Motorola CLIQ XT Review

Introduction:

We've witnessed Motorola come back strong and hard in the US with its line of QWERTY packing Android phones, but they've been silent in the touchscreen only department. Following the same path as the Motorola CLIQ on T-Mobile, the latest Android handset from the veteran phone manufacturer takes everything we love about that handset and removes its QWERTY keyboard. Essentially coming up the Motorola CLIQ XT that sports the social networking happy MOTOBLUR interface. Even though it may have some close ties to its older sibling, the Motorola CLIQ XT looks to attract customers with its slimmer design and hopefully more complete interface.

The package contains:
•    Motorola CLIQ XT
•    USB Cable
•    2GB microSD card pre-installed
•    Charger
•    Hands-free Headset

Design:

It's almost hard to imagine unless you see it for yourself, but the Motorola CLIQ XT is both longer (4.59”) and wider (2.34”) than the CLIQ; except in the thickness department where it would naturally be smaller (0.48”). The candybar style phone uses a two tone color scheme that's traditionally used a lot – the textured black plastic of the front and back mixes well with the often used chrome bezel. It's not the prettiest thing out there, but differentiates itself enough from the CLIQ. There are two soft touch back covers that are available in the packaging – one is completely purple and the other is a textured black one. Even though it has some heft to its overall look, it's relatively light weight and doesn't cause a distraction in the pockets. And of course, the candybar design makes the CLIQ XT feel solidly built all around without the worry of it breaking – but it doesn't exude that premium feel like the DROID.



You can compare the Motorola CLIQ XT with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Looking closely at the Motorola CLIQ XT, one will notice that it still has the same 3.1” LCD touchscreen that has a resolution of 320x480 pixels and 262k color support. We instantly could tell the difference as colors seemed to jump out with their strong tones. Clarity of reading text was of little issue as the display was detailed enough in distinguishing fine lines. The phone stacks up well against a good mix of lighting conditions which made viewing it in various degrees decent enough on the eyes. Taking it in the direct view of the sun caused us to shield it with our hand as it was almost unviewable.

Sticking with the traditional approach, the CLIQ XT offers four physical buttons below the touchscreen as opposed to touch-sensitive ones we see nowadays – these are the menu, search, home, and back keys. They surround a large sized trackpad that has this textured feel to it, which makes moving around more comfortable while acting as a button itself when pressed down. Despite the lack of separation between the keys, as they are all built into the surface, they still provide a decent tactile response. We can't say the same for the other dedicated buttons found on the sides of the phone – they were difficult to make out with our fingers and were flush to the surface. The 3.5mm headset port is located on the top side while microUSB port is found on the left. The rear of the phone houses the 5-megapixel auto-focusing camera with LED flash while the speaker is found above it. Removing the rear cover was a bit difficult as there was the need for some additional force. Once it's completely taken off, you'll have access to the battery (1420 mAh), SIM card slot, and microSD slot.