Hardware: Of Cliqs and Storms

The reviews are coming in of the just-released Motorola (Android) Cliq, as well as the forthcoming BlackBerry Storm 2. The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and Engadget give the Motorola Cliq a mixed review. CNet is generally positive. (You can read many more reviews here.)

Essentially it appears the Cliq is just one among an increasing number of Android phones, with a social software layer that is also reportedly a mixed bag. As the reviews imply, differentiating Android phones from one another is going to be a tough challenge for all the OEMs putting out these devices. Android and Google win with the proliferation of Android devices, while the results for OEMs are less clear at this point. 

Android has the power to retain for carriers, but not the power to cause switching on its own -- that becomes even more true as they all develop Android handsets. 

Regarding the Storm 2, the successor to the first BlackBerry touchscreen device ("RIM's answer to the iPhone"), Mossberg has this to say:

Overall, I found the Storm2 worked well in my tests. Battery life was decent, with 5.5 hours of claimed talk time, and typing was much improved, though I doubt it will satisfy lovers of physical keyboards.

The browser is still inferior to Apple’s, Google’s and Palm’s. And the traditional BlackBerry interface cries out for a major overhaul in a touch device like this, especially when you add a lot of apps. RIM’s menu and folder metaphor seems tired on this device.

Verizon hasn’t set a launch date or price for the Storm2, but it’s likely to appear in November at around $200.

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Related: Motorola's apparent "social smartphone" product roadmap -- and "comeback plan" revealed