Found only on the Cliq XT, the Connected Music Player--a hybrid of popular music applications--is something I'd like to see become a feature of all MotoBlur phones. Bored with your own music collection? Tune into Shoutcast radio or Last.FM. Looking for videos? Find them on GoTV or YouTube. The Connected music player also has TuneWiki, which gives you access to song lyrics, a community of like-minded listeners, and Top 10 charts. And you get Soundhound--a name-that-tune sort of program that can identify an artist and song from a hummed rendition of the music. And like all Android phones, the Cliq XT lets you shop for new music via the Amazon MP3 store. Sound quality through my own earbuds was good, though a bit hollow. Audio piped through the external speakers, though weaker, was still listenable.

Following my disappointment with the Devour's mediocre camera, I was pleased to see that the Cliq XT has both a 5-megapixel camera (slowly becoming the norm for midlevel to high-level smartphones) and a flash. Overall, I was pleased with image quality both indoors and out. On my indoor shots, the flash highlighted details and color without blowing them out. Outdoor shots looked even better. Unfortunately, the camera did suffer from slow shutter speed. Taking pictures of my fast-moving cat was a frustrating experience because I could never quite capture the shot I wanted.

The camera captures video at 24 frames per second. The output, though slightly fuzzier than video from the (captured at 30 fps), was good enough for posting on YouTube. Android and MotoBlur simplify sharing your video or photos with you social networks or uploading them directly to Picasa or YouTube.

Call quality was a bit spotty over T-Mobile's 3G network. On a few of my calls from my office in San Francisco, I heard faint static, and voices sounded a bit tinny and distant. Motorola phones generally have excellent call quality and I have rarely had issues with T-Mobile's service, so I was surprised. Callers on the other end of the line, however, reported that my voice sounded clear and natural and said that they heard no background noise. I called from another area of San Francisco and didn't hear the static, but voices still sounded faint.

The Cliq XT handled Web browsing without a hitch. Media-heavy pages loaded quickly over 3G as well as via Wi-Fi.