While in the past PMA mainly attracted photo retailers from across the country and featured seminars on how to sell more photo gear, CliQ was scheduled to include photography workshops, photo walks, and how-to talks on ways to become a better photographer.

PMA coverage has always been troublesome simply because it often came a few weeks after CES. We actually stopped covering it for a few years because of the proximity.

via PDNPulse

via Electronista

You know what I was thinking the other day? “It would be so rad if I could get MOTOBLUR to work on my TV.” And now, Motorola is doing exactly that by working on a platform to get its cell phones to play nice with TV set-top boxes.

To get things kicked off, MOTOBLUR, the Android UI found on the CLIQ and Backflip, will be shared between TVs and handsets. Sadly, it might not be implemented until 2011 as Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha says he wishes he had more resources for research and development. Since Motorola’s handset and TV division were split and combined, perhaps he just might get his wish with this project.

Another tidbit from Mr. Jha is that Motorola may consider Windows on its handsets in the future. Even though it shifted all its efforts toward Android, Motorola used to produce a number of Windows Mobile phones. With Windows Phone 7 looking pretty hot, it’s no wonder Jha said he is “open to it.”

It could take a while, but I think it would be neat to see a common platform between cell phones and TVs since I spend 90% of my time between the two. My lazy life would be so much easier.

[via WSJ]

Hurrah for updates! Nothing can give your aging phone a fresh feeling like an update can, and CLIQ users can get excited about that this week. Is this the big update that we mentioned last week? Perhaps not.

From its official Twitter account, Motorola says this coming update will fix battery life, touch screen and GPS issues. The rumored Android 2.1 update isn’t slated until March, and we’re thinking that will do a whole lot more than tweak your battery life or touch screen. So, keep your eyes peeled for the update and try not to get too antsy until then.

[via Motorola Twitter page]

In all, the Cliq XT seems like a poor successor to the Cliq. It’s not that the hardware is lacking, but the XT doesn’t take advantage of any improvements to Android as they share the same 1.5 release. The upcoming Verizon-bound Devour also uses the 10-months old Cupcake 1.5 release. Motorola is clearly committed to Android — which is awesome — but hopefully future plans include releasing handsets with the latest Android updates. That’s the whole point of Android after all.

Expect the Cliq XT at T-Mobile here in the States and on European carriers within the next month or two.

The Motorola CLIQ is a nice phone. That’s point one. Point two is that it can actually play radio. Using a non-standard ROM, a user named Eugene found an FM radio binary and tried to run it on the CLIQ. After a little futzing, he was able to fire up the radio and listen to it right on the CLIQ. Who knew?

Rest assured it’s not available to the public right now. Watch AndroidGuys for further instruction.

While trying to fix the radio issue with Moto Blur on the LG ROM he has running on the CLIQ, Eugene stumbled across a lib file that was missing in the normal Blur ROM. He also noticed FMRadio was present in the bin file. After some deep contemplation (not really), Eugene loaded the bin and lib FMRadio files and an apk he found floating around–one intended for this purpose–and voila, FM Radio started working! So by bringing in the files from the LG ROM that the CLIQ hardware needed, he was able to bring life to a dormant feature.

Upset that your Motorola Cliq is still running Android v1.5? Think the battery life stinks? Motorola’s got a patch for one of those problems, but not the other.

Early this morning, Moto began pushing an over-the-air update to Cliq owners. Alas, it doesn’t look like they’ve managed to port the BLUR user interface over to Android 2.0 yet – even after updating, the Cliq is still running v1.5. On the upside, they did manage to fix a good number of nasty nitpicks. Touch screen accuracy, battery life, and Bluetooth support have all been boosted, and they’ve added in TTY functionality for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Check out the full change list after the jump.

Introduction

From time-to-time, Motorola releases updates to enhance the overall performance of its phones. The 1.1.31 software update for Motorola CLIQ provides improvements to its battery, touch, and Bluetooth functionality.

For optimal performance, we encourage you to download and install this latest software update.

For more information on Motorola updates and repairs, visit us at Motorola Support.

Who Can Use This Release

All Motorola CLIQ users.

Highlights

After downloading and installing the 1.1.31 software release, you will notice:

[Via TmoNews]

Biggs found the phone to be far superior than the G1 in nearly every aspect, but how about against the Verizon-bound Motorola Droid? That’s what I want to know and would advise folks looking to jump on the Android bandwagon to wait until we found that out.

The Cliq might be the first Motorola device with Android, but with a 350-person team, it better be good. At least it looks solid on the surface with a custom Android GUI called MOTOBLUR, slide-down keyboard, 5MP camera, 24 FPS video cam, WiFi, 3.5mm headset jack and a screen that better be able to handle a massive amount of info.

The phone’s interface is built around what Motorola is calling “MOTOBLUR.” Think of this as a social media aggregator kind of like Palm’s Synergy. It syncs Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Picasa and others onto a customizable homescreen that displays info users want from any of the services. Plus, this allows users to interact with their contacts through any of the networks seamlessly. Blur has other tricks too like remote wipe and phone tracking via the Internet along with all the other standard Android goodies like HTML web browser, Gmail, Google Maps, and all the rest.

T-Mobile should have the device sometime in the forth quarter and it will be available in white and titanium. We just don’t know the price yet.

