It's called the Charm for a reason. Today T-Mobile made Motorola's latest Android phone official, and it almost looks small enough to hang around your neck. The Motorola Charm is an Android device with a slender, square form factor, a full QWERTY physical keyboard, and a 2.8-inch touchscreen. The device also has a 3-Megapixel Kodak Perfect Touch-endorsed camera and a backtrack navigation pad--similar to the one we tested on the underwhelming Motorola Backflip.
One the software side, the Charm runs Android 2.1 with an updated version of Motoblur. There's corporate email support, pinch-to-zoom functionality, and Adobe Flash Lite integrated out the box. Some of the new Motoblur enhancements include customizable widget sizes, battery management, and improved social network integration like the Droid X. Unlike the Droid X however, the Charm seems to retain the older Motoblur look, similar to that of the Cliq XT.
Here's the tricky part. How much should T-Mo charge for this thing?
T-Mobile has only stated that the Charm will be released this summer, and hasn't made any announcement regarding price, but we think it should fall somewhere between $99 and $149 (with a 2 year agreement), considering that higher powered Android phones are on the horizon like Samsung's Vibrant (for $199.99 on contract). Also, T-Mobile should tread carefully, as a number of overly patient Motorola Cliq faithful are still stuck in the Android 1.5 stone-age, far behind everyone else. They'll have a lot of answering to do if the Charm comes out before the Cliq's Android 2.1 update.
