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| Home >> Handheld & PDA Reviews: Motorola Q Phone (Sprint) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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To keep your smartphone's applications up to date, and to optimize the performance of your device, you may need to perform firmware and/or software updates just as you would on your PC. To learn more about updates for your device, please visit Motorola's support site. Note that by clicking this link you will be leaving Amazon.com.Motorola's QWERTY keyboard equipped Q, formerly known as the RAZRberry in the rumor mills, might not exactly be the "BlackBerry killer" that many predicted, but it is certainly one of the most capable and user friendly smartphones available on the market today. Based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone platform, the Q picks up the best features from Microsoft's Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile while still offering a lot of PDA-like capability and screen real estate on its 65k color, 320x240 pixel display.
In terms of hardware features, the Q's right side 3-way scroll wheel and dedicated back buttons take center stage. These give the Q user fast BlackBerry-like scrolling with the ability to select an item or return to the prior screen--all with the user's thumb. Of course you can still do these same things the traditional way by using the 5-way direction pad and the back button that sits to its right. There's also a dedicated home key as well as the red and green call control keys. The Q's QWERTY keyboard is a bit stiff, but otherwise designed well. The dark keys serve double duty as the numeric keypad when the Option key (found left of the Z key) is used. The Option key can be locked on, as can the shift key on the opposite side of the keyboard. Along the bottom of the keyboard you'll find dedicated buttons for email, the 1.3-megapixel camera, and a dual-use key for the speaker-independent voice dialing system and speakerphone. When it comes to hot features, though, the Q's EV-DO 3G data capability tops the list. When used in an EV-DO coverage area, the Q user can expect to get wireless data rates that approach those enjoyed by home DSL users. When there is no EV-DO coverage available, the Q will fall back to the slower 1xRTT data network (roughly comparable to a 56Kbps modem). The Q can also connect to a desktop PC with a USB or Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth can also be used with mono and stereo headsets, as well as other devices like keyboards.
While WiFi wireless access would have been a welcomed feature, it would have only led to even more strain on the already overtaxed battery. The standard capacity battery is capable of a respectable 5.5 hours of continuous talk time, but realistically will only provide a day of solid use, especially if the Q user takes advantage of the BlackBerry-like push email support. The push system can keep your Q lock step in sync with your corporate or home email inbox without any user intervention required. On top of email synchronization, it can also be used to synchronize the Q's contacts, calendar entries, tasks and other items with your home or office copy of Microsoft Outlook. It is somewhat eerie how you can enter a new contact or appointment on the Q and have it show up moments later in Outlook--or the other way around. One of the great things about owning a smartphone is the ability to add 3rd party developed applications to the device. Since Windows Mobile 5.0 is quite popular, there are plenty such applications available both freely and for purchase. The Q has about 50MB of RAM for running applications, and a similar amount for storing data and the applications themselves. If you need more storage space, you can easily add a gigabyte or two by inserting a miniSD memory card into the Q's slot, located on the left edge of the device. The Motorola Q packs a lot of capability into a device that is only a half inch thick and weighs 4.3 ounces--considerably less than the competition. It comes highly recommended. Pros:
Cons:
--Reviewed by Michael Oryl, editor in chief of www.MobileBurn.com User Submitted Motorola Q Phone (Sprint) ReviewsDate: 2008-11-18 Worst phone I ever owned I ordered this phone because it was free with a new contract and I was completely dissatisfied with the product. The phone does NOT have picture messaging capabilities. Therefore you cannot send or receive picture mail. This something you learn the hard way after purchasing a plan that includes unlimited picture messaging. The phone also has the worst battery life ever!! When I would completely charge the phone, it would only last for about 3 hours before dying on me. I could not even last a whole day at work without having to go home to charge my phone. If there was a zero star category, then I'd give this phone zero stars because it is an unreliable piece of garbage. Not to mention the fact that it has no aesthetic appeal and it's huge. Huge for nothing because it's not a smart phone. Date: 2008-07-14 great phone Moto Q is a good phone great features. I never had a problem with it cutting off but yes the battery life is the worse. Motorola fix that problem it may have the best phone on hand. Date: 2008-07-06 Terrible phone Nothing works. Power off itself and can't boot it back. Battery lasts a couple of hours. There is nothing I like from this phone and I regret the initial purchase decision. Date: 2008-04-24 The WORST phone ever! Where do I begin? Battery...the battery lasts about 10 hours IF you DON'T use the phone at all. I have to turn the phone off when I'm on the subway to conserve some battery life. If I send a few texts and talk for more than 30 minutes, the phone never makes it all the way home. I unplug the phone at 8am, take the train into the city and will have lost a bar during the 45 minute commute. I'm lucky if I get home and it's not yelling at me to charge it. Random reboots...sometimes I'll dial a number, if the timer doesn't show...you know the phone will need to be rebooted BUT if you try to dial the number twice more the phone will reboot on it's own. God forbid you have an emergency... Sometimes I'll try to send a text message and the phone decides to reboot. And sometimes the phone will just be sitting on my desk and work and I'll notice it vibrating...nope no one has called or texted...you guessed it...it's rebooting Phone off...if for some reason your phone looses service...the phone will NEVER locate the network. YOu have to turn the phone off and back on in order to restore service. I've had sprint for 10 years so it's not sprint. The best part is when you turn the phone back on it goes into "Phone off" mode. (No mention of this in the book). The only way I've been able to get out of phone off mode is to dial a number so the phone alerts you that it's in "phone off" mode and will ask you if you want to turn the phone on. So you click yes and your voicemails and texts will appear. If you didn't realize your phone didn't have service when it died (most likely) or when you turned it off, you won't pay attention to see if it's in "Phone off" mode and you won't receive a call or text until you "turn in on". I know...it's already on but only in the sense that it's eating away at your battery you're not connected to the network. Lapse...I think the brain of this phone isn't connected to the rest of it's body because sometimes I'll press a button and literally have to wait 5 seconds before the phone realizes someone is trying to use it. 5 seconds may not feel like much but in 5 seconds you could make a call, have the person tell you they'll call you back and hang up...meanwhile the Moto Q users are still waiting for their phone to wake up! Alarm...only one alarm so set to the most important time and keep it moving. Battery...did I mention that it sucks?? :) Background applications...any functions you use stay running in the "background"...helping drain your battery. You have to go into task manager and end all applications otherwise they stay on until the battery drains...it will...no worries! Is this enough of a reson to not get this phone? I hope so??? Date: 2008-04-21 Batary Ithe phone is great for its features but the batary life really SUCKS can barly get throught one work day with one charge, and thats if i really dont use that much.
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