Timeline (the condensed version): Google launches Android 2.1 on January 5th, Motorola promises to eventually offer 2.1 for all its Android handsets (including the heavily skinned CLIQ) on January 6th, Google’s Nexus One gets 2.1 on January 11th. We wait. Motorola CLIQ gets 2.1 today, a mere 11 months later. Sure, maybe we were young and naive, but who could’ve known then that this update would be so long coming? Nobody really knows the solution to this problem in a general sense, especially since vanilla Android seems to be off the table for the majority of phones. What could compel a handset manufacturer and a carrier to work up timely software updates on heftily-skinned handsets past their shelf life, potentially competing with their own newer handsets in the process? Maybe paying for updates? Real Genuine Tears of Desperation? You tell us. Anyway, congrats to the saintly CLIQ owners out there who have waited patiently for 2.1, and a grumble grumble thanks to Motorola for keeping its promise.

Motorola CLIQ gets Android 2.1 at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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…

Continue reading Motorola Milestone to get Android 2.2 in Europe and Korea in late Q4, Dext 2.1 upgrade looking bleak

Motorola Milestone to get Android 2.2 in Europe and Korea in late Q4, Dext 2.1 upgrade looking bleak originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t know about you, but our poor Motorola Dext (or Cliq as it’s know in the Land of the Free) had been left gathering dust for some time as it got unbearably laggy, even after a few wipes. We only clung onto this Android 1.5 device in the hope that Motorola or T-Mobile would stick to their update schedules. And boy we got lucky, as an anonymous leakster dropped off an allegedly official T-Mobile 2.1 ROM for said phone yesterday, which sounds about right when you think of the carrier’s planned August update. Read on to find out how the new ROM’s running on our Dext — we’ve also got a hands-on video for you.

Continue reading Motorola Cliq / Dext gets leaked Android 2.1 update, not pinch-to-zoom (video)

Motorola Cliq / Dext gets leaked Android 2.1 update, not pinch-to-zoom (video) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve barely recovered from our Devour review, but Moto just threw another Blur-ified phone in our laps this afternoon – the CLIQ XT. We’ve been playing around with the Android 1.5-based, Flash Lite-supported, multitouch-capable handset for the last couple of hours — but before we grace you with our first impressions, just a fair warning: we don’t yet know the price of the new T-Mobile Android handset, though Motorola did promise us that it will hit shelves this month. With that said, hit the break for a quick rundown of our early thoughts.

Continue reading Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We wouldn’t rate the ability to tune FM radio highly on our wishlist of missing features on Motorola’s CLIQ, but nonetheless an Android tweaker by the name of Eugene has figured out how to deliver it. The necessary receiving hardware for pulling down the Weekly Top 40 was actually there all the time, Eugene just needed some binary files — and to believe. Once he believed hard enough, clapped his hands, and copied over those files, presto he was groovin’. He hasn’t released a working version of his tweak to the world just yet, but we presume that will be coming soon enough.

Moto CLIQ hacked to enable FM radio, easy listenin’ coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sick of Motorola meting out Android firmware updates when it chooses? Trust in The Dude — TheDudesAndroid, to be specific, a user over at ModMyMoto who has posted The Dudes Root for Cliq (following up an earlier and similarly unkempt version for the G1). The install process looks about as complicated as you might expect, so make sure you keep Walter away while you’re re-flashing lest your handset go all nihilistic on ya. At this point it’s just another 1.5 ROM being installed, but the hope is for a 2.1 port coming in the not too distant future. Unless you’re really pining to get full control over your handset we’d go ahead and wait for that version of the Dude to abide.

Update: The Dude mentioned in comments that credit is also due to fellow Android magicians danation, Skilrax_CZ, and others. We can’t think of any funny movie references for those names so we’ll just leave it at that.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s an excruciatingly small amount of detail to go on right now, but the Boy Genius has managed to snag a few tasty shots of what could be the world’s first iDEN Android handset. The Opus One (as it’s currently codenamed) certainly smacks of the myTouch 3G in terms of design, though the bottom-mounted ball is obviously replaced with what appears to be an intensely large home button. Hit the source link for a couple more images, and drop your wildest estimations of a specs list in comments below.

Motorola’s Opus One leaks out, whispers of ‘iDEN’ and ‘Android’ overheard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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