T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Prepare for Holiday Flurry

by Michelle Maisto

The Motorola Cliq went into wide release on the T-Mobile network on Nov. 2. In addition to running Google’s Android OS, it features a 3.1-inch touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY keypad, a full HTML browser and a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture.

The Cliq, which comes in Titanium or Winter White, seen here, features MotoBlur, a solution for gathering and synchronizing friends’ contact information from multiple sources such as e-mail and Facebook. The Cliq is priced at $199.99 with a two-year service contract.

Sprint’s answer to the Android craze is the Samsung Moment, which arrived on its network Nov. 3, priced at $179.99 after an instant $50 rebate, a mail-in $100 rebate and with a two-year service contract. It’s Sprint’s second Android smartphone, following the HTC Hero’s arrival on Oct. 11.

The Moment is Sprint’s first smartphone with a 3.2-inch AMOLED touch screen, which is said to offer particularly crisp colors and wide viewing angles. There’s also a slide-out QWERTY keypad, an 800MHz processor, an optical joystick for device navigation, and built-in Google services such as Gmail, Google Search and Google Maps.

On Nov. 5 the LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 arrived on the Verizon Wireless network for $79.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement. It’s the first in the Chocolate line with a touch screen, and it also offers a full HTML browser, Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera, quick access to social networking apps, a Dolby Mobile equalizer and a Join the Band feature that lets users jam along with a song.

The Motorola Droid is said to be, if not an iPhone killer, then at least a killer phone. It runs Android 2.0, has a slide-out QWERTY keypad, a gorgeous, high-resolution touch screen, and excellent service on the Verizon Wireless network, according to reviews from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The Droid, which is priced at $199.99 after a $100 rebate and with a two-year service contract, features Android’s new navigation software, for spoken turn-by-turn directions. Of course, the Droid can also access the Android Market, which now has more than 12,000 apps.

Though Motorola has not announced a release date, it will be offering a close version of the Droid, named Milestone, in parts of Europe and South America. Milestone replaces the Droid’s CDMA radio with support for WCDMA/900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, and HSDPA and GPRS networks. Like the Droid, it will also offer connectivity over Wi-Fi.

Not to confuse anyone, but on Nov. 6, along with the Droid, Verizon will release the HTC Droid Eris—which is Verizon’s version of Sprint’s HTC Hero. The Eris will run Android 1.5 and be priced at $99 after rebates and with a two-year contract. It feature a 3.2-inch touch screen with multitouch, a 528MHz processor and HTC’s Sense capabilities, which are also featured on the HTC HD2.