LIBERTYVILLE, ILL. — The ninth Android
smartphone announced by Motorola
for the U.S. market will be the
company’s first to pair a touchscreen
with a fixed QWERTY keyboard that
neither slides out nor flips out.
The bar-style Android 2.1-based
Charm, available exclusively through
T-Mobile later this summer, will also
be the company’s first Android phone
with an enhanced version of the Motorola-
operated Motoblur service, which
aggregates and pushes all of a user’s
work and personal emails, text messages,
and social-network posts and
status updates to two widgets on the
home screen for easy management.
Improvements include increased customization,
filtering options and such
functions as re-tweeting.
The Charm will also be the second
Android-based Motorola phone with
a Backtrack navigation pad on back
behind the touchscreen. The pad enables
users to navigate Web sites and
applications without touching the
touchscreen or otherwise obstructing
the view of content on the screen.
The navigation pad, for example, lets
users move an icon to select emails,
icons and pictures.
Pricing wasn’t announced.
The 2.65-inch by 3.87-inch by 0.45-
inch device features 2.8-inch multitouch
touchscreen, Wi-Fi, FM radio,
3-megapixel camera, 512MB internal
memory, included 2GB MicroSD card,
support for optional 32GB MicroSD
card, Adobe Flash-enabled browser
and 3.6Mbps HSPA 3G technology.
