David LaGesse
Motorola Cliq - Google Android SmartPhone
Flexibility of the Google software makes these phones anything but clones of one another
Although a year late, the Google phone is living up to its promise. Phones based on the Web giant's Android software appear ready to challenge the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Nokia brands as a leading contender in the smartphone wars. A slew of Google phones have suddenly descended on the market, with dozens more expected to arrive late this year and early in 2010.
[Check out these technology gifts for the holidays.]
No single Android-based phone is likely to match the runaway success of the iPhone. But the wave of
Google-supported
phones could add up to a broad hit that sells more handsets than
Apple, as
Unlike
In the past month or so, the system has blossomed. It's now on more than two dozen phones. And to firmly establish itself,
No doubt, the iPhone has a huge lead with more than 100,000 applications available for download. Just like with PCs, it's the apps that make smartphones useful to consumers and that will help drive sales. But Android has ample choice in 10,000 available apps, and more are coming.
It's also hard to beat free. The search giant essentially gives away the Android system, which it is using to corner the wireless world much like its free searches captured PCs. These phones make clear what Google is after, with their tight integration into Google apps such as Gmail, maps, and Google Voice.
And it's hard to beat easy. Cellphone makers like
Android phones that are hitting the market are remarkably different from each other, unlike the consistent--some might argue repetitive--look and feel of phones from Apple, RIM, and
Verizon Droid (
The handset has a beautiful, 3.7-inch touch screen and hardware keyboard that slides out from underneath. The
The software, too, is more straight forward. It's a fast, clean implementation of the Google-designed Android. The keyboard is better than a software keyboard, though it's disappointing with almost-flat keys that seem harder to find than on competing Android phones.
With that said, it's the only phone so far that's running the latest version, Android 2.0, with its added capabilities. The Droid, for example, can sync with multiple Gmail accounts and merge multiple E-mail accounts from a variety of providers into a single in-box. All in all, the Droid is easy enough for anyone to use out of the box.
But even its name suggests an orientation to someone who wants a fully powered companion at their fingertips. The Droid, more than other phones, bares Android's techy feel. It's more for a tinkerer than, say, the iPhone or Palm Pre. The Droid is for someone who wants to fully tap a phone's potential and who isn't beholden to style and soft edges.
T-Mobile Cliq (
The hardware itself is chic, with a 3.1-inch screen that is smaller than competitors but that allows for soft, rounded corners and an overall size that slips easily into a hip pocket. The hardware keyboard slides out from underneath and is one of the best on any phone. The raised keys are well marked with bright lettering and easy to distinguish from each other. One quibble is that the bottom row, including the important space bar, can be hard to reach past the raised lip of the enclosing case. The phone can also seem sluggish at times, and battery life is short. (
It is networkers who will best like the Cliq. Updates from friends flow across the home screen, which at times can appear cluttered and overwhelming for the less-energetic butterfly. There's no limiting updates, for example, to a subset of your 500
Sprint Hero (
Another sexy case with rounded corners encloses this 3.2-inch touch screen. Handset maker HTC did away with the hardware keyboard that is popular among Android phones but has packed in more software features than any other model.
HTC has layered a whole new skin that it calls "Sense" across the Android software, giving it a flexible look that's easy to tailor to a user's liking. Sense pumps the Hero full of customized and standard Android widgets, little bits of software that are like the apps that might be later downloaded to other phones and that display their information immediately on the home screen.
The phone, for example, offers out-of-box syncing with Microsoft Outlook's contacts and calendar, an obvious app given HTC's long experience with Windows Mobile. Other apps customize information to a user's liking, be it weather, sports, or E-mail. A custom widget called "Footprints" makes it easy to geotag photos, add voice memos, and post them to Google maps.
All this can be overwhelming, especially for someone used to the iPhone's emphasis on simplicity. But the Sense software helps with a generous seven home screens for organizing widgets and apps. The Hero also lets users redesign the phone's look for different times. Innovative "scenes" flip weather and the Footprint app to the front for traveling, or Outlook appointments and E-mail while at the office.
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