Finally a legitimate Android replacement for the G1

I very much enjoy my G1 / HTC Dream phone, but it is not without its flaws.  The hinge is and always has been creaky, and I’m lucky if I get more than 24 hours on a battery charge.  Faults and all, it has still been the only Android phone with a physical keyboard available for the year-or-so since it launched.

Today Motorola announced the CLIQ, which despite the silly name, looks like a proper replacement for the G1.  The custom UI looks great, and seems much snappier than the sluggish G1.  I also prefer the traditional slider format used by the CLIQ to the G1’s “swing-slide” gimmick.  No word on battery life yet, but it can’t possibly be worse than what I get now.  Hopefully by the time this launches in the as-yet-undetermined future I will have a job and can afford to buy one out of contract.