I love getting things in the mail.  Even better when they’re gadgets or toys to play with.

The latest to come across my desk is the new Motorola Motoluxe.  I told you that it was available earlier, so here’s my chance to talk about it.

First off, it’s available right now on Virgin / Bell, for either $0 or $300 outright.  So let’s go into this review with that in mind.

The specs:

• 4″ @ 480×854
• 800MHz Qualcomm processor
• 1GB space (only 300MB available), with 512MB RAM
• 8MP Camera
• 2.3.7

Not the strong powerhouse phone.

That being said, there’s some pluses to it.  I like the rugged/rubber backing and there’s some nifty widgets in Motoblur that I’d use for sure, and it’s definitely usable, and appropriate in many a first time smartphone user’s hands.  I would definitely consider this for a grandparent or my parents even (I know my dad’s ready to throw his Corby out the window).

What is a sad point is that you HAVE to have a card.  And I think everybody knows my opinion of cards.  There’s no option if you want to take pictures or install a few good apps.

I haven’t been able to find out whether or not Motorola would upgrade this to ICS eventually, but with the sub-1GHz processor, I doubt it.

But, as a $0 phone, I think it’s a good bang for the buck.  Compare it to the other phones on the same carrier for the price (check our chart here) and it holds well on its own for price/feature.

Okay, so let’s head on to the video:

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Nifty Lockscreen, but crowded on smaller display.

You have 6 apps surrounding the unlock key.  Either slide the app to the centre to jump to that app, or slide the key outside the ring to unlock.  You have GMail, Text, Sound(mute), Play Music, Calendar, Phone.  However you can’t pick the apps, or rearrange.

Huge notification LED on the bottom left.  And it’s multi coloured, so t’s easy to tell what the message is.

I do like that Most Used widget.

It self populates with your most commonly used apps.

Also, in the notification tray, you have the most recent used apps (saves having to hold the power button).

Widgets non-scrolling

Not at all ‘snappy’ (not ‘fluid’)

Indicative of the processor, but flipping home screens, interacting in menus, or dragging around widgets it’s got a serious lag.  So I’d hesitate about putting a game on here.

Notification tray allows for individual ‘clearing’

One of the coolest things about ICS is that you can clear individual notifications, whereas in Gingerbread you can either clear one by clicking it (and then going to the app), or by clearing all.  In Motoblur you’re allowed to click a ‘minus’ icon to remove just one of the notifications at a time.

Not enough space internally (131MB after I installed just a few apps) to take pictures, NEEDS SD card

and you know my thoughts on SD cards.

But, literally, a few apps can chew through the space quickly.

Back… odd SD card holder

The bonus is you don’t have to remove that battery to put it in, but it’s a little awkward to use the first time.

App tray is vertical scrolling

Oh, I missed this

Quick Office Lite included

Good battery life – has a good battery saver mode (customizable too)

Screenshots