Motorola FIRE Android QWERTY set to rival budget BlackBerrys?

The Gadget Show  Wednesday 24 August 2011

Motorola is to release a new budget Android smartphone in September. The Motorola FIRE has fairly modest specs but the addition of a QWERTY keyboard as well as a touchscreen might scratch the same itch as similarly specced BlackBerry phones with the additional bonus of the Android Market.

“We are excited about extending our growing smartphone range in UK, and Motorola FIRE opens up new possibilities in the smartphone market. The device’s stylish design and its exciting and versatile social media applications will wow younger, tech-loving users in particular,” said Motorola’s UK marketing boss Victoria McManus.

The FIRE could easily be mistaken for an entry-level BlackBerry if you didn’t stare too closely. A 2.8 inch touchscreen sits above a full QWERTY keypad, albeit one squashed a little by four silkscreened buttons below the screen. Look closer and you see it actually runs Android Gingerbread (2.3) with Motorola’s Moto Switch user interface on top.

Moto Switch lets you customise the phone to have a ‘work mode’ and ‘play mode’ offering different profiles, shortcuts and widgets for on and off duty times. Now none of your colleagues need ever know about your Justin Bieber wallpaper.

The phone is geared around texting and emailing with good support for integrating social networks like Facebook and Twitter via Moto Switch. The 3 megapixel camera isn’t up to much but you do get wifi, an FM radio, aGPS and of course thousands of apps from the Android Market. Motorola also tout the FIRE as having ‘best in class’ battery life, promising you will be able to “talk, browse the Web, text, play games and videos all day long.”