Customer Reviews

Motorola Karma QA1 Phone, Black (AT&T)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The phone itself is mildly bulky (smaller than blackberries and Palms), if that even does it justice as a description....ok, it's short (though taller than it is wide) and roughly a couple inches wide, medium thickness (but that is a given since it's a slider), but very very functional and sturdy compared to the other phones I handled during my pre-purchase peruse. Many of the other sliders priced the same were either more phone than necessary (more major PDA requiring more $ expensive data packages) or were flimsy and cheap to the touch.

For a basic PDA-like texter phone (calendar, IM and texting), it's great. The body of the phone is rubbery, metallic, and plastic with a matte and rubber finish outer shell and a durable glass-like quality face. This isn't a rock, but at the same time it feels solid in my hands. It only comes in the one stock color at the moment; gray/black. There are colored click and rubber cases for it (which would just make it bulkier), but honestly short of a carrying case and a full cover screen shield (film to protect from scratches) you don't need much else for this phone's body.

*If your phone hums for any reason, even while open, other than standard setting of vibrating with calls, IM's and texts, return it for warranty coverage to your cell provider. Many forums have listed this as a concern. Thankfully, I did not have this problem.

The keys are not gel like, how the Palms are. They are plastic, firm, and spaced from one another. I picked up quickly on the shift and number keys. They don't feel cheap like some of the other popular sliders. The D/5 key is slightly depressed amongst the others raised, intentionally.

I digress, the phone itself is great. I owned a Razr before, but texting on a simple flip phone, regardless of how well constructed it is, with basic keys isn't great. Between going to school & working full time, I needed something I could key in details into my daily calendar and text with.

The screen is small and glass-like (not poor quality looking plastic). It is not a touch screen in any application. It's extremely well lit and crisp (even at a default contrast setting of 3-med) but it gets smudgy. Invest in a screen guard the same day you buy it to protect from scratches. Easy enough.

I didn't include the internet, but I did get the messaging unlimited. I hear they are going to start requiring minimum plans for smart phones soon. Otherwise, they won't even sell you the phone. But I think that given the quality of the unit, watching television or other on it would be suitable and clear. My friends have marveled over the clarity of the pictures, lettering, etc...There is no lag or weird pixilation that I've seen, accept for when pictures are loading in the album for view. There is also GPS directions available, but it's an At&t format and requires internet.

The backgrounds can be changed to whatever preset ones on the phone or a picture stored on the mini or phone memory (main menu=settings=personalize).

The "themes" or background color can be set (main menu=settings=themes). Two come standard on the phone and of course, true to At&t nature, you can BUY more right there on the little device if you wish. I set mine to At&t Custom (which is black background with white lettering). The other is At&t blue & white.

The phone has a key lock mode. When you get it straight from the box, it's set to turn the phone to standby quickly. This is an adjustable feature you just have to poke around tools settings. Personally, I don't mind that it locks quickly. I throw it into my purse once I'm done with it. You can set it up to automatically unlock when you open it. I believe it is defaulted this way anyway.

You can change most of the home bar keys to accommodate your needs. So if you don't want MySpace and Facebook to list on your bar, but you want the IM and the Address book instead it's easily changed. If you do wish to use these attributes, be sure your plan covers internet usage. Unlimited Messaging plans (or the current ones they offer around $20) usually only cover the IM and texting of text, pics and video only. To use the FB or MS, you have to log onto your online account from a computer first to enable the mobile feature.

Keys on the sides of the phone are (left default) camera and (right default) ringer volume.
On the face are default back and message center buttons.

You CAN work on things without having to slide out the key pad. Again, an adjustable feature you have to poke for to set. I like being able to read my calendar reminders & messages without having to open the phone. Text marquee (the speed in which lengthy text passes into view) is also available in slow, medium, and fast. Both slide feature and text marquee are found under main menu=settings=initial setup.

There are car settings and Airplane Mode, which means while in flight you don't have to technically turn your phone completely off. Read more about the details online.

Standard headphone jack available on top of the phone.

Games there are a few of them on the unit, but they are all demos, a couple are complicated to load, and you cannot delete the demos. If you want to pay monthly to order and keep a game on the phone that's entirely up to you.

