MotoBlur First Impressions Very Positive

[bobukcat]

The folks at Engadget Mobile were plenty impressed with MotoBlur, Moto's Skin for their first Android phone. At first I was skeptical because, although I do some social networking, I need a phone to be very functional for work primarily. After reading more about it and looking at the demos on Moto's website though I think they might really have something to challenge the big boys. The idea of clicking on a contact and seeing all interaction you've had with them (e-mail, text, Facebook, etc) in one concise place could be very powerful. Add in the fact that every setting on the phone and all your data are constantly backed up is also very cool and if people change their contact information it automatically updates on your phone. I know there have been otther software products that touted the seamless synch but I've never seen one that worked well. The idea of being able to multi-thread unlike the Iphone may give Moto a chance in the market again - I sure hope so!

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/09/10/video-motorola-cliq-gets-demoed-in-detail/

[durl]

Did you check out the Palm Pre?

[bobukcat]

Did you check out the Palm Pre?

Not too closely, one because it's on Sprint and two because it's Palm. Does it provide the remote wipe / constant backup and synchronization of data like the MotoBlur product is claiming, if so I missed that part about it.

I'm pretty excited about the Android platform and what an open source development community can do with it - it may never survive, but it's got Google's support so I think it probably will thrive.

[durl]

The Pre's webOS does sync data. It syncs up multiple calendars and contact lists. When you add an event to Google Calendar and it syncs to the Pre automatically within a few minutes, and vice versa. I keep up with my work/personal calendars, plus I can see my wife's calendar, all merged together, if you wish.

Like the Motoblur, you can also view all conversations you've had with your contacts; email, SMS, and chat all appear together on screen.

The platform is still a work-in-progress, but I've been impressed with it...it has tons of potential. Three months after release, Palm has sent down several updates and each one broadens the Pre's capabilities. And there are a couple hundred homebrew apps out there already.

Full disclosure: I've been a Palm user for over a dozen years and liked the platform, even with it's limitations, because it just worked well for me. I also have no experience with Android, so I can't compare the two systems. Still, the Motoblur looks like a pretty cool device.