You might not care too much about the CLIQ XT now that Motorola’s announced a whole slew of new Android-based models, but back off for a hot second, killer — there are still plenty of devices out there in the field, and gosh darnit, they still deserve love. The promised Android 2.1 upgrade has yet to arrive, sadly, but T-Mobile and Moto are in the process of trialling a smaller version bump that includes a fresher version of Swype and promises to improve overall system performance, touch response, and stability. On the surface, it seems like Motorola would’ve been better off investing this time and energy into that long-overdue taste of Eclair… but hey, what do we know?
Walmart’s already firmly entrenched in the prepaid cellular business, offering handsets and service via Common Cents (Sprint) and Straight Talk (Verizon Wireless), but according to Greg Hall, vice president of merchandising at Walmart US, there’s a “perception among customers that prepaid service doesn’t offer access to the best phones or the best network quality.” In order to combat that, the outfit will be launching a new postpaid service today dubbed Walmart Family Mobile. The actual fine print is somewhat confusing, as it offers the best of both the pre- and postpaid worlds; users will still pay their monthly bill at the end of the month, but no subsidization will take place on the phones themselves due to this being a no-contract ordeal. It’ll cost $45 per month for unlimited calling and texting for the first line, and $25 per month for every extra line; unfortunately, data will be a pricey addition at $40 per month for 1GB… but at least that rolls over each month in case you don’t use it all. Initially, Wally World will offer five handsets, with the flagship phone being Motorola’s Cliq XT at $249. Frankly, we aren’t too impressed at what’s on offer here — get unlimited data bundled with calling and texting for the same $45 / month, then we’ll talk.
Update: Official PR is now after the break, and that’s a September 20th launch date, so next Monday.
Update 2: So, Walmart’s PR team contacted us to flesh out the data plan details that the AP sort of glossed over. Thankfully, the full skinny is far more attractive than what we were led to believe. In short, each line comes with 100MB of data (one-time); after you use that up, you’ve got a trio of prepaid ‘WebPak’ options to keep you going. $10 buys you an extra 200MB, $25 gets you 500MB and $40 gets you 1GB. Good stuff!
Until now, Milestone owners could do nothing but to envy Droid users rocking the Froyo upgrade; however, according to Motorola’s recently published timeline, the former device is now slated for the same dessert party in Europe and Korea in Q4 — specifically, “beginning at the end of this year,” which could well mean the majority of users won’t get the update until 2011 (!). Meanwhile, said upgrade is still “under evaluation” for Canada, Latin America, Mexico and Asia-Pacific sans Korea.
But here’s the real heartbreaking news from the same chart: unlike their American counterparts, the Dext and Backflip will not be getting an Eclair update in Europe, Latin American and Mexico, while Canada and Asia-Pacific still have a glimpse of hope. Sure, it’s not like Motorola’s earlier timeline laid any concrete details for the European Dext, but there was definitely a date for the Latin America flavor. What concerns us the most is that back in January, Motorola did make a promise — which has since been deleted but forever cached by Google — to its European fans on Facebook: “[the] Dext will get the Android 2.1 upgrade as well.” We have the full shameful statement after the break.
In case you still care, other devices mentioned in the timeline include the US-only Devour (no 2.1 update), Cliq XT / Quench (2.1 in late Q3 / early Q4; under evaluation for Canada and Asia-Pacific), Droid X (Froyo upgrade in late summer, which we knew), Motoroi and Titanium (2.2 in Q4 in Korea for both). If you’re still mourning over the canned update for your Dext, let us remind you that there’s no stopping you from updating your Android slider manually; alternatively, there’s no harm in sending Sanjay a nice postcard, either.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: Miraculously, the offending Facebook status link is now back online…
For starters, there’s no actual way to confirm that the image you’re peering at above is legitimate, but given that the listed Charm just went official, there’s at least a sliver of believability here. So far as we can tell, this is T-Mobile USA’s 2H 2010 handset roadmap, and as you’d expect, it’s chock full of Android. Aside from news of impending Dell netbooks and 16 total phones, we’re paying particular attention to the upcoming Samsung Vibrant (locked for July 21st), the HTC Vanguard (set for September 9th) and an HTC Schubert (pegged for November 17th). We’re guessing that the latter is that 1.5GHz ‘Scorpion’ that we heard about back in June, and we’ll obviously dispose of quite a few tears should that not be the case. In related news, it looks as if the myTouch 3G, Cliq and Cliq XT could be seeing their long-awaited updates to Android 2.1 this August, so there’s that. Hit the links below for more, and feel free to let your imagination run wild in comments below. But not too wild.
