08/16, 8:55am
Verizon pushes bug fix for Droid X users
Verizon has pushed an 11MB update out to all users of the Motorola Droid X. The new build of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) addresses a range of issues that users were experiencing after updating their device from Android 2.2 (Froyo) to Android 2.3 customized with Motorola's Blur UI. After the bugs faced by Droid X users, it was rumored that Verizon has frozen all Motorola's Android 2.3 updates for other devices until the bugs were sorted.
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07/22, 7:55pm
Motorola Atrix 4G Android 2.3 update arrives
Motorola gave Atrix 4G owners a treat at the end of the week by posting its Android 2.3 update. The update brings both the performance, polish, and interface updates of 2.3 itself as well as updates to Motorola's custom tweaks, including ones that haven't shown on other Motorola Android 2.3 revisions. Among the surprises is an upgrade to 1080p movie playback that helps it compete even with newer phones.
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06/02, 7:00pm
Motorola CEO Jha blames returns on bad app quality
Most of Motorola's phone returns are actually from people confusing poorly running apps with the phone quality itself, chief executive Sanjay Jha explained in a presentation at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference on Thursday. Of those returns that were tracked, 70 percent had been turned in because they used too much battery power or bogged the phone down. Google's loose testing on Android Market didn't check for this, leaving Motorola to both monitor for it and deal with the returns.
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02/16, 5:25pm
Droid X shows up in new photos with fresh UI
More images of the recently leaked Droid X 2 handset have been spotted online, again thanks to MobiZone. This latest report also confirms some of the earlier specs, including the 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, the eight-megapixel camera and Android 2.2 with the latest Motoblur skin. A huge 4.3-inch, 960x540-pixel display is also part of the package.
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02/01, 5:45pm
Android 2.3 with Motoblur on Droid X leaked
A series of screenshots found over on the MyDroidWorld forum have shown off an unofficial build of Android 2.3 running on the Motorola Droid X. The device also comes with the prerequisite Motoblur interface overlaid atop the OS. How or where these images came from isn't being revealed, so the build isn't necessarily sanctioned.
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01/21, 5:35pm
Motorola may bring Motoblur to Xoom after debut
(Update: Motorola commentary) Motorola may make Xoom users get its custom Motoblur interface after the tablet launches. European Android product manager Jonathan Nattrass said in an interview that the tablet would use pure Android 3.0 to start but get a "social aspect" from Motorola in an update later on. He didn't tell CNET whether this meant a full customized interface, if it would be limited to widgets or if it would be strictly optional.
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12/28, 6:00pm
Dell Streak 7 and Moto Cliq 2 get leaked date
An as yet unconfirmed rumor on Tuesday night has pinpointed the T-Mobile launches of the Dell Streak 7 and possibly the unannounced Motorola Cliq 2. Both would reportedly ship on January 19 and might be unveiled at CES on January 6. The date is tentative even for the source and might change, TmoNews was told.
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12/22, 10:15am
Motorola confirms buying Zecter for ZumoDrive tech
Motorola Mobility on Wednesday quickly confirmed that it had bought Zecter in a minor hit to iOS. The takeover gives it access to the technology behind the iOS apps ZumoCast and ZumoDrive and will be used directly to push cloud access on its Android phones, including in the Motoblur layer. Zecter's technology will be used for "wireless syncing, desktop integration, video transcoding and thin-file retrieval technologies" to provide access to content from home on the phone, Motorola said.
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10/15, 3:10pm
Moto Cliq at T-Mobile to get Android 2.1 mid-Nov
Motorola's long-delayed Android 2.1 update for the Cliq could finally arrive next month based on a company note that escaped on Friday. T-Mobile staff are due to start training on November 7 for the update and would likely have to be ready to support upgraded Cliqs in mid-November. TmoNews' source said most training for updates takes about a week to complete.
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10/05, 10:25am
ATT adds Moto Bravo, Flipout and Flipside
AT&T committed to Android in a major fashion this morning by picking up three Motorola phones, all running Android 2.1 with the newest Motoblur layer. The Bravo is the highest-end of the three with an 800MHz OMAP 3610 processor, a 3.7-inch 854x480 touchscreen and a three-megapixel camera. It's the only full-touch design of the group and comes with a three-megapixel camera and a 2GB microSD card for storage.
