By 
Motorola has just announced the availability of the Citrus, an entry-level Android handset for Verizon Wireless. The phone will go on sale tomorrow at the low price of $49.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate on a two-year contract. The Motorola Citrus runs Android 2.1 and comes loaded with Bing services inside an eco-friendly casing made from “25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.” A compact phone at a bargain price, this one is aimed towards to the feature-phone user looking for their first smartphone experience.
[via Motorola]
This one is aimed towards first-time smart phone buyers who don’t know any better, and whose second smart phone will come from HTC. Or Apple.
It’s like a Cliq without the keyboard. FAIL!
Oh wait..there was a Cliq w/out the keyboard. The Cliq XT. Stop making these phones that are irrelevant. Motorola you suck! Double Fail!
Bing on Android makes me angry…grrrr…I guess it’s ok, since many use Firefox or Chrome or Google search on Windows
@Alex – Yeah, it would be okay, that is if Verizon actually allowed the default search to be changed. But no, it’s locked to Bing, and will continue to be unless you root and remove it manually. Microsoft has gotten blasted over forcing default search settings and stuff before, and they never even locked it to prevent a competing search engine from being set as default, so I’m not sure how Verizon is getting away with it. Probably only because they don’t own 90%+ of US smartphone market share.
I’m all about the most expensive, most intense phones. But everybody on here comments based on what they like, not what everybody does. There’s a market for people who don’t want to spend the full $30 a month on data, and who want a cool looking, touch screen phone, but don’t want to spend $200-$300. Now that Verizon has done away with 3G multimedia phones such as the Chocolate Touch and the Samsung Reality, these low end smartphones, are really just high end feature phones. I will sell tons of the Citrus based on the fact that it’s so cheap, is still a smartphone, and will only require the minimum $15 150mb package. The Cliq and Cliq XT were failures because they were supposed to be more high end, and they had the original Blur. This won’t have that issue.
The market is flooded with these phones that are low end/midrange that eventually won’t be updated due to manufactures not supporting them due to low sales. Then what happens? Disgruntled customers who cant update there apps due to older o.s., features that will never be available to them, etc, etc. This in turn makes Android look horrible to first time smartphone users then they end buying an iPhone or other smartphone. The customer blames Android for all their troubles & never looks back. Manufactures will be the doom of Android if fragmentation continues. Thats why these particular “cheap” Android phones need to be just as relevant with updates as their much higher priced cousins so that Android can flourish and truly be the mobile o.s. of choice. Just sayin.
@frank
Not sure that is the case. My wife currently has a flip phone. Because I am a power user, she is beginning to see the advantages of having an Android powered device (IM, Calendar, Email, CardioTrainer, Rhapsody, Web search, Angry Birds, Maps, Nav, Facebook, Etc).
.
What you are mistaken in is that she will even update her apps. Seriously, by the time she figures out she can do that she will be available for an upgrade.
.
But the apps aren’t even the closer for her. She wants a small, slim phone. iPhone, Incredible, Galaxy S = too big. DX or EVO? Might as well tell her she has to tote around a 50′ television in her purse. It’s all about the phone size and the basic apps.
.
Never forget that we are nerds and care about this stuff. The majority of users will think they got a pretty decent phone and work with what they got. Fortunately what they got is Android, so they will have plenty to work with.
Agreed with @Cpt Mike Beard. My wife is NOT tech savvy either, not like me, and she actually WANTED a Droid X. She is able to actually figure out how to do things she wants to do, and seriously she’s not a computer person. I tend to think most people really ARE idiots, but then again, really, they are not – most people actually have thinking ability giving the change, there is nothing wrong with them using it.
-B
@Cpt Mike Beard
If your wife buys a Citrus tomorrow and, in one month, a cool new game comes out for Android 2.2, she will see you playing it and might try to get it for herself. She’ll probably spend some amount of time searching for it in the market before giving up in frustration and asking you about it. You’ll explain that her phone is running an 11-month old version of Android, while yours has the latest. So you can play the cool new game and she can’t. She might wonder how Motorola could put out a “new” year-old phone.
