Motorola on Thursday unveiled its first smartphone powered by Google’s Android software, a device called the “Cliq” that the US handset maker hopes will help turn around its flagging fortunes.
Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha introduced the touch-screen phone, which is to be available through T-Mobile, the US wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG, at the GigaOm Mobilize09 event in San Francisco.
Described as “the first phone with social skills,” the Cliq is heavily geared toward social networking with features built around sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
For example, Jha said, caller ID on the phone will display the name of the incoming caller along with their profile picture and latest status update.
Updates from social networks or e-mail can also be streamed and viewed on the phone’s home screen.
The Cliq features a slide-out keyboard, a music player, a five megapixel camera with video capture and the full complement of Google mobile services such as Google calendar, Google maps and built-in GPS.
Motorola did not disclose a price for the device.
Jha said the Cliq was one of two smartphones Motorola expected to release by the end of the year running Google’s open-source Android operating system.
“Android gives us a platform to innovate and enhance user experiences,” he said.
The other Android-based device would be unveiled “in the coming weeks,” Jha said, and both would hit store shelves in time for the holiday season.
“We expect [the Cliq] to be one of our hottest-selling devices in the fourth quarter,” said T-Mobile chief technology officer Cole Brodman, who appeared on stage with Jha.
Google and T-Mobile released the first so-called “Google Phone,” the T-Mobile G1, which is manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電), last October.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS