the buttons is "enhanced." The phone is fully operational and awaiting activation. Trust this guy? Bidding starts at $485. [eBay via Engadget]

There's a rounding-error bug in the camera driver's autofocus routine (which uses a timestamp) that causes autofocus to behave poorly on a 24.5-day cycle. That is, it'll work for 24.5 days, then have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again.

The 17th is the start of a new "works correctly" cycle, so the devices will be fine for a while. A permanent fix is in the works.

But of course! I understand perfectly why a camera would be dependent on the date. Chances are good that this will have a legit fix before 24.5 days are up, but man, what a weird bug. [Engadget via GadgetLab]

It's the best phone on Verizon, and with Android 2.0, the second best smartphone you can buy, period. It's flawed, deeply in some ways. But it's the second best phone around, on the best network around.

Droid is a champion of possibilities: for Motorola, for Verizon, for Android 2.0. It exists to show you what each of them can really do. You can kind of think of it like a Super G1, laying out what it means to be an Android 2.0 phone, with powerful new processors and delicious new displays with sky-high resolutions. If Droid is merely the first in a new wave, we have a lot to be excited about.

The Shiny New OS

The main attraction for Droid is Android 2.0, the remarkably updated mobile OS from Google. It's so important, it gets its own review. After all, you will start to see it on other phones soon. It's what makes Droid so great—new navigation app, new contacts/social network syncing, better email management, better browser—but also why Droid still falls short of the iPhone, particularly when it comes to managing music and video. If there's something you don't see here, chances are we discussed it in the earlier piece—if you care about the phone, you're gonna want to read the full software review too.

Design and Build

It didn't hit me until last weekend why Droid's design struck such an emotional chord with me. Was it the functionalist, industrial masculinity, expressed perfectly through glass and metal and unapologetic angles, in a powerful phone that's remarkably streamlined? It's all of that, yes. But it's also the fact that aesthetic is rendered black and gold metal accents, which is why it taps into something deep and profoundly affective from my childhood:
It's practically cheating. I can't not love the design of this phone.

Oh, That Screen

Droid's 3.7-inch, 854x480 display with an eye-popping pixel density of 267ppi, is the kind of screen you ache for. An analogy: Do you remember how amazing you thought Nintendo 64 games looked, ten years ago? Have you looked at them lately? Do you remember the sinking feeling you got, realizing just how ugly they are now? That's how'll you'll feel looking at every other phone with the now-standard 480x320 screens we thought were so gorgeous a couple of years ago. They're lo-fi and lifeless by comparison.

It's the clarity of the text that captivates. It's true, there've been Windows phones with excellent screens that have the same resolution as Droid, but the font rendering has always been too weak to take advantage of them. Reading ebooks on an iPhone has always given me a headache (so I don't), but with Droid's pixel density, I could read on it for hours. It's that good. The color's fantastic, too, though not Zune HD OLED level.

Touch response is mostly effective. When there are misfires, like getting no response when you flick your finger to pull out the app menu, it's hard to tell if it's the phone or the software—at least until more Android 2.0 phones are out there. But no serious complaints.

Keyboard and Strange Buttons

The keyboard is okay. I liked it a lot more on Day 1 than I do today, and that's because I never got any faster. The problem is that the key landscape is too flat and homogenous—a necessary sacrifice for Droid's remarkable skinniness—so there's simply no way to feel out precisely what key your thumb's on, meaning I never broke out of having to stare at the keyboard while typing. I found the actual layout to be excellent. Overall, the keyboard works, but you'll probably never fly on it. I'm faster on the landscape touch keyboard, personally.

The d-pad's not as dandy as a trackball for getting around, but for navigating around text, it's better than I expected—despite its puniness, I never pressed the wrong button.

But I hate the four soft touch buttons on the front of the phone. For one, there are no dedicated phone or end call buttons, so if you accidentally call somebody at 4am, you have to figure out how to end the call exclusively via the software interface. For two, the lack of feedback is annoying, especially if you're holding down the search button trying to activate voice search and it's not coming up. Did you miss the button? Are you pressing it wrong? Who knows? If Android's going to rely hard on these four buttons, the way iPhone relies on the home button, they need to be actual physical objects.

This Camera Sucks

The camera is complete garbage. It takes 10 years to start up, 2 to focus, and another 4 to actually take the goddamn picture. And there's no distinct visual feedback to let you know a photo's been snapped. And the photos suck. That pumpkin shot, in decent lighting, is as good as it gets. Like I said in the Android 2.0 review, I don't know if it's the hardware or the software, but it's inexcusably bad. (Update: Here's a couple of more shots from the camera. You can compare the indoors one with the much better Sprint Hero sample shot seen here, since they were taken in the same place.)