The battery life is more than acceptable. Just remember brightness settings and leaving on the Bluetooth when not in use will always drain any battery. And I do leave mine on battery save mode, brightness of 3 (midway),

The sound: quality of the speaker phone is excellent and clear.
However, because of the shape of the unit I would recommend speaking on speaker phone or investing in a Bluetooth earpiece. In regards of music, again, it is better quality listening that on most phones. It'll play a variety of formats (be sure to review tech stats for which: AAC, H.263, MP3, MPEG, MPEG-4, WAV, WMA9, WMA10, PNG, eAAC+, AAC+, MIDI, Real Audio).

The Camera: has a variety of playful settings, you can turn off the shutter noise, there is video but remember the phone saves up to 100 mb or you can store up to 16 g on a mini-card (which is not usually included with the phone). The port is beside the battery, under the cover. The size of your memory will affect how many pictures and the length of your videos (as well as the number of songs). For 2 mp, it's an ok camera. There is a flash, but I call it LED flashlight mode. The flash is literally more a constant light, than a traditional flash (unless I'm overlooked a setting). And it is BRIGHT. My friends had "sunspot" blindness when I tried to take their picture with it.

The alarm: If you are like me you use your phone for just about everything, including an alarm clock. Some PDA/phones are not loud enough, or don't allow your own music or tones. You can set multiple times with tones on the phone or your own music and the volume (ranging from 0-6) is plenty loud enough.

Texting: is great because it learns your words, allows for inserted pre-template words/phrases, pictures, video, etc...and when it does suggest words as you type they are more often than not the ones you were trying to use. I don't type in text lingo often; I like the old school art of actually writing out what I have to say. Either way, it works well.

There is some confusion about the threading texting...some forums I've seen have people wondering if you can have it thread or switch it back & forth between texting old school and threading...There is. I found the option today. If you go into message and click on options, select "view messages" or "view conversations" depending on which you have it defaulted to when you get it. This is how you switch between threaded texts and the regular texting style. I'm sure email would have been great, but personally, my email isn't all that vital. The IM & texting are more than enough to get a hold of me. If you want email you'll have to double check the tech specifics for which it'll support or if you have to sync up existing email through a POP account.

You can set up the texting in and out boxes to trash messages automatically to save you the hassle. Same standard features (locking, copying, etc...)

IM: Yahoo, AIM, and WLM. Other than those I don't see any other available messenger clients. But for example yahoo accounts are free and easily set up online prior to setting up messaging on the device.

You will have to use Motorola Tools to put on or take items off your phone like music and picture files, unless of course you pay to download music, sent it via Bluetooth, or other, etc...I have an old version and I've not tried it yet (so I can't say if you have to get the newer one or not), because I had to order another USB cord. This is a mini-flat usb attachment, that once again isn't usually included in the box. Got to ebay or Amazon for accessories. I wouldn't recommend buying in the store for extras. I bought the usb, car charger, screen guards, leather case all for $10 with no extra shipping charges. The store, $30. Because I made the same mistake, thinking my Razr attachments (Motorola too) would work, they do not. The port is completely different.

I purchased this phone (via At&t with a 2 year contract). Complain enough about their "one time" activation fee of $18 and you won't have to pay it. Like car salesman they act like they are giving you such a good deal.

I bought this phone a week ago after A LOT of research because it does everything I wanted: great screen, full keyboard, compact, 3.5mm headphone jack, good music player, fast 3G connectivity, good camera with flash, and on and on. Also, the battery lifespan is long, the build is really solid, and the design is pretty nice. I was not disappointed. In short, the hardware is great. The downside is that the included AT&T software is really crappy and you can't delete it. Also, if you try to use your own downloaded software (e.g. Google Maps) it does this really annoying thing where it asks for permission every time it accesses the data network. This is obviously a software thing that is unnecessary and AT&T does just so they can make money by forcing you to use their apps. It does include a great, free GPS app, [...], which is impressive because their AT&T GPS app costs $5 a month and GPS is usually a paid-for service -- even the iPhone doesn't have GPS (it locates itself using cell phone tower triangulation). The included AT&T internet browser is decent and can access all the sites you would want to -- facebook, twitter, gmail, etc. etc. This phone fills all my needs and a data plan for this phone only costs $15/month or $10/month with a family plan verses the $30/month that you will be paying for a BlackBerry or an iPhone. If you are willing to put up with the annoyance, its a great phone and a great price. If you aren't looking for a smartphone or a phone to use with data, then this phone is hands-down a great phone.