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09/18, 5:55pm
Nokia's Skillman: Apple and Moto UIs are complex
Nokia's new MeeGo user experience leader Peter Skillman in an interview on Friday criticized both Apple and Motorola in equal measure for interface design choices. He didn't give a full critique of the iPhone to ZURB but said iOS was inconsistent in how users navigate the interface. The former Palm Pre creator embraced Apple-like design philosophy but argued that the iPhone broke the metaphors it wanted to create by forcing users into a different control method to start a new app.
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09/16, 9:20am
Motorola buys Aloqa for location in Motoblur UI
Motorola today bought Aloqa with an aim to improve its custom Motoblur interface for Android. The mobile app for iPhone, Android and other platforms will have its location awareness of events and other services rolled into Motorola's own widgets. Motorola wouldn't identify the exact features but expected the push-based local content to link "users and publishers."
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09/13, 1:25pm
Moto Defy to reach T-Mobile USA by end of year
Motorola today quickly confirmed a North American version of the Defy for T-Mobile. The ruggedized Android phone will ship by the holidays and will get an unusual debut today on the Oprah Winfrey Show. It's so far characterized as a US exclusive for the Americna carrier.
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09/01, 8:15am
Moto Defy a weather, scratch proof Android phone
Motorola brought out a second Android phone in its pre-IFA launches, this time aimed at the outdoors. The Defy has the 3.7-inch, 854x480 screen of the Droid 2 but in a touch-only design built to survive outdoors. The shell is booth dustproof and water-resistant, and the screen is tempered to be much less scratch-prone. It also touts a dual microphone to cut back on wind noise and other outdoor sounds.
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08/25, 6:00pm
Motorola Charm now available at T-Mobile
As promised, the Motorola Charm is now available at T-Mobile. The squat Android handset sports a hardware QWERTY keyboard and gets a 2.8-inch, 320x240 touchscreen. Android 2.1 is preloaded, but Motorola's full Motoblur user interface sits on top for a social networking component.
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08/18, 7:55pm
Handset priced at $75
T-Mobile has announced that it is set to launch Motorola's Android-based Charm handset on August 25. The budget-priced handset features a fixed QWERTY keyboard paired with a 2.8-inch 320x240 touchscreen. Motorola's Motoblur UI sits atop Android 2.1, which is powered by a 600MHz processor.
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08/09, 6:50pm
Company to keep Motoblur alive in near term
Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha has announced that his company will no longer focus on its customized Motoblur UI for Android handsets. The executive cited difficulty conveying Motoblur's value proposition in a 30-second ad spot. The company earlier this year secured a Super Bowl segment featuring actress Megan Fox.
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08/04, 5:00pm
Moto and Samsung Android phones arrive at Rogers
More phones have launched at Rogers today beyond the Curve 3G and this time focus on Android. The Samsung Captivate is now due to reach Canada and will be the second Galaxy S version in the country beyond Bell's Vibrant. It should be identical to the AT&T version and, besides four distinct buttons at the bottom, will have the familiar four-inch Super AMOLED screen, five-megapixel camera, 1GHz processor and TouchWiz 3-influenced Android interface.
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07/07, 11:00am
Moto Charm a tiny QWERTY-plus-touch Android phone
Motorola today finally confirmed the Charm, its first fixed QWERTY Android phone. It combines a squat 2.8-inch, 320x240 touchscreen with a keyboard and should be uniquely suited to messaging. Simultaneously, it's the first device with both Motoblur and Android 2.1 in the US, and consequently gets not just Google's OS upgrades but much more customization of social network sources and widgets.
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07/01, 5:05pm
Moto Charm, Samsung Supersonic priced at T-Mobile
A leaked pricing sheet for T-Mobile has revealed two new handsets are due soon at the carrier, including the Motorola Charm and Samsung Supersonic. According to T-MoNews, the former is a candybar with a full portrait hardware QWERTY keyboard, the MOTOBLUR interface and Android 2.1. The sheet reveals pricing will be set at $270 as a standalone, or $75 after a $75 mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract.
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06/21, 10:50am
Verizon Droid X tease matches TV ad leak
Verizon today posted a teaser video (below) for the Droid X ahead of its unveiling on Wednesday. While the clip doesn't give away information on its own, it confirms a TV ad leak and that many of the details of the phone are accurate. It should have as much as a 1GHz processor, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, an eight-megapixel camera with 720p video capture and a version of Android 2.1 with a new, low-key variant on Motoblur.
