Reviews

Motorola Q Smartphone from Verizon Wireless

August 29, 2006

The Motorola Q was one of the most highly anticipated phones of the year before it came out, and for good reason. The Q is very slim and packs a lot of power under that sleek silver casing. Of course looks and size are important, but when you’re shopping for a smartphone you’re also looking at other features such as memory, processor speed, applications, and overall functionality. While I haven’t been able to test the wireless data aspects of the Motorola Q, I can say that I”m very pleased with its performance as a phone and and as a PDA.

Inside the box you’ll find the battery and battery cover, a mini USB sync cable (the Q works with Microsoft Outlook on the desktop), an AC adapter for charging, a belt holster, an instruction manual, a Quick Start CD, and a Wireless Sync CD and manual from Verizon Wireless. Since the Q has bluetooth, you can use a Bluetooth headset for hands free communication.

The Q measures just under 2.5 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall, and just under half an inch thick. It is surprisingly light, weighing just a bit less than the RAZR, and even though the casing is made of plastic it feels quite solid in the hand. The headphone jack is on the top right corner of the phone, and the right side has the thumb wheel and back button. The scroll wheel works comfortably whether you are holding the phone in your left or right hand, and the back button is an incredible timesaver. The phone “remembers” an impressive number of steps, so if you’re using the camera application and then switch over to looking up a contact, finding an appointment in your calendar, etc. and then want to go back, it takes just a few presses of the button. This is very handy and works better than I expected. The left side of the phone houses the infrared port, the mini USB charge/sync port, and the miniSD card slot. Underneath the phone you’ll find the camera lens and flash, as well as the battery door.

The front of the phone should look familiar to you if you’ve ever used a smartphone before. The first thing you’ll notice is that gorgeous 2.4” high resolution screen. It’s big, beautiful, and so easy to read. When you press a button on the Q the screen lights up immediately for enhanced readability, then dims after a while. Underneath the screen are two large buttons that work in conjunction with the soft key menus at the bottom of each application on your phone screen, then a row of four buttons that serve as the call, home, back, and disconnect/power buttons. In the middle is a five way navigator key that is easy to use, though the up and down action feels a bit cramped as compared to the left and right action. The center button is nicely done though—easy to press, and no worries about accidentally activating it when you’re trying to move up or down.

Of course the keyboard is one of the main attractions on a smartphone and I found the one on the Q to be cramped but usable. At first I had a very hard time pressing the right keys, but after a bit of practice I got more accurate, but not necessarily more comfortable. The keys are fairly long and rather narrow, and there’s a lot of squeaking as the buttons are pressed (I’m hoping that goes away with time, otherwise I’ll feel rather awkward about typing out long messages in public). I’m glad that there are dedicated keys for shift and enter, as well as a long space bar. I’m also glad that the keyboard lights up when a button is pressed, which is excellent for use in low light conditions. The illumination is a faint blue that is good enough to see the keys, but not so bright that you’ll be blinded or stand out like a spotlight.

You’ll also find extra keys for messages, the camera application, and voice recognition (the little Pac-Man key on the bottom right corner of the keyboard). Voice recognition allows you to dial a contact or look something up without using the keyboard or navigation keys.It works very well, though I don’t like the way that it automatically changes the phone’s audio profile to “speakerphone” which can be a problem if that button is accidentally pressed while the phone is in your pocket or bag if you had already set it to silent mode.

Software-wise, the phone comes fully equipped. The Q runs Windows Mobile, so if you’re already using Outlook on the desktop or a previous Pocket PC/Windows Mobile device, you’ll be familiar with the basics. You can navigate through the various menus and screens using the scroll wheel on the side, the five way navigator on the front, or by using shortcut keys on the keyboard. Many of the menus have shortcut letters to the side of each entry; instead of scrolling through the list option by option and then hitting the center button on the five way navigator, you can just press the letter button on the keyboard associated with that entry. It works well and is similar in concept to another smartphone I reviewed a few months ago, the i-Mate SP5m. It used numbers instead of letters, and I found that to be the ideal system; the letters work, but you have to look down at the keyboard to find them instead of knowing instinctively where to press a number key.

You can also use the keyboard to quickly find contacts by name; even though I have literally thousands of numbers in my address book, I found that it usually took three or at the most four key presses to find any contact name. Pick the contact and a screen pops up offering all of the choices you could ever want—call home, work, or mobile, send a text message, or send an email. Even though you can’t send a fax, you’ll see that information at the bottom of the screen, along with addresses, categories, and notes.

Other applications include Calendar and Tasks, along with Internet Explorer, Messaging, Windows Media, File Manager, Pictures & Videos, Media Center, and of course the obligatory copy of Solitaire. I found that everything works as expected, though as mentioned in earlier Windows Mobile Smartphone reviews, I don’t understand why the Notes application is not included, especially on a device with a keyboard. I can of course type out quick notes and email them to myself, but since the Q syncs with Outlook I’d much rather use Notes and also have access to the notes and memos I’ve written on the desktop. Thankfully that problem can be solved with the help of a third party application called Smartphone Notes 2.0; you can get it here for $15.95.

The camera deserves some special attention because it’s much better than I expected from a smartphone. There are several things such as mode, brightness, resolution, zoom, white balance, and flash that are features and settings that I would expect to find only on a digital camera, not a phone. Picture quality is excellent, and the Q is also capable of taking short video clips. You can take shots at resolutions up to 1280x1024, or as low as 160x120 for quick shots to share with friends. Digital zoom is available up to 6x, which you can access using the menu system or by pressing down on the five way navigator. The built-in flash is actually useful, a pleasant surprise. While it won’t make a perfect picture in extreme low light conditions, it does a good job of enhancing things. Unlike most cameras, the flash doesn’t fire when you take the picture; rather the flash unit lights up when you turn it on and remains on until you capture the photo.

The only real negative that I experienced while using the Q is the relatively poor battery life. Though I generally suggest that most people should leave their PDA or smartphone in the cradle overnight to “top off” the battery to make sure you’ll never run short at the end of the day, with the Q that’s an absolute necessity. Try to use it for phone calls and email, look up several appointments and contacts maybe play a few rounds of Solitaire, and you’ll find that the battery can easily be half gone (or more!) by the end of the day. This was especially the case for me, since I have an office with very poor coverage from Verizon Wireless With the phone constantly searching for a signal it barely lasted a day without charging, which I don’t consider to be acceptable for something designed for frequent use throughout the day. Even worse, the charger is relatively large, though thankfully it does have folding prongs for convenient storage in your bag—trust me, you’ll probably want to keep it with you all the time, or get a car charger.

I like the Q, and even with its shortcomings I’m still thinking about buying one for myself since I had to return the loaner unit. It’s incredibly slim and very full featured (aside from the puzzling absence of Notes) and I really like the thumb wheel for navigation and scrolling through text. Whether or not it’s right for you depends on how you see yourself using the Q. If you’re a heavy talker with secondary calendar/tasks and email/web use, you’ll likely find the rather wide Q to be awkward to hold. If you’re a light talker and want a big screen for PIM functions and email/web browsing, the Q may be a better choice for your needs. The best thing to do is go to a Verizon Wireless store to check out a demo model before you make your purchase; prices will vary depending on whether you are a new or existing Verizon customer.

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