Remember that so-called XT502 “Greco” from Motorola that the Bluetooth SIG slipped a few details on last month? We can’t blame you if you don’t, so allow us to refresh your memory: it’s supposedly a full-touch Android device with 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz 3G, and from the looks of the tiny, crappy image they’d posted, it’d probably be a midrange phone. Well, the FCC just passed a Motorola handset codenamed “Greco,” conveniently, and a look at the test docs says that this phone will be known on the market as the Quench XT3 and XT5 (we’re not sure what the difference will be between the two exactly). As you might recall, the current Quench is the international version of the CLIQ XT, which makes perfect sense — the XT is a midrange full-touch Android phone, so as far as we can tell, we’re looking at its successor here. No word on who will be getting it in the US, but the version that’s been approved is for WCDMA bands II and V — so AT&T (which already offers the Backflip) seems the likely candidate. No firmware stupidity this time, alright, guys?
It’s officially the last day of the month. In fact, while many of you are reading this, you might actually be putting your toes into the first day of July. If that’s the case, then try and save some of the excitement for the rest of us, all right? Welcome to tonight’s edition of The Daily Slash. First up, in The Best of R3 Media, it looks like Motorola’s late on the schedule of updates, Microsoft’s got bad news for Kin adopters, and LG announced a new phone. And then in the Dredge ‘Net, Amazon’s getting ready for you to preview Kindle books in another way, and if you’re running Windows 7 Starter Edition, it’s time to upgrade.
The Best of R3 Media
Android 2.1 Update for Cliq and Cliq XT Delayed: When it comes to Android and Motorola, they do really well right out of the gate. Their phones, at least at launch, are something to be enticed about. However, as the months tick along, and Google’s busy releasing new updates for their mobile Operating System, Motorola has been remarkably hit-or-miss on the subject. And, truth be told, more miss than hit. After missing several announced dates for updating the Motorola Droid, the Cliq and Cliq XT were eagerly awaiting their update to Android 2.1 by the second quarter of 2010. Well, they missed that date, and on the last day they possibly could toss up a warning, they did. Telling customers the update’s still coming, but they don’t know when. So, if you’re holding your breath, might want to stop. Be good for your health. [via Android Community]
The Microsoft KIN is Dead: After being in the market for only 48 days, Microsoft has made the official decision to go ahead and kill off the KIN lineage. That means the Kin One and Kin Two are, from this point on, dead. Even if Verizon doesn’t want to admit it to themselves, or maybe customers, word came down from the higher-ups that the Redmond-based company is focusing on Windows Phone 7, and therefore they don’t have time for something like the KIN. So, bad news for those out there who purchased it, but good news for future Windows Phone 7 owners, hopefully. [via SlashGear]
LG Sentio Finally Released: It had been broke from cover a few months ago, and now the LG Sentio is finally official. So official in fact, that T-Mobile is actually selling it right now. So, if you’re in the market for a mid-range touchscreen device, featuring a 3-inch display, and social networking features to make sure that you get caught up with all your friends all the time, then go ahead and get ready to drop $69.99 on a new, two-year contract, and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Or you could just but it out-right for $179.99. Your call. [via PhoneMag]
The Dredge ‘Net
Kindle Turns to HTML 5: Right now, Amazon’s Kindle application for Apple’s iOS is far more useful and feature-packed than the actual Kindle itself, but we won’t worry about that right now. And, they’ve just released the Kindle for Android application, too. But what about the PC? Well, if you want to grab a preview of a book you’re interested in, you’ll be abel to do that without opening another application. You just need to swear your allegiance to HTML 5, and you’ll be able to read a chapter or two before you decide to buy anything. Good plan, Amazon. [via Ubergizmo]