.
Soon, Gingerbread will come out, and at some point you’ll get the update. She will not, and steadily more and more interesting apps and games won’t work on her phone. Six months later, Honeycomb will pass her by. She might wonder how Verizon could sign her to a multi-year commitment and then completely abandon her.
.
Fortunately, she’ll have you around to explain that you have to be careful when buying an Android phone, and hopefully next time she’ll choose more wisely. If you weren’t around, maybe she’d conclude this whole Android thing kind of sucks and just buy an iPhone.
.
Motorola is not doing themselves or the Android ecosystem any favours by pumping out all of these disposable smart phones.
.
The problem isn’t that they have smaller screens and less powerful CPUs. It’s the use of ancient versions of Android at launch and the appalling lack of updates. There’s no reason for it. They just need to limit the number of models and variations in software. Three or four different models, differentiated by screen size/resolution, CPU, and camera, would do nicely.
everybody is assuming motorola will make the same mistake as they did with the cliq, the hardware did not keep these phones from being updated. my droid one has nearly the exact hardware specs as the cliq, it was that particular version of blur
@Dave the point you aren’t getting is, why is Motorola only going to put out $400 phones? at that point they’re losing out to companys that are going to put out mid range phones. you get what you pay for, and people buying a phone will know this. not to mention since when can you tell the future and know when gingerbread, when honeycomb are coming out, when the citrus is going to be upgraded? do you work for motorola or ANY aspect of the wireless industry? or is phandroid just on your favorites list?
@Cpt Mike Beard: I know exactly what you mean. I did actually forget to mention on my ealier post that I am indeed a Motorola Cliq user. Need I say more lol! I barely got the 2.1 update just a couple of weeks ago for test trial. Now 1 year after I bought the phone Moto has “officialy” released the update yesterday which btw is the same version I downloaded from their website. 1 year for an update! That’s pathetic on so many levels. I’m way past the “intro” to Android phone phase and have my eyes set on scoring me a G2. My experience owning my Cliq has been one of newfound Android goodness to downright frustration being stuck on 1.5 for a close to a year. I was not able to update my apps or gain new ones due to the REQUIREMENT of having to have Android 2.x or higher. It’s been frustrating not being able to utilize new functionality with my phone. I was ready to throw my Cliq at the wall as an excuse to buy a new phone. Well a 2yr contract will kind of avoid anyone from doing that lol! I just dont believe that “intro” phones should still be made unless they will be able to sustain a fair amount of upgradeability to avoid the issues I myself went through owning my Cliq. It leaves a bad taste in anyones mouth techie or not. If manufactures butcher the Android experience by avoiding updates or not making them then it’s gonna be bad for everyone involved. The customer,carrier,manufacture & in the end our dear friend Andy :( I’m thinking more in the long run of how Android in general will be viewed upon. A disposable phone or a feature rich EXPERIENCE that will sustain the user for at least a contract term ;)
@iamsteventucker
No need to get testy. No, I don’t work for Motorola or in the wireless industry. Do you? Is that a requirement for speculating and sharing opinions here?
.
However, I *have* been paying attention over the last couple of years, and I *do* believe that past action is the best predictor of future behaviour. So when I see Motorola *again* introducing a plethora of different devices aimed at the low end, all with an obsolete version of Android at launch, and all saddled with MOTOBLUR, I expect history to repeat itself. I see no reason to believe support for these devices will be handled any better than for CLIQ/Dext, Devour, Backflip, or CLIQ XT/Quench. Do you?
I have to say, I just got the Citrus. It’s my first “android” phone. I’ve had it for 3 days and I’m already noticing apps that are not “supported”. I don’t need the top of the line, grade A, best phone ever…but can I at least have a live wallpaper?? I mean, I’ve had phones in the past that are pieces of crap and still gave me that option. This makes no sense. I can’t wait to see what else it doesn’t allow.