I did have one issue with the phone: the Motorola software and drivers for connecting the phone to the computer were extremely confusing and the USB connection did not work on my phone. I am SO GLAD I bought on AmazonWireless because after I was sure the handset was faulty, they immediately shipped me a new phone on 1-day shipping and included a paid mailer to send them back the faulty phone. I spend hours on the phone with Motorola and could not get a straight answer and when I called AmazonWireless, I immediately got a real person to speak to and they solved my problem quickly and professionally. Regardless of whether you buy this phone or another phone, you should definitely use AmazonWireless -- the phones are cheaper, its incredibly easy to use, and their customer service is fantastic!

I LOVE AMAZONWIRELESS!! (I know this is a really shameless plug but I swear, I am not affiliated in any way with Amazon and I just think that when a company does a good job servicing their customers, it should be acknowledged!)

I'll start out by saying that I actually had no intentions of purchasing this phone to begin with. Being in an IT background, I tend to use 'more' of your standard cellphone than most do. I'm one of those guys who actually use the calendar, notes, voice records, and so on, in addition to actually using it to call. Thus the reason I've purchased smartphones in the past.

However, with the advent of the required data plan in the summer of 2009, there was no way to avoid a data plan tied to the smartphone, aside from purchasing a smartphone outright - which was itself removed as an option recently. Therefore I was left with 3 choices - suck up the $30/month for a data plan (in an area where I barely get 2G coverage), switch to T-mobile, the ONLY cell phone provider that DOES allow you to purchase a smartphone outright and use it with no data plan; or give up smartphones.

I asked myself what was absolutely necessary in a phone, and for me specifically, it came down to three things - text messaging, the ability to plan (calendar), and good reception. My father had recently purchased the Motorola Karma, and he recommended it to me.

I'm NOT a slide-phone fan; they seem inherently more 'unstable' than a standard brick phone or even a clamshell phone. However, I researched the Karma, and surprisingly found that it had great reviews, so about a week ago I took the plunge.

I have to say this phone has been phenomenal thus far; and it has changed my previous (and incorrect) assumption that I 'needed' a smartphone to manage my life.

The phone is shorter and wider than most phones, and it undeniably is a bit thicker than most phones; I would estimate it's about .7 inches thick. However, in my personal opinion, this is offset by the fact that the phone is VERY solidly built, with a glass front and a rubberized exterior. I've dropped it twice (accidentally) and it shows nary a scratch. As previously mentioned, carrying it in one's pocket is a bit more noticeable than, say, a thinner smartphone or a clamshell phone such as the Motorola RAZR. But considering its build, it's a tradeoff I'll gladly take.

Reception is EXCELLENT with this phone. My two previous phones were a Nokia E71x and a Motorola Q9c, and both of them had excellent reception - I thought. At best, either of these two phones would get approximately 1 to 2 bars. The Motorola Karma, however, is sitting next to me in the worst part of the house reception-wise, and it currently has 4 bars - unheard of in this house. Calls are clear as a bell, both incoming and outgoing; I've been on speakerphone before, hearing call recipients express surprise that I didn't have the phone to my ear.

The keys on the keypad are somewhat small, and the top row keys can be a bit hard to get to depending upon what angle your thumbs are held at. And I've NEVER been a fan of uncomfortable or small keypads. However, despite their size, I have to say that it truly isn't that hard to type on the phone, due to the space between the keys and the height they are raised to. I can actually type faster on this phone than on any other phone.

The OS itself is MUCH quicker than previous Motorola phones - long a bane of mine. As an IT guy, pressing a button on a phone and having to wait at ALL drives me absolutely bananas; and phones like the RAZR did indeed drive me bananas. I hated having to wait on button presses. The Karma has none of that - responses are instantaneous, and I actually HAVE to scroll line by line through the address book because holding down the directional pad scrolls way too fast to view.