Video's not terrible, though, beyond the fussy format even VLC doesn't even like playing:

Performance

Droid's brain is a potent ARM Cortex A8 TI OMAP 3430—it's basically the same as the chips inside of the Palm Pre and iPhone 3GS. Like I said in the Android 2.0 review, while it runs apps and multitasks with gusto, basic things like menus and the desktop stutter way too often. It's like driving a Ferrari with a door that groans loudly every time you open it.

Battery Life

With moderate to heavy usage—browsing, some navigation, push Gmail, moderate app usage, with the occasional app running in the background—I managed to make it through a full 8-12 hour day before recharging, each day for about a week, though some days were closer than others. Your mileage will vary, depending on how many apps you've got running in the background and how much you hit GPS, but my experience was that it was entirely acceptable for a modern smartphone.

Nuts, Bolts and Stability

Verizon's network is top notch, and being able to actually use the internet on my phone with impunity in New York is revelatory. In both New York and Seattle testing, reception has been excellent, though around Pittsburgh, it was spottier than expected. Voice quality was pretty excellent whenever we didn't use Google Voice.

While definitely stable enough to use as an everyday phone, we did run into a few bugs: GPS accuracy was wildly off-target on more than one occasion, pinpointing our location hundreds of miles away, and the only way to fix it was to reboot the phone (I assume that's a software issue, not a hardware one). We also had one complete crash after finishing a phone call that required a reboot. And more apps stopped responding more often than we were used to on previous versions of Android, requiring a force close.

Hello, Moto

These things are true about Droid: The camera's not great; the keyboard isn't mindblowing; Android 2.0 lacks the polish and multimedia prowess to completely match the iPhone. What's also true is that a killer design, Google's services, Android's exploding app ecosytem, powerful multitasking, a stunning screen and Verizon's network still make it the second best phone you can buy right now, after the iPhone.

At the same time, there's reason to pause. Android is evolving more rapidly than any other smartphone platform, both in terms of the hardware and software. When HTC's Hero came out, it crushed every other Android phone out there. Just a couple short months later, Droid is on top. In four months, we'll probably see a new champion. That Droid sets such a high bar for everything after might be the best thing about it.

Display, display, display

Um, just look at it

A smartphone you actually want on Verizon!

Keyboard is merely adequate, at best

Camera is utter garbage

[Droid]

Maybe it goes back to the whole multi-touch patent issue with Apple, I don't know. If it turns out the Milestone does indeed have multi-touch when it arrives on November 9, hopefully some sort of patch hack will make its way State-side. [Mobile-Review (translated) via SlashGear]

The new name is not as tech-heavy of geektastic as Droid, but we can see the point. From here on out, things are going to be different (hopes Verizon/Motorola).

The image comes from the O2 web site, where the Droid is masquerading about as the Milestone for a presumably contract-free price of about $595. Launch day is November 9, a mere three days after we Yanks get the coveted handset here in the States. No word on whether or not O2 scored an exclusive here or what, as there's no mention of the phone popping up on other carriers' web sites. [Slashgear]

Right after taking the cursed reins of Motorola, then-incoming CEO Sanjay Jha had a short town hall meeting and was accosted by a Moto engineer working on Android, Rick Osterloh, as he came off the stage. "By the end of that week, Mr. Osterloh was sitting on the corporate jet, flying with Mr. Jha back to California" to talk up Android, according to the NY Times' account.

Jha lopped off Moto's entire Symbian division in weeks, and when Windows Mobile hit delays, punted it entirely. Most impressively, I think, when it came time to pick out the brains of their new phones, Jha rejected a chip that his division had made when he was at Qualcomm, prior to Motorola, in favor of the TI OMAP chip that's in the Droid.

Funny thing about the Droid, while its aesthetic is dominated by a strict functionalism, it was actually even harder-edged before—Verizon asked Motorola to make it rounder and add the softer touch back so it didn't appeal solely to dudes. (Um, good job with that?) I'm just happy for Motorola that they weren't crushed into oblivion by the weight of their own ineptitude and might actually mount a real comeback. There's more to the story over at the Times: [NYT]

First off, Verizon's just confirmed that Droid is a family of phones, and that while this phone is the cornerstone, we should expect more. (AHEM). This is the only one they're announcing now, so anyway: $200 is iPhone 3GS money, so it's good to hear that the specs are top-notch. It's got a 3.7inch screen at 480x854 pixels, a Cortex A8 processor, a 16GB SD card included, Bluetooth, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera and of course, the slide-out keyboard with d-pad. Right, we mostly knew this, so what's new? Well, there's a dock! Ok!

But the software's the real story here, and it's even better than we expected. With a new contacts app, multi-resolution support, a better camera app, and SMS searching , Android 2.0 is front and center, and the Droid will wear it proudly; this is a "Google Experience" device, so don't expect Motoblur here—which given the social networking integration in 2.0, and the refreshed interface, is probably for the best. Verizon wouldn't say whether or not the Android 2.0 would be a Droid exclusive, refusing to confirm that it is, but also refusing to confirm that it isn't. Given that the marketing push for this phone is apparently the biggest in Verizon history, and how weirdly opaque Google's 2.0 release has been so far, I wouldn't doubt that former, at least for a few months.

