Rogers and Telus launch Motorola Flipout and Charm entry-level Android phones

Google Android’s assault on the smartphone market share has been relentless this year, and along with HTC, the battle has been spearheaded by Motorola. The latest Android phones available in Canada from Motorola are two entry level models that bring unique form factors to the wide variety of phones available, and they both run Android 2.1 with an update of Motorola’s Motoblur UI.

Google’s strategy to win the war against RIM and Apple is simply to overwhelm the enemy with numbers – there are a staggering amount of Android phones on sale today at multiple price points, in multiple form factors. Most of the first generation of entry level Android phones made too many compromises for us to recommend them to anybody, but the latest wave of lower end Androids like the Charm, Flipout and LG Shine Plus are very good devices. Android will eventually dominate the smartphone market share simply because it is these ‘gateway drug’ phones that will get users hooked into the Google ecosystem for life!

Charm
The first phone released is the Motorola Charm, which came out on Telus on August 17th. It is the first candy bar style Android phone with a portrait hardware keyboard. To keep the form factor nice and compact the Charm eschews the standard Android screen size for a smaller 2.8” 320×280 screen, very similar to what is found on most Blackberries. Our brief hands on with the phone a Telus showed that the Charm has Motorola’s typical high quality build and materials, and the keyboard has a very nice feel. What we saw of the OS and Motoblur was very limited, but it did look to be a big improvement over the first generation of Motoblur found on the Quench, Dext and Backflip. One disappointment was the resolution of the screen, which was very low and pixely, but there has to be some compromises to keep the price down.

The Charm is available now on Telus for a very reasonable $29.99 on a 3-year term, $249.99 outright.

Flipout
The Flipout was launched just over a month ago by Rogers, and is the Charms sibling, using the same 320×380 screen, and runs Android 2.1 with the same Motoblur 1.5 UI. However its form factor is even more unique than the Charm’s candy bar layout – the hardware keyboard ‘flips-out’ behind the screen. This feature makes for a very very compact phone with the keyboard stowed away! We currently have a demo Flipout from Rogers, and will be putting up our full review soon.

[ED NOTE:  I’ve been playing with the Flipout for a couple of days, and although it may not be the phone for me, it’s certainly attracted a lot of attention from others.  When closed it’s VERY compact, and although it depends on a single pivot point to open, it’s very solid – Doug]

The Flipout is available now on Rogers also for $29.99 on a 3-year term, but a not so good $374.99 outright.

This article is now featured on the Future Shop Tech Blog here.

FLIPOUT

Motorola and Rogers Invite You to FLIPOUT over the Back to School Season’s Ultimate Accessory

Stylishly square & pocket-perfect Motorola FLIPOUT™ features MOTOBLUR™ – the easy way to manage all your relationships, without missing a thing

TORONTO, Ont. – August 5, 2010 – Motorola Canada and Rogers Communications Inc. today announced the debut of the Motorola FLIPOUT™ with MOTOBLUR™, the perfect back to school smartphone for today’s always-connected student. Incredibly compact, FLIPOUT features an innovative square pivot design that swivels open to reveal a five-row QWERTY keypad, making texting and staying in touch with friends this school season a snap.

The ideal pocket companion to keep students in control of their busy social lives, FLIPOUT runs on the popular Android™ platform, which integrates all their favourite Google™ applications and services, such as Gmail™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™. FLIPOUT features an enhanced new version of Motorola’s exclusive experience, MOTOBLUR, giving those hitting the books new customization and filtering options so they’re in control of who’s got their attention. Adding an extra hand is Android Market™ with over 70,000 fun and useful applications students can use to customize FLIPOUT’s seven home screens, to help them survive the school year.

“Motorola is excited to bring this tiny but mighty smartphone to Canadians just in time for the start of the school year,” said Rick Gadd, Vice President and Sales General Manager, Mobile Devices, Motorola Canada. “FLIPOUT features our enhanced new version of MOTOBLUR, making it even easier for students to manage who and what is important in their lives.”

“Students are looking for mobile devices that meet their evolving connectivity, social networking and entertainment needs and Rogers has built our Social View category of devices to deliver offerings that serve those needs,” said Raj Doshi, Vice President, Mobile Product Management, Rogers Communications Inc. “Backed by Canada’s reliable network and attractive student and family plans, we’re excited to welcome our newest Android device, the affordable Motorola FLIPOUT, to the Rogers Social View family.”

MAJOR IN MOTOBLUR

MOTOBLUR, Motorola’s exclusive experience, makes FLIPOUT the command centre of a busy student’s social life. Slip it out of a pocket and allow MOTOBLUR to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more in easy to manage streams — from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter™, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail. These streams appear as live widgets on the home screen, putting everything in one place for immediate reply and accessible in just one tap, without logins or multiple applications to open.