Windows Any Time Upgrade Ends Saturday: All good things must come to an end. And in classic Microsoft tradition, their period of offering cheaper upgrades to their current generation Operating Systems is coming to an end yet again. If you currently find yourself on Windows 7 Starter Edition, and you were hoping to nab an upgrade to Home Premium for only $50, then you need to act now. Or if you’re on Home Premium and want to jump up to Professional for $79.99, then your time is runnig out. Micrsoft is pulling the plug on the cheap updates this Saturday, so you’ll be expected to pay the full price — $79.99 and $89.99 respectively. Anyone going to jump on this before time runs out? [via Engadget]
We’ve seen this coming for at least a week or two now, but for what it’s worth, Motorola has now made it official that the CLIQ and CLIQ XT won’t be seeing upgrades to Android 2.1 in the second quarter of the year (which ends today) as had been previously promised. That’s certainly a bummer, especially considering that the devices run Cupcake, which is — at this point, anyway — a truly ancient iteration of the platform that many modern, popular Android apps don’t even support (Donut seems to be a pretty popular cut-off point). So, when is it coming now? Hard to say; all Moto’s saying is that it’ll happen “as soon as possible” and that it’s going to “take more time on the release to optimize the experience in some key areas.” Droid X, anyone?
Usual rules apply — we can’t independently confirm this at the moment — but a tipster has sent us what appears to be T-Mobile training materials for an upcoming Motoblur-infused candybar smartphone, the Motorola Charm. Only this Motoblur is allegedly powered by Android 2.1 and boasts the same scalable widgets as we saw on Droid X, in addition to improved Facebook / Twitter integration (hello, Like and Retweet) and the usual Eclair refinements.As far as the hardware is concerned, there isn’t much to glean from it at this point, aside from a textured QWERTY keyboard reminiscent of the CLIQ and a “camera” button denoting some form of memory-capturing capabilities. Speaking of which, the materials mention that the enhanced Motoblur is heading to CLIQ and CLIQ XT. Let us bookend this entire post with another reminder that none of this is confirmed, but we do know more than a few T-Mobile users who would love to get their mitts on a candybar Android.
The CLIQ’s keyboardless cousin is getting a software update as we speak — but unfortunately, it’s probably not quite what you were hoping for. In fact, the T-Mobile Community board post officially announcing the CLIQ XT upgrade had to specifically call out the fact that this isn’t Android 2.1, proof positive that there’s a ton of interest in getting these things on something fresher than the 1.5 they launched on. Anyhow, the update still looks like a good one, promising to improve “overall phone performance” and tweak visual voicemail, Bluetooth, touchscreen accuracy, messaging, and camera issues. T-Mobile says you’re welcome to wait for the on-screen notification, or you can manually check for the update in Settings and you should be able to pick it up. Good luck, folks.
Your hopes, dreams, and deepest desires for a keyboardless CLIQ have finally materialized today now that Motorola’s CLIQ XT has reached T-Mobile shops across the country. Interestingly, yesterday’s leaked documentation pegged the date, but not the price — rather than the rumored $99.99, the XT will actually be going for $129.99 on a two-year contract. We guess that’s still not bad for a bona fide myTouch 3G alternative with a 5 megapixel cam — as long as you can get down with Blur, of course.
You might not care too much about the CLIQ XT now that Motorola’s announced a whole slew of new Android-based models, but back off for a hot second, killer — there are still plenty of devices out there in the field, and gosh darnit, they still deserve love. The promised Android 2.1 upgrade has yet to arrive, sadly, but T-Mobile and Moto are in the process of trialling a smaller version bump that includes a fresher version of Swype and promises to improve overall system performance, touch response, and stability. On the surface, it seems like Motorola would’ve been better off investing this time and energy into that long-overdue taste of Eclair… but hey, what do we know?