And remember that Google turn-by-turn nav app rumor? It's totally true. The voice-activated navigation feature will be free, which means if its any good at all, it could conceivably vaporize the entire nav app industry in a matter of months. Google Maps will also have a few new layers on Droid, with Wikipedia, transit and traffic overlays. Google Maps With Navigation will replace the trenchant VZ Navigation, which won't get an Android port. Verizon Visual Voicemail and MyVerizon services will hit Android eventually, but they're gonna take a little time.

Preorders are open now at Verizon's website, but just so you know—Verizon's $200 price is after a mail-in rebate, and a particularly weird one:

Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

Seriously, guys, stop.

Verizon Wireless DROID By Motorola: World's First Smartphone with Android™ 2.0

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's largest wireless 3G broadband network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a pioneer in the mobile industry, today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android™ 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short.

"We're proud to work with Verizon Wireless and Google™ on the first smartphone to feature Android 2.0," said Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer of Motorola and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobile Devices. "DROID by Motorola delivers a rich consumer experience with warp-speed Web browsing, a mammoth screen, and Motorola's expertise in design and voice quality. Combined with Android's open, flexible graphical user interface and the power of Verizon Wireless' 3G network, DROID is a smartphone that simply doesn't compromise."

"This is an exciting announcement for Verizon Wireless, as the DROID by Motorola is the first device that we are bringing to market under our ground-breaking strategic partnership with Google," said John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. "DROID by Motorola gives customers a lifestyle device with access to more than 12,000 applications that will help them stay in touch, up to date and entertained, using the best 3G network in the country."

DROID by Motorola has a solid exterior, intelligent interior and is one of the thinnest full-QWERTY slider phones available. It is a no-fuss, high-tech, location-aware, voice-recognizing, over-the-air updating, multi-tasking machine – and it is available just in time for holiday wish lists.

With DROID by Motorola, you can:

· Zip through the Web: Access the Internet at 3G speeds via the nation's largest and most reliable 3G network or from any Wi-Fi hotspot. The multi-window HTML browser with a massive processor delivers the Web the way you expect.

· See it all in cinema-style: View the Web, e-mail, Google Maps™, videos and more in widescreen on a brilliant 3.7" high-resolution screen. Boasting a width of 854 pixels to reduce the need for side-to-side panning and more than 400,000 pixels total, DROID has more than twice that of the leading competitor.

· Run multiple applications at once: Customize your DROID with thousands of applications and hundreds of widgets available on Android Market™. Toggle back and forth between up to six applications at a time to juggle the universe and your apps.

· Perform Google Search™ at the speed of sound: Simply tell DROID what you're looking for using voice-activated search, and it will serve up Google search results based on your location. If you want more, simply type what you're looking for into the search bar on the home screen and DROID will also search content on your phone, such as apps and contacts, and the Web.

· Capture moments: Snap digital camera-quality photos with a 5 megapixel camera loaded with the works, such as a dual-LED flash, AutoFocus and image stabilization, or capture your friend's antics in 16 million colors with DVD-quality video capture and playback. Store it all on the included 16 GB memory card, so you always have it on hand.

· Multi-task like a master: Keep tabs on all your messages with integrated Gmail™ and Exchange e-mail pushed directly to you, but don't let them get in your way. With the handy Android notification panel, go straight to the message or simply ignore it, and get back to the task at hand. And, a smart dictionary learns as you type and automatically includes your contacts.

· Get where you need to go with Google Maps Navigation (Beta): DROID is the first device with Google Maps Navigation, providing turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps. It's powered by Google and connected to the Internet. Use voice shortcuts and simply say "Navigate to [your destination]," and you'll be on your way. See live traffic, use Street View or satellite imagery to view your route, and get access to the most recent maps and business information from Google Maps without ever needing to update your device.

Pre-loaded Applications and Enhancements to Google Mobile Services:

· Google Maps: With layers in Google Maps, view geographic information, such as My Maps, Wikipedia, and transit lines, right on the map.

· Gmail: Multiple accounts support and undo for common operations.

· YouTube™: One-touch recording and playback from homescreen widget or app, one-touch sharing with friends, and the ability to view your own uploaded videos and high-resolution videos.

· Google Talk™: Easily switch between chats, search your chat history, and preview pictures and videos sent by links.

· Android Market: Browse and download applications created by third-party developers.

· Calendar: Ability to see who has R.S.V.P.'d to your meeting invitations.

· Amazon MP3 Store: Download the latest tracks over the air.

· Verizon Wireless Visual Voice Mail: Delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions.

