Motorola Q Black Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service)

by Motorola

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches ; 4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MQFGO2
• Item model number: MOTOQB
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,380 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Amazon.com Hands-On Review

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.

Sleek, small and oh, so powerful.

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.

Get intimate with the Q's keyboard (silver version shown).

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:

• One-handed use
• Thin and light
• EV-DO data

Cons:

• Short standby battery life
• Stiff keyboard keys

--Reviewed by Michael Oryl, editor in chief of www.MobileBurn.com

Product Description

Motorola Q Bluetooth Camera cell phone. This Smartphone combines RAZR styling with a BlackBerry-like form factor. Key features include Windows Mobile 5, a QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO high-speed data, Bluetooth (with stereo), and a megapixel camera. Other features include a side scroll wheel, a miniSD memory card slot, and a full-duplex speakerphone.. . Includes:. Motorola Q Phone Battery Battery door Home charger; The Moto Q: The First no-Compromises QWERTY. Todays users are looking for mobility to give them the best combination of style, voice, messaging and entertainment and the Motorola Q delivers. The worlds thinnest QWERTY, the Motorola Q changes the playing field for mobile devices by delivering a superior uncompromising mobile experience in one amazing ultra-thin package.; Ultra-thin Look & Feel. Fifty percent thinner than its top competitors, the Motorola Q is also lightweight and features electro-luminescent keys, QWERTY keyboard, thumbwheel for single-handed control, and internal antenna. The Motorola Q also provides users the opportunity to balance work and play through additional features such as a large, vibrant, color screen, Web surfing capabilities, a 1.3 mega pixel camera with photo lighting, video and MP3 audio capabilities, and cool compatible Bluetooth-enabled accessories like the new RAZRWIRE Bluetooth eyewear.; The Ultimate Voice Experience. Motorola invented the mobile phone so you know we know voice! Leveraging Motorolas expertise in RF technology, the new Q delivers the best phone experience you can get on a QWERTY. Featuring a high-quality speakerphone, voice-activated dialing and Bluetooth functionality, the Q enables hands-free multitasking for todays busy work environment.; Your Office Space, Any Place. With the Motorola Q, mobile professionals can be confident they can be productive by having a quality phone and email experience in an innovative and stylish form factor. The Motorola Q leverages Microsofts familiar and trusted

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars BMW with a lawnmower motor. REVISED, March 10, 2007

By 

J. Wolfson (Marina Del Rey, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola Q Black Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

The Black one is the same as the silver one, but the rubbery black surface is nice, and not "plastic-y." You know about all the cool things this phone does, but it's all pretty much irrelevant as the battery won't last long enough to do them, much less keep you available for phone calls. The feeling of walking around with this thing is pretty much the same as when you are forced to use your laptop with out it's external power supply: you know your battery's gonna drain before you get back to your desk. Pair up a bluetooth headset, and you'll be lucky if it keeps a charge long enough to wait on hold with Verizon while you try to get them to swap it out. The shame is, if it had reasonable battery life, it'd be great in SPITE of all it's other quirks (which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of 2). You can pay extra for the extended life battery which is roughly twice the thickness, but that defeats half the allure of the device and you might as well just have a Treo, which I understand works pretty well.

REVISION: Verizon sent me a new one of these after the first one I bought broke, froze and generally behaved psychotically. The replacement likes to shut itself on and off at will and oftentimes gives me un-fixable error messages when attempting to dial a simple phone number, requiring more time on hold with data/tech support, another trip to the Verizon store and ultimately (as my last one AND my girlfriend's Silver version of this phone did) a HARD reset, which in turn requires re-entering and resetting all personal settings and data. Even if you use Wireless Sync (Verizon's excellent on-line backup) you still have to go in and, one by one, change your contacts to list "first name first" should you so desire to have your names read like names. Amazon won't let me take off a star (Motorola should be happy to even get 2!) so I'll simply recommend that, unless you enjoy fixing phones, you avoid this one like a public restroom with an overflowing toilet.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stylish but unreliable, May 7, 2007

By 

Nandakumar Sankaran (San Francisco Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola Q Black Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

Ever since the advertisement for the Q came out on TV, I have been floored by its sleek and stylish design. I was waiting for my "get one every two" deal and when the time came, without hesitation I upgraded my phone to a black Q. The keys are large enough to comfortably type and the colors and sharpness of text were very aesthetically pleasing. Since I had built smartphone apps for a previous generation of the phone, naturally I gravitated to the Windows Mobile based device. Also, since this is a windows based device, I didn't have to read the manual (except for advanced features) to figure out how to use the device. Setting up eMail was a breeze and integration with Outlook was very cool with meeting reminders popping up on time, very conveniently.

My honeymoon period with this phone was over rather quickly. One of the first things I did was to enter contacts from my old phone. Scrolling through the options for every contact revealed the slowness of the contact app. Selecting ringtones also had the same drawback - it took a noticeable amount of time to scroll through the ringtones before they would play the tune for preview. It was annoying to watch the field selector jump back and forth as the wheel was rotated, with each field painting itself slowly. Occasionally, when looking at a list view, the screen would draw blank but when you roll the wheel, items in selection would selectively paint themselves.

Secondly, in the three weeks I had the device, it hung twice while making outgoing phone calls and once as I was browsing the web. On the first two occasions, I had to turn off phone and back on to get it usable again. It was like rebooting a Windows 95 device when it hung or bluescreened. This is a cell phone and I expect its uptime to be measured in months, not days. On the second occasion, gwes.exe crashed and I was asked whether the phone can send the error message to Microsoft, just like the promts on Windows XP when something goes awry. Again, I expect this device to behave like a phone, not like a desktop.

The final straw was the battery life. You could see the battery draining in front of your eyes. That is how short the battery lasted. About a day of use with a couple of short phone calls and lots of email. It was constantly being charged when not in my hands. The power management setting that I selected (5 seconds for backlight to dim and 15 seconds for display to turn off) never persisted. It would temporarily be effective and then it would go back to a standard setting (5 seconds for display to turn off). This meant I had to constantly wake up the device if I was reading a page of eMail.

I finally got fed up and exchanged this for a blackberry. While the latter looks and feels like a brick, it has been rock solid. Research in Motion got its device designed quite right and I feel Motorola and Microsoft failed to capitalize on a beautiful device design with the Q. I give this a 2 star for device design and intuitive ease of use.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay Away From the Q!, September 12, 2007

By 

Paul Sieminski "PES1" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Motorola Q Black Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

The Q is a frustrating waste of time and money. I have also experienced many of the problems described in the other customer reviews: random crashes, slow service, non-existant battery life, etc.

Do yourself a favor and get an iPhone or, if you need a device for business, a Blackberry. Compared to the Q, both are much better and more reliable alternatives.