The phone is loaded with features, and for those who are heavily into social networking, this is the phone for you. Out of the box, it is set up for Myspace and Facebook, as well as email access. My one quibble in this area is that you cannot set up your own email address access, but I'm fairly sure this will be corrected in an update in the future.

The calendar works just fine; my only complaint is that it does not display upcoming appointments on the home screen, as many smartphones do.

Am I satisfied with this phone? Absolutely. With one or two VERY minor quibbles, not of concern to most, this phone is absolutely perfect for what I need. Loaded with features, great reception, solidly built; I HIGHLY recommend this phone to anyone interested in those qualifications, especially if you're big into the social networking scene.

Length:: 8:01 Mins

The pros, the cons, and the iffy bits of the Motorola Karma QA1 Phone, Black (AT&T) are mentioned in this product review. I then give a conclusion based on my overall impression of the device.

After extensive comparisons of cell phones that are excellent "phones" first and good at texting second, I chose the Motorola Karma. I didn't want a phone with a $30/month data plan because I'm always near a computer when I need one. So I'm using the Karma primarily as a phone with the addition of an unlimited text plan. I've had the phone for two weeks, so these are just my first impressions.
(1) Call quality is excellent. I even hear my Mom, who's calling from an awful Samsung phone, clearly and she no longer asks me to repeat what I'm saying like I did with my old Nokia 6820 (which did have pretty good call quality). My friends remark that I sound like I'm calling from a landline, even when I'm walking on a busy street.
(2) Call talk time is good. I've talked for nearly 3 hours between charges and still had juice left in the battery. Overall, I'm charging my phone about once every 4 days and I'm burning about 900 minutes/month.
(3) Camera is decent. While it's not nearly as good as my 8MP Nikon camera, it is good enough for taking photos to upload to Facebook.
(4) Voice recorder works well.
(5) Sync'ing through MPT to my Outlook works like a dream...except for one small problem...meeting alert tones always get converted to "Piano". (The Alarm also defaults to "Piano") I've searched through every menu, been on every forum, all to no avail. You can individually change the alert to something else, meeting by meeting, but I have tons of meetings that change weekly. (Note: MPT5.0 will automatically update to 5.2x when you install it on your PC so it is compatible with the Karma. Also, MPT5.0 comes with the sync cables that you'll need to sync and charge from USB)
(6) Texting is fast. It's zero lag...I type fast and it appears real-time. Sending, deleting, etc. is also quite speedy. The keyboard is easy for my big thumbs to type on. It's been a glitch free experience.

The screen is bright and easy to see in daylight, but it's resolution is not what an iPhone offers. I would not want to browse the web on the Karma. And although you have threaded text conversation support, it's hard to see much threading with just four lines of text occupying the entire screen. At least the text is easy to read.

If you get this phone, you'll want to go to Settings > Personalize > Home Screen (a quirk in the UI provides no indication that this is actually a menu item, just highlight it and press the center button) > Launch Bar (click on center button) then choose these settings for the launch bar: Icons: Hide, 1st: Create Message, 2nd Address Book, 3rd: Calendar, 4th: My Stuff. Pressing the upper section of the middle round button will bring up these four tools.

I'd recommend this phone to anyone who wants an excellent "cell phone" first with competent texting capability.

Went shopping for new phones with my wife. We looked and played with EVERYTHING we could find. When you walk by the phone isle the Karma is easy overlooked because it is so elegantly simple. We thought to ourselves that the phones with the visible keyboards (like blackberry) are the ones we want. We didn't want touch screens like the iPhone because we don't like dirty finders touching the phone then our face. We didn't want flip phones with small screens. Then at last we discovered several slider phones which often have the best of everything. There is no need to show the ugly busy keyboard when you don't have to. There is no touch screen keyboard that's eats battery life.

The Karma stood out because it is compact, very innovative, full featured, and super high quality. The keyboard is also very good and slides away when you don't need it. I also bought "Motorola Phone Tools" which also me the sync my outlook calendar and contacts with the phone, and transfer pictures and music file easily. People are saying the Karma is a good social phone for texting and stuff, which is true but the Karma exceeds at everything else as well. Call Quality/GPS/3G/Camera/Video, tons more. Nice job Motorola.

As other reviewers have noted so well, this is as good as it gets without a $30/month data plan. You better get the $10/month data plan, though, because you just won't be able to stay off the internet with this phone.