Pricing and Availability:

· DROID by Motorola will be available in the United States exclusively at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online on Friday, Nov. 6, for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

That's some high praise right there. Apparently it's slightly thicker than the iPhone 3GS, but is still the thinnest QWERTY-slider they've seen. They also say its TI OMAP3430 processor and 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen are fastest, and most responsive they've used on an Android phone. "It makes the CLIQ looks like a child's toy."

My only concern is that these shots make the screen look kinda dim. That could be the flash, or maybe the screen wasn't at max brightness, who knows. Click through for BGR's full impressions and image gallery. [Boy Genius Report]

Also: Verizon's 30-second Droid TV Spot Attacking the iPhone

The Motorola Cliq is the Android OS on Motorola hardware. Like Palm before it, Motorola decided that Windows Mobile 6.5/7 would be too little, too late to combat the iPhone menace. But instead of going in house and creating something from scratch, Motorola decided to take an already stable OS and build social networking features directly into the interface. So yes, it's basically an Android phone; but it's an Android phone++.

Motorola's Cliq delivers on its social networking promise quite admirably, even if there are a few design quirks that prevent the experience from being perfect. And although it's a little sluggish on the hardware side—as sluggish as any of the other Android phones out there now, that is—the fact that it has a good physical keyboard and solid Motorola hardware behind it makes the Cliq a very interesting contender in the Android world.

The Hardware is solid, except when it's not

Moto is no stranger to building its own phones, so you'd expect some smart hardware know-how to go into Cliq's design. That's only kinda true. Everything on the phone is where you'd expect it to be and buttons are more-or-less in acceptable locations, but there's a looseness in the slide-out keyboard that's more irritating the more I play with it. I can't tell if it's because the slider doesn't quite lock into place like it should—there's a little give in both the open and closed positions—but the "Oreo-ing" is really distracting. It's not as if the screen portion will pop off, it's just an annoying looseness in the phone that makes you feel like they didn't quite solve the puzzle of fitting everything in place.

A hardware keyboard is always a welcome thing to have, and the Cliq's behaves well. There's enough spacing in each of the keys that it's easy to type, but not too much that it's occupying a lot of space. There could have been some better arrangement of symbol keys (the underscore is buried under a symbols menu), but that's just being nitpicky. Overall, it's a solid keyboard that's quick to enter data with.

Other build quirks

The wobbliness of the slider means that you need to grip only the bottom (keyboard) part of the phone when you're taking a photo, or else the screen will slide open and you'll probably drop your phone. Also, Motorola decided to make the power switch flush with the right side of the phone so even Daredevil would have a hard time finding it by touch. Since the power button also lets you toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane mode and GPS, that's a bad design.

You have to open up the battery cover to shove an up-to 32GB microSD card in there, but since you'll rarely replace that (use a microUSB to transfer files), it's not a huge deal. I do like the fact that there's no cover on the microSD slot, as well as the presence of the now-obligatory vibrate toggle on the left side of the phone. Its 3.5mm headphone jack being located directly on the top of the phone kinda screws up the lines a bit, but I'd rather a slightly uglier phone than not having a 3.5mm jack.

Power and battery

Because the Cliq runs the same processor as the current Android phones now—like the Hero and the MyTouch 3G—there's not a whole lot of performance difference between the devices. They're all kinda slow. Not unusably slow, but transitions and animations don't pop immediately. And this sluggishness might be part of the reason why interacting with the touchscreen isn't as fluid a process as it could be, and why sometimes when you're swiping between emails or tweets, the page will pop back into place and you have to swipe a second time.

As for the battery life, you can pretty much imagine how much use you'll get out of an always-connected device that gets pushed emails, tweets and Facebook updates all day. Even if you don't make a lot of calls, you'll have to charge the device every night. And if you do do a lot of texting and emailing and calling and tweeting, you'd better get an external charger.

The main drain seems to be both the push and the fact that you're using the phone a lot to keep up with everything that's happening on your social networks. Motorola built a double-edged sword on that one; people want to use it a lot for checking status updates, but in turn the 1420 mAh battery runs out in less than a day.

Hardware features we like

There are a couple nice touches that we're appreciative of, such as the blinking light on the front for notifications, which has been on BlackBerries for a while. Great if you don't get a lot of emails or if you don't follow a lot of people. You can also wake up the phone using the facebuttons, not just the power toggle, so two quick menu button presses will get you to the home screen immediately.

Having a D pad is going to be useful in the future when Android developers start making games that take advantage of it, but you can use it now in NES/SNES emulators. And the camera is a beefy 5-megapixel autofocus, which produces decent photos compared to other Android phones. Plus, call quality is pretty good, something Motorola has managed to do well even when their software has faltered.

Software

Seeing as Android has been available for more than a while, and everyone should be familiar with what it does, I'm going to focus on the Cliq-specific sections. Suffice it to say that it can do everything other Android phones can, including downloading OTA Amazon MP3s and accessing all the apps in the Marketplace. The most important of Motorola's additions are the home screen widgets, so we'll start there.