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06/16, 8:35am
Android's Gingerbread may hurt HTC, Motorola
Google could put an end to custom Android interfaces with its next major release, sources said Wednesday. Android 3.0, also known as Gingerbread, will focus heavily on the user experience and is specifically aimed at reducing the need for layers like HTC's Sense UI or Motorola's Motoblur. As most core features were added with Android 2.2, the attention now is on having an interface with polish closer to that of the iPhone.
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06/11, 5:05pm
Moto Droid X almost entirely exposed
Motorola's Droid X, sometimes better known as the Droid Xtreme, has finally been exposed in earnest with a preview showing many of its details in advance. The 4.3-inch screen is one of the highlights as it's considered "much better than the Droid" and may use a newer IPS-based LCD. Motoblur has indeed been changed and, as Gadget U said, "not as bad" as some feared given Motorola's history with phones like the Cliq.
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06/07, 5:50pm
Photos of first MetroPCS Android phone leaked
Photos of the first Android handset to arrive at prepaid provider MetroPCS have leaked, thanks to AndroidGuys. The unnamed handset looks much like the T-Mobile Cliq, and will include Android 2.1 customized with Motoblur layered on top. It's rumored to get a 600MHz processor and a 3-megapixel camera.
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06/07, 9:15am
Motorola XT720 reaches Europe before Droid Xtreme
Motorola started off the week by bringing its most advanced touch-only phone so far to the West. The Milestone XT720 is a direct export of the MOTOROI and carries its upgraded 8-megapixel camera with performance fast enough to handle 720p video recording and playback. Motoblur still carries over to this phone and here gets upgraded to Android 2.1.
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06/02, 5:35pm
Moto Shadow or Droid Xtreme gets yet more detail
Motorola's Droid Shadow has received new details that also hint at a naming change. It may be called the Droid Xtreme and could ship with Android 2.2 out of the box with up to nine home screens. The handler for Droid-Life claims the phone body is mostly made of metal phone and would be a tough as the original Droid despite a much thinner, touch-only build.
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06/02, 10:10am
Motorola outs unusual Android twister phone
Motorola this morning rolled out its first-ever phone to run both Android 2.1 and the Motoblur custom UI. The Flipout borrows from the Nokia Twist and has a rare squared-off shape with a QWERTY keyboard that swivels out into a vertical position. Besides multi-touch and all the other benefits of the more recent Google OS, Motoblur gets an upgrade at the same time: it now allows filtering out certain updates from the home screen feeds, shows both work and personal mail, and carries both battery and data managers to avoid using too much power or bandwidth.
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05/27, 10:45am
Moto CEO wants tablet but may not use Android
Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha at a Barclays conference today discussed the possibility of a tablet but quickly set boundaries around what he would do. He and his company believe a 7- to 10-inch tablet would work as a companion device around the home, such as for watching TV, but are hesitant about doing a device with a full operating system, like the iPad. Jha said he wasn't "comfortable" with Android on a larger screen than a phone's.
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05/26, 10:40am
Moto Droid Shadow exists in prototype
The Motorola Shadow has been leaked out again in more concrete fashion through a post showing the device in person. Possibly called the Droid Shadow, it looks much like the device shown in a user manual and, on the side, the device shown in very early shots. Its highlight will be a 4.1-inch touchscreen, but the outside shows a mini HDMI output that supports rumors it would be fast enough to output video at 1080p.
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05/22, 6:00pm
Touch-only Moto Droid sequel may use new Motoblur
Motorola's Shadow may have been confirmed as an official Verizon flagship in a manual leaked out this afternoon. As rumored, it should be an extremely high-end, touchscreen only phone with what should be a larger 4.1- or 4.3-inch display. It would also bring the custom Motoblur interface to a high-end device, albeit possibly stripped down, and is very likely to have both Android 2.2 and built-in Flash 10.1 by the time it ships.
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04/28, 2:20pm
Motorola Backflip arrives at Canada's Telus
The Motorola Backflip smartphone is now shipping at Canadian provider Telus. The Android phone is much like the AT&T version and hinges on an unusual reverse clamshell along with a unique touchpad behind the display for operating in its open position. It still carries 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and the MOTOBLUR custom UI, although it's not yet known if it allows unsigned third-party apps, unlike the limited AT&T version.
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04/12, 11:10pm
Phone offers square form with QWERTY slider
Images have surfaced showing an unannounced Motorola handset, referred to as the Twist, according to the French site Android France. The device features a unique square shape, apparently measuring 67x67 mm, with a full QWERTY slider and a thickness of 15.8mm. If the reports are accurate, the handset marks Motorola's first Android 2.1 offering with the company's own MotoBlur interface.