New MOTOBLUR™ solution automatically syncs and streams communications, contacts and content throughout new Motorola devices powered by Android™ beginning in the fourth quarter

September 10, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – Sept. 10, 2009 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today unveiled the vision behind its Android portfolio with the introduction of MOTOBLUR™. Developed by Motorola, MOTOBLUR is the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM—and automatically deliver it to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it. MOTOBLUR will be available first on Motorola’s new 3G Android-powered device, called Motorola CLIQ™ in the U.S. and Motorola DEXT™ elsewhere around the globe.

Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices, announced MOTOBLUR today during a keynote at GigaOM’s Mobilize ‘09 conference.

“With MOTOBLUR we are differentiating the Android experience for consumers by delivering a unique mobile device experience designed around the way people interact today,” said Jha. “MOTOBLUR, which will be available on our first Android-powered device and on multiple Android devices in our upcoming portfolio, helps us to create phones that are instinctive, social and smart.”

MOTOBLUR leverages Motorola’s experience in mobile Linux and open platforms, and taps in to the broad Android ecosystem. The proprietary solution differentiates Motorola’s product portfolio of Android-powered devices and supplies the power and flexibility to continuously deliver a variety of new and rich consumer experiences across a wide range of devices with multiple carrier partners.

Life: Organized, Streamed and Delivered
With MOTOBLUR, all conversation threads, friend updates, stories, links, photos and more are automatically delivered to live widgets on the home screen. There is no need to open and close different applications or menus. It’s all organized, streamed and delivered throughout the device in unexpected ways:

Happenings: View all your social site updates in one spot with the live Happenings application. Every friend feed, status update, wall post, bulletin and photo upload is automatically delivered and ready for immediate reply, any way you like.
Messages: Quickly scroll through the Messages application for a snapshot of current work or personal e-mails, social site messages, and texts, with the ability to respond to any message however you want no matter how it was sent: text, email, IM and more.
Social Status: Blast your status right from the home screen and even save time by updating your status to one or all your social networks at once.
News Feeds: Keep track of your favorite news feeds, sports scores or even celebrity gossip without leaving the home screen.
Calendar: Integrate your work calendar with Google Calendar™ into one Calendar widget that shows the next appointment right from the home screen.
Integrated Contacts with Context
MOTOBLUR keeps track of all contacts so it’s easy to keep up. Contacts are automatically synced to the phone from personal and work e-mail as well as social network accounts, and MOTOBLUR updates any changes friends or contacts make to their information so you don’t have to. When making or receiving a phone call, your friend’s latest profile picture and status is shown on the screen. In the contacts view, see your communication history with each person and their latest social network broadcasts organized in an easy-to-read manner so you’ll always know the latest info about friends and family. Plus, communicate with them anyway you like, directly from their contact information.

Backed Up for Peace of Mind
MOTOBLUR is easy to set up and secure, so there is no need to worry about misplacing the phone. All contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up on the MOTOBLUR secure server. Lost or stolen phones can be found with integrated A-GPS from the online owner’s portal, and data can even be wiped clean. Simply enter the account username and password on the next MOTOBLUR phone, and all the information will be ready and waiting.

Customize with Apps and Widgets
On Motorola CLIQ, mix and match thousands of applications and widgets from MOTOBLUR, Android Market™ or pre-loaded Google™ mobile services. Everything from messages to news feeds to sports scores to the Happenings widget to Google Maps™ can be added to create custom home screens that fit anyone’s multi-faceted life.

Delivered on the First Phone with Social Skills
MOTOBLUR will first be available on Motorola’s new Android-powered device, called Motorola CLIQ in the U.S. and Motorola DEXT around the globe. This QWERTY slider comes packed with all the bells and whistles:

Never be out of contact with a full HTML browser, 3G speed and Wi-Fi.
Snap photos with the 5 megapixel camera with autofocus; upload photos simply to your favorite photo sharing or social sites.
Play back your favorite YouTube™ videos or capture them and easily upload them for your friends to view.
Use the 3.5 mm headset jack to plug in your own headphones and easily connect to your music, create your own playlist or discover new music by seeing what your friends are listening to on LastFM.
Availability Around the Globe
MOTOBLUR will be available first on select Motorola devices in the fourth quarter with regional carriers worldwide. In the U.S., Motorola CLIQ™ with MOTOBLUR will be available exclusively with T-Mobile USA. Motorola DEXT with MOTOBLUR will be available with Orange in the United Kingdom and France, Telefonica in Spain and America Movil in Latin America.

For specific regional availability and pricing, contact your local Motorola representative. To experience MOTOBLUR, please visit www.motorola.com/motoblur. For the latest Motorola Mobile Devices product news and promotions, now you can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Media: For more information, product specifications and images of CLIQ, please visit Motorola Media Center Fact Sheets. For multimedia assets from the keynote, visit MOTOBLUR Press Kit.

Motorola Media Link Bridges Digital World
Motorola also is making it easier to manage your digital worlds with Motorola Media Link. This desktop experience connects your phone, PC and the web, giving you the ability to manage, secure, share and extend your phone’s media. Transfer and organize media such as photos and videos into albums and sync your iTunes and Windows Media playlists and music. Plus, Motorola Media Link helps you expand your phone with new downloads, applications, ringtones, wallpapers and more—directly from your desktop. Motorola Media Link will be available for multiple Motorola devices including CLIQ and DEXT.