Motorola has announced a new touchscreen handset, QUENCH (CLIQ XT in the US) with MOTOBLUR, the company’s Android-powered content delivery service, which organizes messages and syncs contacts. QUENCH features pinch and zoom and a touchpad as well as Adobe Flash Lite to make web browsing easier on the 3.1-inch high-resolution display. It has also incorporated Swype - technology that enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods, claimed at more than 50 words per minute.
Making the announcement today at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Motorola said the handset would become available next month in the US exclusively through T-Mobile USA. This is the eighth Android-powered device launched by Motorola.
“As we continue to expand Motorola’s portfolio of Android-powered devices, we remain committed to delivering more of what people want from their handheld devices in easier ways,” said Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home business. “QUENCH with MOTOBLUR showcases Motorola’s design heritage by offering a compelling differentiation from the traditional Android experience, giving people an easier way to have more messaging, more Web and more music.”
MOTOBLUR is the company's first Android-powered content delivery solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more — from sources such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail, work and personal e-mail and Last.FM — and automatically deliver them to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams.
Take a Swype at quick messaging
Messaging is made easier on QUENCH with the combination of MOTOBLUR features, a palm and pocket-friendly design and Swype, a new feature designed to speed up text entry. With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods — at around a claimed 50 words per minute.
Check out the Swype demo video:
MOTOBLUR keeps contact information, such as email addresses, profile pictures and phone numbers, automatically synced whenever the details change online.
Navigation on QUENCH is via a front-facing, centrally-located touch pad, making it easier and more intuitive to flick through the Web, says Motorola. Adobe Flash Lite enables rich media content such as banners and videos to be displayed onscreen.
The new connected media player on QUENCH can keep in touch with your social networks as well as allowing you to buy and instantly download music from an MP3 store while integrating third-party apps such as TuneWiki, SoundHound, GoTV, and YouTube. Its music search feature makes finding your songs easy and its synchronized lyrics make learning songs easy.
Not forgetting it’s also a phone, QUENCH uses dual microphones and noise cancellation technology, and has a 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash.
The handset also makes use of the English-only voice-activated search on Google as well as 20,000 apps and widgets available via Android Market.
And if you lose your phone or have it stolen, lost devices can be located from a secure personal information portal and even remotely erased if necessary. One user name and password brings back your contacts, messages and connectivity to your previously configured networks and email providers. Plus, with over-the-air updates, Motorola has the ability to improve current features and add new ones to QUENCH.