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03/17, 11:25am
Moto Cliq XT gives cheaper touch-only MOTOBLUR
T-Mobile this morning began selling its promised Motorola Cliq XT. The second-ever Motorola Android phone for the carrier is a touch-only version of the original Cliq and continues to use its 3.1-inch touchscreen and 5-megapixel camera. Apart from using an on-screen keyboard, it varies in using a touchpad instead of a D-pad for physical control.
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03/06, 12:10pm
Moto i1 would bring MOTOBLUR to iDEN
Motorola's Opus One push-to-talk Android phone has been given a more definitive launch plan thanks to a leak late Friday. The phone is now set to be called the i1 when it ships and should carry the MOTOBLUR interface on top of the Google OS, which is still limited to Android 1.5. Engadget also now expects a 3-megapixel camera on top of the known iDEN and Wi-Fi.
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03/03, 10:35am
Moto Backflip, Quench, more to hit Canada
Motorola today said that Android phones using its in-house MOTOBLUR interface should reach Canada this spring. The lineup will involve the entire current and soon-to-ship US mix, including the Backflip, Dext (Cliq) and Quench (Cliq XT). What changes would apply to the Canadian models, if any, aren't known.
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02/18, 6:00pm
Motoblur 'likely' on TV boxes in late 2010
In a move that signals greater cohesion between its cellphone and home-products divisions, Motorola has said that it would bring e-mail and social networking functions to television set-top boxes. The MOTOBLUR interface, which ties together social networks, emails and news, is now being tested on set-top devices. Motoblur-enabled set-top boxes will likely ship in late 2010 or early 2011. Motoblur made its debut on the Cliq late last year but has since spread to phones like the Backflip and MOTOROI.
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02/18, 8:35am
Moto Backflip becomes first ATT Android phone
As expected, AT&T today added the Motorola Backflip to its roster. The carrier's first Android phone centers on its unique control scheme, which we saw in action at CES: the QWERTY keyboard flips out from behind the display and also lets users handle touch features through a surface behind the screen. AT&T's version uses the stock software, which centers on the MOTOBLUR interface on top of Android 1.5.
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02/16, 2:20pm
Moto Devour now for pre-sale at Best Buy Mobile
Best Buy on Tuesday said it will launch the Motorola Devour on February 25th, and is now offering pre-orders for the handset. This is ahead of the previously expected ship date of March at Verizon, which could still hold true. The pre-sale, which starts today only in stores, requires that hopefuls buy a $50 Best Buy gift card if they want to secure a spot in advance.
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02/15, 8:30am
Moto Cliq XT and Quench continue Android push
Motorola used the start of MWC on Monday to launch its eighth Android phone. The Cliq XT, or Quench outside of the US, will be the first phone without a hardware keyboard to use the social networking-heavy MOTOBLUR interface. New physical controls are equally a first: the new Cliq has a large touchpad that can simplify scrolling when the phone is used one-handed.
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02/03, 5:55pm
Moto Zeppelin handset spotted ahead of MWC
The Motorola Zeppelin has been more thoroughly pictured ahead of its expected official debut at the Mobile World Congress show later this month. Popping up in Brazil, the device runs on Android 1.5 and has the MOTOBLUR interface. The phone is billed to ship in March, at least in Brazil.
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02/01, 5:45pm
Verizon reps get Moto Devour material early
Motorola's Devour edged closer to launch on Monday with a shot of a box destined for Verizon shops. The Android slider should ultimately reach Verizon in silver and will emphasize MOTOBLUR just as much as the Cliq at T-Mobile. It also drops any immediate connection to the Droid label.
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01/27, 4:50pm
Motorola Zeppelin to debut at MWC in February
New information has surfaced on the previously seen, albeit briefly, Motorola Zeppelin, revealing it will run on Android and will be officially debuted at the Mobile World Congress show in February. It will have touch-sensitive buttons below the 3.2-inch display with a 480x240 resolution, which is also expected to have touch functionality. The Zeppelin will also sport a 5-megapixel camera, a GPS sensor and the MOTOBLUR interface.
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01/25, 4:40pm
MOTOROI to support T-Mobile 3G bands
The touch-only MOTOROI handset that's rumored to arrive in the US in March is most likely coming to T-Mobile first, as indicated by a recent FCC document. The FCC indicates that the phone will support the 1,700/2,100MHz 3G bands used by T-Mobile. The device is also expected to come with Android 2.1 and sports a 3.7-inch screen with a 480x854 resolution.
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