The home screen widgets

The four widgets of note are the status widget, the messaging widget, the happenings widget and the news/RSS widget. The news widget is self-explanatory, and really cool that a phone would have a built-in RSS reader right on the home screen, but the others are a little bit trickier. The status widget lets you update your "status" to any of your social networking sites, like Facebook or Twitter. The messages widget consolidates ALL your 1:1 messaging, like emails, SMS, DMs on Twitter or private messages on Facebook. The happenings is a feed of other people's status updates on your social networks.

Messaging Widget
I don't know why, but it's very satisfying to be able to swipe through your emails directly from the home screen, quickly deleting or replying with just one tap. The problem comes from the way it's implemented and the lack of screen space, because you can't see the recipients list to see if you're the only person address to in an email, nor can you do a reply all if there are multiple people. And it doesn't tell you if you have an attachment.

Basically it's just a small window to your email, and you'll have to actually open up the traditional email app to do any communication beyond the basics. And there's also a full-blown Messaging APP, which consolidates all your accounts like the widget does.

Happenings Widget
This is where your all your social networks are rolled into one big feed. Again, it's a time saver to have all these updates in one place and being able to swipe through them, though sometimes you get way too many updates to realistically do so. What we would like is if there was an option to customize which networks displayed in the widget, so we could, say, have only Twitter and leave out Facebook. Right now it's an all or nothing affair, and you have to go into the Happenings app to see everything in list form and to be able to view only one network at a time.

The widget does allow you to directly interact and respond to people's updates, so you can comment on people's walls or do an @reply to someone's tweet. All you have to do is start typing in a particular section and some menu option will pop up, prompting you with context-specific actions you can do.

News Widget
The RSS widget behaves pretty much the same way as the previous two, allowing you to swipe through news items like you would in a standard RSS reader. Motorola was kind enough to bundle a few types of RSS feeds together, and Gizmodo is part of the Technology one. Good choice dudes.

Nice touches

By avoiding the creation of an entire operation system from scratch, the Motorola engineers had time on their hands to really think about the user experience, and it definitely shows in all these small touches and shortcuts they put in.

• There are some slick transition animations when you open up widgets and apps, which are quick enough to not be distracting, but slow enough to distract you for a second while your program is loading
• Faces are fetched and attached to your contacts automatically, and you can choose whether you want to grab the images from Google or Facebook. This way you can always have some kind of picture for a person when they call you for easy recognition
• The MotoBlur account you have to create on setup backs up some of your settings so that you can re-load it in the event of phone theft
• Speaking of phone stealing, there's a free service online that's similar to MobileMe that you can use to locate your phone from the web
• There's a five panel home screen. Eh? Ehh??
• The call button got moved to a soft button, eliminating the need for two hard buttons on the outside of the phone. You also get a contacts button instead of a end call button, since you don't need to hang up if you're not in a call.
• There's visual voicemail
• People's faces everywhere, and you can see their latest status updates when a call is initiated
• You can manually link contacts together, like on Palm's webOS, in case the phone doesn't automatically recognize that Frucci is the same Adam Frucci you have in your Gmail
• A self help widget is there when you get the phone, walking you through a few features you might not see
• There are shortcuts everywhere, which would usually be a bad thing since you have to poke around to find them, but they're implemented in such a way that it actually makes sense
• You can type on the home screen to find a contact. This makes sense in the Moto Cliq world since the Cliq is a person-centric device, whereas on other phones it would make more sense to bring up a Google search instead
• And typing in the applications tray searches through your apps

Gripes

The software's not flawless, however, and you will run into some minor annoyances even with all the niceties.
• Yahoo Mail only works over 3G, not Wi-Fi. This most likely has to do with some deal or legal restriction, but it doesn't make the decision less annoying. If we had to choose between Yahoo only on 3G and no Yahoo, we'd pick the 3G
• There isn't really desktop syncing for your contacts or calendar. You can send movies and music and photos over the microUSB connection, but Motorola really wants you to put your contacts on either Gmail or a social network and pull them down that way

You don't get a lot of fine-grained control over accounts. (Yes, I made you wait this long for a pun on the top photo.) For example, you can't tell your phone to only pull down contacts from Gmail and not Facebook, or choose to display only your Twitter and MySpace contacts at once. It's basically all or just one. More account customizability would be the number one software target we'd ask Motorola's team to aim for, and something we're eager to see in Blur version 1.5.

The Whole Experience

Like we said in the hardware section, the major thing holding back the Cliq from being a fantastic phone is the processor. The animations are smooth, the UI touches are smart and the social networking stuff is useful; we just wish we could have a bit more account customization, do all of that on faster hardware. Once Motorola gets the Blur platform onto a more powerful phone and works through some of the software quirks we noticed, they're going to have a really good Android phone on their hands.

