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Motorola Cliq FAQ

December 24th, 2009 · android, apps, cliq, faq, gadgets, mobile, support

CLIQ White

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

So I’ve noticed lately that ever since I wrote an article on my Motorola Cliq, people have been finding me in their search results. Unfortunately, what I wrote was simply a general review of the device, and so people’s questions were left unanswered. I decided to compile a list of common questions that people have searched for in attempt to remedy that. I’ll answer them the best I can. ^_^

What emulators can run on the Cliq?

Emulators? I assume you’re referring to video game emulators for the SNES, NES, etc. For those who are unaware, the Motorola Cliq is an Android device, meaning that the Cliq can theoretically run any Android-based emulator. You can search the Android Market on your phone for what apps are available. My guess is that since the Motorola Cliq has a physical keyboard and is running Android 1.5, there shouldn’t be a problem in terms of compatibility with any of the emulators out there for Android. For keyboard-less Android devices such as the myTouch, however, I imagine that there’d be issues with using the emulators on those devices. Android devices don’t have multi-touch available, so using an emulator on the myTouch most likely isn’t possible. (That’s just my guess though.)

Anyway, just do a search for “[console] emulator” in the Android Market to see what’s available. For example, I searched for “SNES emulator,” and I found SNESdroid. Here is someone’s post on it, which includes a video of it in action. As for what emulators are available, I’d imagine you should find one for NES, SNES, GBA, and Sega Genesis at least.

Why is my Cliq not charging?

Unfortunately, I have no clue @_@. You’re better off either bugging T-Mobile’s customer service or using a site like FixYa for help. My best advice is to stop by a T-Mobile store or booth at the mall.

Why is my Cliq running slow?

I may have a little better luck with this question. To be honest, the Motorola Cliq is occasionally slow, but with it being a mini operating system designed to run a bunch of apps, I’m not too surprised. Its CPU runs at 500MHz (compared to the 600MHz processors that both the iPhone and Motorola Droid run), and it only has 256MB of RAM (the Motorola Droid has twice that). It also allows apps to run in the background (just like every Android device), and the more apps running at once, the slower it becomes.

When the Cliq gets sluggish, try closing as many apps as possible. Remove unwanted widgets from the home screen as well. You’re best bet is to download an app that kills running apps, such as TasKiller or ASTRO File Manager. Some applications start up on your phone automatically whenever the phone starts up or whenever you get a notification. So, if your phone is running slow, make sure to check for those apps and kill the ones you don’t want running.

How do I turn the keyboard light on?

The keyboard light comes on as soon as you slide the touchscreen upward. If you press Alt, the symbol keys light up as well ^_^. It works better if you try it in the dark. If it’s not working, maybe you should bug T-Mobile about it.

How do I upgrade the Cliq to run the new Google Maps?

You must be talking about the new Google Maps Navigation that’s been hyped up on the Motorola Droid. Unfortunately, Google Maps Navigation will only work on mobile devices running Android 1.6 or higher. The Motorola Cliq runs Android 1.5, and you can’t upgrade it. These are your options:

1. Wait impatiently for T-Mobile to upgrade all Motorola Cliqs to a newer version of Android. This isn’t likely to happen, at least not anytime soon, so don’t hold your breath.
2. Get an Android phone that runs Android 1.6 or higher.
3. Deal with the regular Google Maps on your phone. It’s not as cool as Google Maps Navigation, but it still does GPS, and it can still give you driving directions and show you images via Google Street View.

Edit: I forgot to mention that you can also root your phone and install a newer version of Android that way. I don’t plan on ever rooting my phone and therefore won’t cover how to do that, but you can always just Google it.

What are the Motorola Cliq’s flaws?

• The touch screen isn’t as responsive as the iPhone’s.
• Occasionally, the widgets on the home screen don’t load until I flick the screen. (Could be specific to my phone, idk.)
• It’s running only Android 1.5, meaning it can’t run Google Maps Navigation or any other app built for newer Android versions.
• It only comes with a 2GB microSD. The Motorola Droid comes with a 16GB microSD. You’ll need to buy a bigger microSD card separately if you want more memory.
• You’re stuck with the pre-installed apps; you can’t uninstall them (unless you root your phone, but I’d rather not).
• It’s not an iPhone, so it has less apps available for it.

