09
Sep
P9060174_1

Motorola Charm Review: The Pixel-Faced Killah

Posted by in CHARM, Eclair 2.1, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, T-Mobile
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

 P9060178_1 P9060204

Getting my hands on the Charm was no mean feat. Motorola didn’t seem keen to send out review units to anyone in a hurry, so I took it upon myself to go buy one, under the pretext of it being a gift for my girlfriend (she has a Nokia 1661 for chrissakes).

That in itself was quite a quest, as not a single store in the state of Maine seemed to have one in stock. Several broken promises later, and I was on the bus to Boston, having been assured that there were “less than 10” units in stock in T-Mobile’s downtown store.

30
Aug
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Motorola Charm Rooted Via Universal Androot

Posted by in CHARM, Development, News

Good news for the 12 people who have managed to get a Motorola Charm - Universal Androot works perfectly well. For the uninitiated, Universal Androot is exactly what it sounds like: an app that can root a whole slew of Android devices (disclaimer: it doesn't unlock /system on all of them, though). Instructions are pretty simple:

  1. Download the latest version of the program from this XDA post to your computer.
  2. Copy the file to your SD card.
  3. Find and install it with your file browser of choice (I choose Android Mate in the market, or you can use Astro). Don’t forget that this ability is only enabled if you check the Settings > Applications > Unknown sources option.

18
Aug

Motorola Charm Coming To T-Mobile August 25th For $75

Posted by in CHARM, Motorola, News, T-Mobile
Last Updated: December 22nd, 2010

Are you in the market for a strikingly rectangular low-end messaging phone running Android 2.1 and Motoblur? Come on, you know you want one!

If so, the Motorola Charm - you know, that squat little Motorola messaging phone for T-Mobile with a 2.8 inch screen and a non-slide out physical QWERTY keyboard right below it - is now officially hitting T-Mobile on August 25 for what T-Mobile USA has said on Facebook to be an "affordable" $74.99, despite the rumors that it would be free on a new two-year contract.

Of course, the specs aren't anything special:

  • 2.8” 320x240QVGA TFT LCD touch-capacitive display with Gorilla Glass
  • Android 2.1 with the newest "enhanced" version of MOTOBLUR
  • 3 Megapixel camera
  • Physical QWERTY keyboard
  • 2GB Removable MicroSD card included (expandable to 32GB MicroSDHC)
  • Accelerometer
  • WiFi B/G and N (Single-band 2.4GHz)
  • Can capture 24FPS video (we assume that is with VGA 640×480)
  • Secondary noise-cancellation microphone with CrystalTalk PLUS technology
  • Compatible with T-Mobile HSDPA 3.6
  • Support for Adobe Flash Lite
  • 1170mAh Lithium-ion battery
  • 3.5mm headphone jack

But hey - it's not meant for us geeks; it's aimed at the kind of people who post statuses on Facebook like "Still recovering...too many parties!" (see the picture above for more on that).