Happenings Widget: View social site updates in one spot with the live Happenings widget. Every friend feed, status update, wall post, bulletin and photo upload is automatically delivered and ready for immediate reply – right from the home screen

Messages Widget: Organizes messages from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter along with emails and texts and streams them to the live Messages widget for immediate reply – right from the home screen

Now, MOTOBLUR allows for even greater customization, providing users with more options to follow who and what really matters, including:

Dynamic Happenings and Messaging Widgets – MOTOBLUR filters can be selected from a single social networking account, contacts, group or messaging account so that users can select only the information they want to stream live to the Happenings and Messages widgets

More Home Screen Customization – Move and resize pre-loaded home screen widgets to personalize up to seven home screen panels for an even more custom experience

Battery Manager – Manage your phone’s battery consumption by selecting different power modes to conserve battery

Data Usage Management – MOTOBLUR’s new Data Management widget allows users to monitor and adjust data usage right from the home screen, for daily peace of mind

Contact Quick Action – Use this widget for contacts you are frequently in touch with. Simply start a call or text with one tap

MOTOBLUR also means lost devices won’t cause a pre-exam coronary. Devices with MOTOBLUR can be located from a secure site and remotely wiped if necessary. In addition, one user name and password brings back contacts, messages and connectivity to previously configured networks and e-mail providers.

Audio Quality

FLIPOUT comes with CrystalTalk™ PLUS, a proprietary Motorola technology that adds a second microphone and speaker, reducing background noise and ensuring crystal clear audio quality.

Multimedia

FLIPOUT brings optimal web and photo browsing to the palm of your hand with multi-touch pinch to zoom. For music fans, FLIPOUT’s connected media player offers full screen lyric support, integrated song ID and a social solution for knowing what people around you are listening to.

Additional multimedia features include a FM radio with RDS support, a 3.1MP camera with digital zoom and KODAK PERFECT TOUCH technology for better, brighter pictures and gallery mode for tagging and labeling of photos. One-touch uploads to Facebook, MySpace, PicasaTM and PhotobucketTM make sharing your images quick and easy. Also included are video capture, playback and streaming options along with Bluetooth®1 technology capabilities for wireless calls, music and file transfers.

FLIPOUT comes with a 2GB memory card, expandable to 32GB, built in GPS, E-Compass plus Wi-Fi and 3G support.

Product Availability

The Motorola FLIPOUT with MOTOBLUR is available now exclusively through Rogers and www.rogers.com for $29.99 with new activation on select 3 year term voice and data plans.

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CHARM

Motorola and TELUS bring a touch of charm with this fall’s social smartphone choice

Motorola CHARM™ packs powerful smartphone features and social graces in a pocketable
design featuring the Android™ operating system and enhanced MOTOBLUR™ service

TORONTO, Aug. 17 – Motorola Canada and TELUS today announced the debut of the Motorola CHARM™, a touch screen smartphone designed to help Canadians live life in the fast lane. Packing a social networking punch, Motorola CHARM features the popular Android™ operating system, as well as an enhanced version of Motorola’s Android experience, MOTOBLUR™, in a slim, compact design.

CHARM offers the socially inclined all the features they’d expect in a smartphone including a full QWERTY keyboard and 2.8 inch touch screen. Motorola CHARM also has a unique BACKTRACK navigation pad, located on the back of the smartphone directly behind the home screen, which works like a laptop touch panel, enabling an unobstructed view of the screen as you scroll through the web, texts, e-mails and news feeds.

Incorporating the Android operating system, Motorola CHARM integrates all Google’s™ powerful applications and services, including Gmail™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™, as well as access to over 70,000 fun and useful applications via Android Market™.

“We’re very excited to bring a stylish new social smartphone to Canadians,” said Rick Gadd, Vice President and Sales General Manager, Mobile Devices, Motorola Canada. “With Motorola’s enhanced MOTOBLUR service, it’s easier than ever before to manage and customize your relationships on your handset.”

“At TELUS we believe that each smartphone user is unique. They want a device that will provide an individual experience to connect with the people they want, the way they want, on a network that will follow them wherever they go in Canada,” said David Fuller, Chief Marketing Officer, TELUS Customer Solutions. “The Motorola CHARM delivers this in a big way making this device a powerful addition to TELUS’ back-to-school smartphone line-up, available on Canada’s fastest* mobile network.”

Cut through the Clutter with MOTOBLUR

[THE NEW MOTOBLUR FEATURES ON THE CHARM ARE THE SAME AS THE FLIPOUT DETAILED ABOVE]

Motorola CHARM also includes:

Pinch to zoom functionality and two-finger swipe to easily surf the web and sort through photos

Capture sharp photos with a 3MP camera and KODAK PERFECT TOUCH technology for better, brighter pictures

One-touch social media uploads to Facebook®, MySpace, Picasa™ and PhotoBucket®

CrystalTalk™ PLUS for enhanced audio and call quality with a second microphone for increased voice quality while filtering out background noise

Corporate email pushed immediately to the device for instant inbox updates, as well as Corporate Directory Lookup

Availability

Motorola CHARM with MOTOBLUR will be available exclusively to TELUS customers on August 17, 2010 for $29.99 on a three-year plan.