I feel it’s only fair to talk about the pros as well with the cons. Here are the perks:

• It’s got a keyboard. I like having a physical keyboard, as it frees up space on the touchscreen. I remember seeing an iPhone game that had its game controls overlayed on the screen, which looked rather annoying. If there were an Android version of that game, you wouldn’t have to worry about your controls cluttering up the screen if you have a physical keyboard.
• It runs Android, and Android development is cheaper than iPhone development. Android phones also let you run apps in the background, while you can’t with the iPhone.
• MOTOBLUR. If you use social networks at all, MOTOBLUR is a nice-to-have. You get a widget that automatically shows you MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter updates from your friends. I used to use Ping.fm on my old phone for sending status updates to all my social networks, but now I have MOTOBLUR to do that for me.
• Google integration. Like any Android phone, you get deep integration with Google, which includes push notifications for Gmail, integrated Google Calendar, and contacts synced with your Gmail contacts.
• Standard audio jack.
• Quick mode switcher. Going to meeting, a movie theater, or some other place where you need to silence your phone? Flip the switch on the side of your phone to automatically set it to silent mode.

How do I download songs on my Motorola Cliq?

If you have songs on your computer that you want to put on your phone, follow these steps:

1. Plug in your phone to your computer via the USB cable.
2. You should see a “USB connected” dialog on your phone (if not, select the “USB connected” item from your notifications screen). Select “USB Drive.”
3. Your phone should not appear on your computer as a hard drive. Navigate to it (e.g., via “My Computer”).
4. Pick a folder on your phone, or make one. A folder named “music” would be a good idea.
5. Drag songs into it.
6. Disconnect your phone, and you’re done.

If you want to download songs to your phone from online, you can use the browser to download songs from a website. You could also find an app that finds music for you. You may want to give iMusic a try. You search for a song you want, and if it finds it, you can stream the song to play it online, or you can download the song directly to your phone.

How do I use the songs on my Cliq?

Use the Music app to listen to your songs. It automatically searches for all songs available on your phone. When a song is playing, you can select the menu and choose to set the song as your ringtone. Otherwise, if you want to select a song as a ringtone for one of your contacts, select that contact, select edit, and then change the ringtone.

Try out the Ringdroid app if you’d like to clip certain parts of a song and make that into a ringtone.

What apps are available?

Check the Android Market to see what apps are available. There’s the Android Market website, but the website sucks, so you’re better off checking the Android Market directly from your phone. I’ll go ahead and list some of the apps I use:

• Shazam – Listening to the radio or a commercial and want to know the name of the song that’s playing? Let your phone listen to it using Shazam, and it’ll find out for you.
• Instant Lyrics Lite – Whatever song that’s currently playing on your Music app, it will search for the lyrics and automatically show them to you.
• Movies (by Flixter) – Lets you know what movies are playing and the movie theaters nearby.
• Google Maps – Get driving directions. Enable GPS to see your exact location. If you’re in a moving vehicle and you watch Google Maps with GPS turned on, you can see your little blue dot move across the map, which is really cool!
• Gmail – It’s Gmail of course. You also get push notifications, meaning when you get a new email, you get updated as fast as if it were a text message.
• Google Voice
• Remember The Milk
• Social networking apps. There are dozens of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter apps available. Just pick one of each; they’re all pretty good. In case you were wondering, I use Bloo (Facebook), Swift (Twitter), and the default MySpace app.
• Musical Lite – Cool virtual piano and a few other instruments.
• Pandora
• Ringdroid – Make ringtones
• Meebo IM
• Howcast
• eHow
• YouTube
• Yelp

What does the white version of the Cliq look like?

See the image at the top of this post.

I was confused on this as well when I first got my phone. I have the white version of the Motorola Cliq, and the only real “white” part about it is the white rim around the device, and the keyboard is in a lighter color.

Well, hopefully that helps answer some people’s questions about the Cliq. Feel free to ask any more questions, and I can try to lead you in the right direction.

Time for me to continue enjoying the holiday festivities, so laters!

Photo source: Motorola