Is this the phone that Motorola needs to bring it back into the smartphone race? It could be. They were smart enough to know that just doing another Android phone wasn't enough in itself, so they pulled together and created all this social networking glue to bind the experience together. It's cohesive enough to call the Cliq a different experience from other, similar devices like the Sprint HTC Hero, and is a pretty damn good first step in a possible Motorola comeback. [Motorola]

Social networking features are quite good

Lots of little touches that improve on the base Android platform

Hardware keyboard

Decent hardware except for the Oreo-like keyboard action

It's an Android phone at heart, which means you'll either like it or dislike it, based on how you feel about the platform

A slow-ish CPU makes the experience weaker than it could be

The first offers 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of data for $30. That seems alright, but for $45, you get unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data.

The catch? You probably won't be using much data on their disappointing line of phones that all sell for $100 without a contract—though a "Samsung 451" (a model number that brings up a Samsung set top box) promises full QWERTY and certainly implies a bit more functionality. The LG Slider 290, which doesn't handle much beyond email, is your other higherish-end option.

So would you buy a wireless plan from Walmart? I certainly would, were I able to cheat the system with a more attractive phone of my own.

Walmart To Launch Straight Talk Exclusively, Nationwide

No-Contract Wireless Plans Starting at $30 a Month

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 14, 2009) – Dedicated to providing families affordable wireless solutions, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) announces today it will launch Straight Talk, a new solution in no-contract cellular, exclusively at more than 3,200 Walmart stores nationwide starting October 18, 2009. Straight Talk will bring to the market a new low price for no-contract wireless service with two prepaid plans now available to customers nationwide at $30 and $45 a month. Straight Talk will only be available in Walmart stores and online at www.Walmart.com and www.StraightTalk.com.

The average U.S. adult spends $78 on his or her cell phone bill to receive 1000 minutes a month.* By switching to the $30 Straight Talk plan, for example, the average 1,000 minutes-per-month consumer could save more than $500 per year and still be on a reliable nationwide network.

To help drive down no-contract wireless pricing for customers, Walmart will launch Straight Talk providing customers the following two options:

* Straight Talk "All You Need" 30-day Plan that includes the following for only $30 a month:
o 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of mobile web access
o Nationwide coverage
o 411 Information calls at no extra charge

* Straight Talk's Unlimited 30-day Plan that includes the following for $45 a month:
o Unlimited minutes, unlimited text and unlimited mobile web access
o Nationwide coverage
o Unlimited 411 Information calls at no extra charge

"It has been very encouraging to see the excitement and response to the Straight Talk pilot in 234 stores that began last summer at Walmart," said Greg Hall, vice president of Media Services, Walmart U.S. "In light of the savings customers continue to need, we have worked very quickly to extend this offering to all of our Walmart customers nationwide, and just before the holidays."

Consumers may refill their monthly balances by buying refill cards at Walmart, or by registering online at www.Walmart.com or www.StraightTalk.com. Also available at Walmart are a range of Straight Talk phone products to suit different needs, from the entry-level LG 220 flip phone at $39.98, to the LG Slider 290 at $79.98 to the Samsung 451 QWERTY keyboard phone at $99.88.

More information about Straight Talk no-contract wireless services is available at www.Walmart.com or www.StraightTalk.com.

Straight Talk is an exclusive Walmart service developed with TracFone Wireless, Inc. TracFone Wireless currently sells TracFone and NET10 prepaid wireless phones and airtime at Walmart stores and online at www.walmart.com.

* Source: Nielsen Mobile Bill Panel Data

About Walmart

Every week, millions of customers visit Walmart stores, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Club locations across America or log on to its online store at www.walmart.com. The company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of giving back locally. Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $378 million to local communities in the United States. More information about Walmart can be found by visiting www.walmartstores.com.

About TracFone Wireless

TracFone Wireless, Inc. is a subsidiary of America Movil (NYSE: AMX, Nasdaq: AMOV) and has more no-contract cell phone customers than any other carrier in the U.S.

• RIM BlackBerry Curve 2, before Black Friday
• RIM BlackBerry Storm 2, before Black Friday
• HTC Imagio, on October 20
• Samsung Saga 2, early November
• Samsung Omnia 2, early November
• Pantech TXT8030 Razzle, early October
• Casio C731 Rock, mid-November
• Casio C741 Brigade, late October
• Motorola V860 Barrage, "soon" (it's already available online in Verizon)
• LG VX8575 Chocolate Touch, first or second week of November

On the Android front:
• HTC Desire, which will be available before Black Friday. Note: This may be the Verizon Android phone sighted today, though Boy Genius says that might be called the Hero.

• Motorola Tao or Droid (possibly the phone currently codenamed Sholes?) will also be available before Black Friday.

The Barrage has a large 1170maH battery, but otherwise seems like a tough-as-nuts version of Verizon's Motorola Entice. That means you get archaic clamshell specs like a 2-megapixel camera (with video recording), dual speakers, dedicated music controls, blah, blah. It'll also handle Verizon Wireless Services like V CAST video, Rhapsody and VZ Navigator.

