Hasta La Gadget!

Maybe you thought the Motorola Xoom would be devoid of — or dare we say, spared from — a coat of Motoblur. Being the inaugural Honeycomb device, you’d expect Google to keep the tablet as vanilla as possible (e.g. G1, Nexus One, Nexus S). Indeed, Android’s director of engineering Dave Burke tells CNET UK that Xoom is a flagship product for Mountain View, but in the same reported meeting, Motorola’s Jonathan Nattrass said Motoblur will be coming to the tablet as a software update. In what form? We don’t know, but if we had to guess, it’s gonna be much more isolated that previous devices — special widgets, perhaps, and services for backup or tracking a lost slate. Let’s play wait-and-see on this one, at least until the top bar gets a cartoonish blue aesthetic.

Update: Motorola reached out to Phandroid to say that, yes, this is a “Google Experience Device” and as such, you should expect the platform and UI to be Google’s. Doesn’t exactly explain where Nattrass got his talking points, but for now let’s call it a strong rebuttal and move on. Certainly we’ll have a clearer picture once we can actually try Xoom / Honeycomb out for ourselves.

Motoblur coming to Xoom as software update, still considered Google flagship product? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CNET UK  | Email this | Comments

The Android landscape’s certainly getting crowded, isn’t it? We can still vividly remember the days when the T-Mobile G1 was the only game in town, and now here we are — just two years later — flush with options covering virtually every market segment from the ultra-high end to the ultra-low and everything in between. One niche market that’s usually underserved, though, is the beat-the-crap-out-of-your-phone market. You know who you are: you work hard, you play hard, or you’ve just got an incurable case of butterfingers — but whatever the case, you need a phone that you aren’t breaking, bricking, melting, freezing, or otherwise destroying every few weeks.

It’s not that rugged phones haven’t existed, of course. Far from it: Nextel and Motorola practically invented (and thrived off of) the concept, and options like AT&T’s Samsung Rugby and Verizon’s Casio G’zOne series have been available for some time. By and large, though, it’s been a field devoid of smartphones — and these days, that’s just not going to cut it. The kinds of people that need a phone that can take a few knocks don’t necessarily want to buy them at the expense of power or capability anymore. On that note, Motorola’s new Android-powered Defy for T-Mobile USA (and other carriers abroad) is one of the few to take a shot at elegantly combining environmental resistance with a no-compromise smartphone experience, featuring Blur atop Android 2.1 with a 5 megapixel autofocus cam, LED flash, 800MHz TI OMAP3610 core, and a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 display. In other words, on paper, it’s no slouch — but can it hang? Let’s find out.

Continue reading Motorola Defy review

Motorola Defy review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile USA’s tweet pretty much says it all — the Defy is nigh — and you’ll be able to pick Motorola’s ruggedized handset come November 3rd for a penny under $100 on-contract. It’s not the fastest handset on the block, saddled as it is with both Blur and Android 2.1, but there’s nothing quite like a handset that you can stab with a pen or dunk in the drink while it’s still turned on.

Motorola Defy makes a splash on T-Mobile this November 3rd for $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TmoNews  |  @TMobile (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Motorola must’ve been real busy lately. Sharing the Verizon limelight with the Droid Pro today is this new entry-level Citrus candybar, which is actually the WX445 we saw exclusively back in July. Sadly, said handset will still be shipped with a slightly disappointing Android 2.1 OS and Blur skin, but hey, we did say it’s entry level, right? The good folks over at xda-developers will probably Froyo-lize the phone in no time, anyway. Not much else is known right now, but bear with us while we look out for more deets.

Update: Okay, the press release is out — check it after the break. It’s hitting this quarter for an unannounced price (a low one, we’d presume), and one of its claims to fame is the fact that it’s fashioned of 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and is both PVC and BFR free.

Continue reading Motorola Citrus budget candybar outed by Verizon, sports Android 2.1 and Blur

Motorola Citrus budget candybar outed by Verizon, sports Android 2.1 and Blur originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Phone Scoop, BGR  |   | Email this | Comments

Even without yesterday’s premature video promo, you had to know Motorola wouldn’t leave its international audience without a successor to the Milestone, so today — surprise, surprise — we’re being treated to the Milestone 2’s launch. The first thing to be said here is that if you’ve handled a Droid 2, you’ve also handled a Milestone 2 — the new phone follows Moto’s tradition of being a simple rebadge away from the Verizon-friendly Droid naming scheme, which means it retains the same 1GHz OMAP SOC, 512MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of integrated storage (plus an included 8GB MicroSD card), and Android 2.2 as the default, albeit Motoblured, OS. Also, we got this straight from the Motohorse’s mouth: Motoblur’s not going anywhere, it’s the company’s “Android solution” and is here to stay.

One advantage over the Droid 2 here is the addition of 720p video recording. It’s still the exact same imager as on the back of the first Milestone, but now you can catch moving visuals in HD resolution. Moto were keen to point out the 5-device hotspot capabilities (courtesy of Froyo) on the Milestone 2, but they showed it off using a wired connection since the demo handset’s O2 SIM card wouldn’t permit wireless tethering. Well, that was a grand demonstration of how vulnerable our Android 2.2 goodness will be to the whims of mobile carriers. The Milestone 2’s expected to launch around Europe in Q4, with carrier-dependent pricing as per usual.

Update: Hands-on video now available after the break.

Continue reading Motorola Milestone 2 arrives, 720p HD video, Android 2.2, and Motoblur Enhanced in tow

Motorola Milestone 2 arrives, 720p HD video, Android 2.2, and Motoblur Enhanced in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments