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Motorola FIRE / XT316 / SPICE Key.
Available Q3 2011.
Known as the Motorola FIRE in Europe, the SPICE Key in Latin America and the XT316 in
China and neighbouring countries, this handset is a budget Android smartphone in a BlackBerry-style
form factor.
A much simpler and cheaper device than the Motorola PRO, the FIRE is an Android 2.3 device
with a 2.8" 240 x 320 pixel touchscreen, a 3 megapixel camera with VGA video recording
capabilities and an FM radio in addition to the standard Android features of 3.5G support,
WiFi and GPS.
It isn't a very powerful device - inside is a 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227-1 CPU coupled with
256MB of RAM and about 512MB of on-board flash memory expandable through a microSD slot.
The QWERTY keyboard means that the display is relatively small too.
This is a somewhat unconventional design for an Android phone. The Motorola FIRE looks
to be targeting customers who want something like a BlackBerry, but would prefer the ease-of-use
of an Android device. The FIRE competes with the BlackBerry Curve range in this respect,
and it seems that with weakening sales of BlackBerry devices then it might have a chance
of success.
Underneath, this is a quad-band GSM device with 3.5G data support in three dual-band
WCDMA variants depending on region. 802.11 b, g and n WiFi is supported, as is Bluetooth
2.1. The FIRE weighs 110 grams and has a large 1420 mAh battery that can provide up to 8
hours talktime and 27 days standby time on 3G.
The Chinese XT316 is currently shipping with Android 2.2 with an upgrade promised soon,
the FIRE and SPICE Key variants will ship with Android 2.3 when they ship later this
summer. All versions include Motorola's MOTOBLUR add-on on top of the normal Android OS.
We don't know how much the Motorola FIRE will retail for, but our best guess is that it
should cost around €250 SIM-free including sales tax when it launches in Europe.