If you work on an oil-rig, the Barrage is now available at Verizon for $130 (after $50 rebate; with 2 year contract). You can also make Push to Talk unlimited for an extra $5 bucks a month. [Verizon]

The Entice can also run the usual Verizon Wireless Services: VZ Navigator, V Cast, Family Locator, Dashboard, etc. Other key specs: a 2.2-inch (176 by 220-pixel) color display, and a 2.5mm headphone jack.

But for feature phones, it's all about how low they can go. On that level, the Entice fails...it's not free. You still gotta fork out 40 bucks (with $50 rebate and two-year contract).

If you're a smartphone user, this will all sound pretty yawntastic, but we still try to do a few shout outs here and there for those who've not upgraded yet...[Verizon]

Seriously, think about it: The MC9500 has all the hardware you need, with a 3.5G cellular radio, a 3.7-inch VGA touchscreen, and 806MHz Marvell processor, GPS, Wi-Fi, a 3.2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and even an accelerometer. You can even swap out the keypad with another configuration, or a lump of lead, probably, to maximize the kinetic force when you inevitably use this thing as a bludgeon. Windows Mobile 6.1 is something you don't have a choice but to put up with in this sector, but that's beside the point, really.

It's beautiful, in a way the Cliq couldn't even fathom. I want to take it through airport security. I want to talk on it on the bus. I want to put it on my belt and try to get a seat at a nice restaurant. I want to crush ice with it. I want to club seals with it. I, I, I... want it. Which sucks, because it starts at $2500. [Motorola via V3]

Compared to the G1 this thing is svelte, and the keyboard is aligned correctly with the screen so there's no weird jarring going on when you're typing. The addition of the D-Pad, like we noted in the liveblog, is going to be fantastic for gaming/emulation gaming, and works like a D-Pad when navigating the phone as well. Very useful.

The sliding mechanism feels solid and desirable, as in, I want to open and close the thing all day just to hear the sound. The version I saw was white, and the finish was classy without being ostentatious, and definitely not cheap feeling. There's a heft to it, but it's definitely not heavy.

No hands-on photos yet, so you'll have to take another look at the press shots:

Also topping the list was a swiveling, twisting Nokia 7705 for $230, set for a late September release.

The aforementioned BlackBerry handsets, Curve and Storm 2, will drop sometime in late November and October, respectively. Cost was not listed for either phone, but past pricing conventions might mean a $50 to $100 subsidized price is a safe guess.

The LG entry is the Chocolate Touch, which is scheduled to arrive in October for $230. An HTC offering, called the "Razzle/Blitz 2," will share that same release window.

Lastly, the docs have the Samsung Intensity nestled into a September launch window for $130. [BGR]

Backing up for a second, It's easy to think that Android supports multitouch, since Android phones like the HTC Hero use special builds of the software that include the feature. But your average Android phone is stuck in the single-touch world, which is just sinful when compared to the multitouch iPhone or Pre.

CNET believes that upcoming Android variant "Eclair" will feature multitouch, and they believe Eclair will first make its arrival on a Motorola phone this holiday season.

Until then, just try to forget that Android lacks multitouch. [CNET]

The Morrison will purportedly be a budget line phone boasting the following not-too-shabby features:

Qualcomm 528 MHz CPU
256 MB of RAM
512 MB flash memory
microSDHC support (32GB)
320x480 HVGA display
accelerometer
magnetometer
proximity sensor
ambient light sensor
5 MP camera with autofocus
Geotagging
Also, GPS, 3G support, and wi-fi

The most recent rumors peg the phone with an October 21 launch date, but no price. [Android and Me via I4U]

BGR coaxed a few details about the skin/shell/application set/whatever from a Motorola insider:

It will combine all personal contacts and social networking sites into a clean and easy to use interface...The skin/OS is named "Blur" by Motorola and will be heavily web-connected. All Android devices will be able to upgrade different sections of the OS and interface all over the air.

Given how vague and strange the language is, it's hard to glean exactly what to expect, but I get the feeling the reality of Blur will be somewhat familiar: an HTC-Sense-like social networking layer, with custom widgets and a systemwide skin. This concept works for the Hero, and looks fantastic coming from Sony. As for how Motorola will actually execute this, we'll have to wait and see. Hey, guys, when's that Morrison supposed to come out again? [BGR, Image from Phandroid]

According to the site, the device will feature a 3.7-inch (480 x 854) touchscreen, CDMA, EVDO Rev A support, 512MB of storage 256MB of RAM and support for microSD / microSDHC up to 16 GB (Includes 8GB microSD). It will also include a 5 MP autofocus camera, Bluetooth, GPS, USB and WiFi. If it is the real deal, expect an October release for an undisclosed price. [motofan.ru via Engadget]

Aside from Android and a new black faceplate (instead of the toylike white one we saw before), there's really nothing surprising here, and we're left with the same question: Where is Motorola aiming with this? Based on the bright colors, plastic body and apparently small size the going theory is that this'll not only be Motorola's first Android handset, but the T-Mobile's first cheapo Android handset, for texting tweenz and the like—something that's definitely overdue for the free OS, and which should be easily possible with current hardware.