Although the built in email app does not work with Gmail, you can easily download the Gmail app from Google and add it to the 4 shortcut buttons that appear on the Homescreen for quick access to your email. Apps are not available for Google Tasks and Google Calendar but you can bookmark them in the browser for easy access. It would be nice if I could sync Google Tasks/Calendar with the built in apps on the phone, but that is wishful thinking.

Stepping down from a PDA, I was looking for a memo/notepad and SOLITAIRE, which the Karma does not have. I downloaded a java version of both, and I am good to go.

I love how this phone fits in my pocket. The rounded square shape is very eye catching. Everyone wants to see my new phone.

I have only had the phone for a couple of days, but I decide pretty quickly whether or not I'm going to like a product or not. So far I have absolutely NO complaints about this phone. It's 3g so the webpage load time is pretty quick. The quick links to facebook and myspace are great... The MP3 player (I type as I am listening to a recently created playlist on the Karma) that is onboard is actually really good! It has a fabulous sound and although it doesn't have an eq. it does have a bass boost which helps keep away from that high pitched tin can sound. An added bonus is the expandable memory that will allow you up to 16 gb of space! From looking around AT&T there are very few phones that allow that amount of expansion.

The spacing of the keys is perfect for texting, emailing or as I do LiveJournal-ing... The set up is also quite user friendly if you have used a motorola phone before.

This is not PDA phone, therefore you don't have to pay the 30$ PDA monthly charge :) which in these tight times I think is a plus! But other than the functions I never even used on my PDA phone I am missing out on nothing!

If you're an avid text-er, email-er and social network-er then I suggest you put serious thought into getting the Karma QA1... This is coming from someone who is living in a Karmic paradise!

Hope this helps!!! Any questions feel free to ask me.

p.s. It's suppose to be 5 stars, but it won't allow me to change the star rating *****

This is not an elaborate review, but just some pros and cons I've found.

Firstly, I have had a Blackberry for the last couple years - and it was hard to switch to a non-Blackberry phone. There's still a part of me that thinks that no other phone can compare.

Cons:
- The battery cover comes off very easily.
- The speaker is not as loud as I would have expected and when my phone is in my car mount, I have to turn it around backwards to I can hear the other person. This, in turn, puts the mic opposite and it is fairly a lose/lose situation.
- Within days, the locking mechanism of the slide broke and the phone will not properly lock. Any small touch puts the phone into lock and then immediately unlocked. Because of this, I would miss an alarm, phone call, message, and other similar features because the phone thought I answered, or dismissed. Amazon is replacing the phone and I am awaiting to see if the replacement is the same.
- Being used to having a Blackberry, I am disappointed that there is no notepad - a feature I used frequently.
- Like most of AT&T's phones, installed games are only demos. Personally I think it's ridiculous.

Pros:
- The picture/screen quality is fantastic. Brightness is adjustable, which not only enhances viewing, but can extend battery life between charges.
- You can set up to 5 alarms.
- Battery life is better than I expected, but Motorola phones I;ve had in the past started with longer life and dwindled to nearly no life, lasting only a couple of hours.
- The phone uses the regular MEdia Net and does not require getting the more expensive data package. AT&T has gotten better as far as having more full keyboard phones that use MEdia Net. This has only improved in the last year and a half.
- The calendar has nearly equal qualities to the Blackberry. It shows free/busy times, you can add notes to an event (which is helpful since there is no notepad), and you can set reminder alarms.

If I think of more, I will update my review.

For me, the most important aspect of a phone is its core function, i.e., for phone calls. Motorola's Crystal Talk technology has the most clear, natural sound quality, and this phone has plenty of volume for even noisier environments.

The phone also physically feels like a quality product, unlike most other "free if you upgrade" phones. It is not classified as a PDA phone, so you can get the $15 unlimited data plan. Unlike many phones with similar features, there is no lag as you browse through the menu system.

Three minor complaints, which may be due to the AT&T specific firmware:
1. Cannot upgrade Windows Live Messenger client.
2. Non-standard web applications (e.g., GMail) requires you to confirm each and every time you access the data network.
3. Cannot delete pre-installed AT&T applications even if you will never use them.