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Motorola Cliq XT (photos)

Check out CNET's hands-on photos of Motorola's fifth Google Android smartphone, the Motorola Cliq XT.

Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
Bonnie Cha
1 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Motorola Cliq XT (photos)

The Motorola Cliq XT is Moto's fifth U.S. Android offering and T-Mobile's fifth Android device overall. The carrier has not released pricing or a specific release date, but the XT is expected to ship sometime in March.
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2 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Not just the Cliq without a keyboard

Don't be quick to dismiss the XT as the Motorola Cliq, just without the keyboard. There are similarities between the two, such as Motoblur and Android 1.5, but the Cliq XT also offers a more robust and connected media player and Swype technology.
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3 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Slimmer profile

Without the slide-out keyboard, the Cliq XT has a slimmer profile and is much easier to slip into a pants pocket. The phone measures 4.59 inches tall by 2.33 inches wide by 0.48 inch thick and weighs 4.4 ounces.
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4 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Left side

The left spine holds a volume rocker and a Micro-USB port.
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5 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Top view

On top of the device, you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack.
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6 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Pick and choose

The Motorola Cliq XT comes packaged with an extra back cover in a metallic purple. The purple back plate has a soft-touch finish, whereas the black one has a more textured feel.
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7 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Display

The Cliq XT has the same 3.1-inch HVGA capacitive touch screen as the Cliq and Blackflip. It's sufficiently bright and clear, but it's on the smaller side. You do get multitouch capabilities in the browser and photo gallery.
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8 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Swype keyboard

The smartphone features the standard Android virtual keyboard but it also has a Swype keyboard. Swype lets you compose words by continuously dragging your finger from letter to letter instead of individually pecking at each key. We were skeptical at first and it takes some getting used to, but we were pleasantly surprised by its accuracy.
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9 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Navigational touch pad

Below the display, you'll find the usual home, search, back, and menu keys. You also get a navigational touch pad for scrolling and selecting items, but we often just ended up using the touch screen.
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10 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Camera

The Cliq XT has a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash, digital zoom, and autofocus. It can also record MPEG video at 24 frames per second at HVGA resolution.
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11 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Picture quality

The camera took some great photos. We took this image in a rather dimly lit room, but it came out sharp and bright even without using the flash.

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