Alternately, this is Motorola's direct competitor for flagship handsets like the Hero, in which case it could quite easily get murdered, to death. [Phandroid]

- LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 (touchscreen)
- BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 - October/November
- Nokia Shade 2705 - Replaces the Mirage 2605
- Nokia Twist 7705 - The swivel phone from earlier this year?
- Palm Treo 800W
- Motorola Entice W766 (Replaces the W755)
- Samsung Rogue U960 (Replaces the Glyde U940, August)
- Samsung U450 - Verizon Mobile TV-compatible
- Samsung Strut U440 - QWERTY
- Samsung Omnia-II i920 (Holiday 2009)

Again, all rumor, although that ugly looking swivel phone was previously mentioned in the same sentence as "summer 2009." [BGR]

The Morisson, if that's what we have here, is a QWERTY slider in the tradition of the G1, though judging by the bright styling, generously-size d-pad and smooth lines, it seems to be oriented toward a broader audience than its blocky T-Mobile stablemate. In fact, the Morrison would sooner pass as a messaging-centric feature phone than a full-fledged smartphone. Granted, this is a spy pic; it could just as well be either (or neither) of those things.

But think about the possibility for a minute: Android is said to be relatively scalable, it's free, and it would doubtlessly blow the half-baked proprietary OSes on the likes of the Pantech Duo out of the water. I'd say a cheap Android phone is overdue; we'll just have to see if that's what Motorola has in mind. [Mini-suit via Phandroid]

Brodman went on to say that "We'll have multiple new Android devices-from multiple partners-this year." So it is still up in the air whether or not the second phone will be manufactured by HTC, or a new partner like Motorola or Samsung. Still, we are putting our bets on the G2. [mocoNews]

UPDATE: T-Mobile has doubly-confirmed the news saying: "T-Mobile is planning to offer the follow-on device to the T-Mobile G1 early this summer."

It appears that Moto is jumping on the accelerometer bandwagon big time with this one—users can control functions on the phone with simple hand gestures:

Shake up your everyday phone experience by controlling MOTO W7 using simple hand gestures, taps and flicks. Flip the phone over to silence the ringer of an incoming call, snooze the alarm clock or pause the music. Shake twice to instantly launch your favorite application, such as the music player. When showing off your photo albums or music libraries, flick the phone right or left to move between songs and images.

The Moto W7 also features a 2.0 megapixel camera and it runs on a 3G network—although it appears that only customers in Asia and Latin America will be able to get their hands on one in the foreseeable future. [Motorola]

Those surveyed gave the iPhone top marks in all the categories save one: Battery life, where it scored a below-average two out of five. The survey measures ease of operation (30% of final score), physical design (30%), features (20%), and battery life (20%). Apple's total score was a 791, above the industry average of 751, with RIM and HTC at 739 and 744, respectively.

As far as dumbphones, LG scored a high 772, with Samsung nipping at its heels with 759. Motorola tanked, which we all should have expected, with a far below average 659.

We should note, of course, that this survey does not include satisfaction with the wireless service provider at all, which we suspect would have brought the iPhone's scores down to Earth. But at the moment, the iPhone seems to be top dog. [JD Power via CNET]

What we've seen so far of their Android devices seems promising, but they'd better be so hot they melt children's screaming faces from across the room if they're going to bring back Moto, who's been officially junky for a while. [InfoWeek]

The big thing with the evoke is the screen and the UI. This isn't really a powerhouse multimedia phone, a corporate battle ax, or the king of web phones. Sure, you can view a photo or two, listen to some music and check the news, but that is the extent of it's scope.

The touchscreen is actually pretty nice. I never had to press very hard for it to recognize my finger, and was accurate enough to where I was pretty much able to carry out actions without having to retap or backtrack. The screen also has haptic feedback, so you know when and where your input is being recognized. The screen itself was nice and bright, but I wouldn't put it on the same level as screens found on the top smartphones.

The UI also had some cool stuff going on, including a homepage with a handful of Palm Pre "card"-like internet widgets. These connect to services like MySpace, Picasa, any RSS feed and even Google, to simplify the internet experience on this phone. And it's necessary too, because the browser that comes packaged with the phone isn't all that great. The main menu has the standard, touch-based icon grid that has come to dominate Phone UIs over the last couple years, and swiping up and down lets you scroll through the array of icons that are off the screen.

The Evoke has an oblong, pebble-shaped design with rounded corners that let it sit naturally in your hand. The slide out number-pad is flat, not unlike that found on phones like the Ocean 2 or the Pantech Matrix. It seems like it might be a good phone if you want something that's basic, but not boring.