Motorola's Motoblur service, which combines messages from Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter with e-mails and text messages, then streams them all via a live widget on the home screen of compatible phones, is now available in Canada through all three major national wireless carriers; Bell, Rogers, and Telus.

Powered by the Android operating system and set to be available on select Motorola devices in Q1 of this year, Motoblur sends social networking and communication updates to a phone's home screen in constantly-updated streams. Then, users can review the information immediately, or even reply when necessary, without having to sift through the various sites and applications. The streams are delivered in areas like conversation threads, friend updates, stories, links, and photos, each with its own live home screen widget. The Happenings feed, for example, features friend feeds, status updates, wall posts, bulletins, and photo uploads; while the Messages feed combines all e-mails or social networking private messages and texts. These can be viewed together, or separated by source.

Like many new Android-based phones, contact information across various social networking sites, as well as the phone's integrated phone book and e-mails, can also be amalgamated into a single contact spot. Enter "Billy Smith's" contact, for example, and you'll find his phone number and e-mail, plus a history of contact you've had with him across any of these methods, his status updates, and so forth. You can also communicate with Billy through any means through this one contact screen.

The Social Status feature lets the phone owner update his own status information to one or all social networking sites at once right from the home screen. And News Feeds delivers favourite feeds, like sports scores or celebrity gossip.

Additionally, Motorola has set up a secure Motoblur server where customers can back up and restore contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, and e-mail and social network messages in the event that the device is lost or stolen. Using a personal online portal, all data can be either restored or wiped clean via a secure username and password.

At launch, Motoblur will be available on the Motorola Backflip, Dext, and Quench.

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