Motorola Q Cell Phone Review
By Alfredo Padilla
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
August 23, 2007
The Motorola Q is a Windows Mobile smart phone that features a full QWERTY keyboard but still manages a thin profile. Since its launch more than a year ago it has been one of the most popular smart phones on the market, but it has some limitations; the version of Windows Mobile it runs is limited, and the battery life is disappointing. The Q is currently available for $149.99 with a two-year contract from Sprint, and is also available for $229.99 with a two-year contract from Verizon Wireless.
The Motorola Q measures 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.45-inches and feels comfortable in the hand, although the wide design may not suit those with smaller hands. The keyboard has relatively small keys, but we found that typing was still relatively fast at 39.6 words per minute, about the same we managed on the BlackBerry 8800. The screen is a comfortable 2.4 inches diagonal, and the control keys were fairly easy to use. We also liked that the Q includes a scroll wheel, like older BlackBerry devices, which allows you to quickly move up and down lists.
Making calls on the Q is a straightforward affair- simply dial from the home screen using t dedicated number keys. You can also make a call from your contacts or call history. We found the number keys to be a little small. It took an average of 5.8 seconds to make a call, which is on the slow side. This is a consequence of having the number keys on the keyboard; we found ourselves having to hunt and peck to dial.
The Q runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 OS, which means the built-in programs are somewhat limited. While contacts, calendar, and tasks can be synchronized with Outlook on your desktop, the programs aren't as fully featured as the ones on newer devices that run Windows Mobile 6 or the BlackBerry OS. The contacts and calendar application offer good support for categories and a variety of views, but there's no way to do things like categorize appointments. The Q's tasks program is also not impressive, offering only a simple list of tasks and the ability to mark them completed. There was no support for text notes.
The Motorola Q performed fairly well in our audio quality tests, with solid voice quality on outgoing calls. The Q fell down a little in regards to the quality of sound being received by the phone; we found lower frequencies to be exaggerated, which can lead to voices sounding boomy and bassy.
The Motorola Q comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera that didn't perform particularly well in our tests; images had poor resolution, with little fine detail and weak color. It didn't do as poorly as some other 1.3-megapixel cameras, such as the Razr V3m or Krzr K1m, but the images aren't good enough to print out and put in the family album. The Q does include an LED flash, but this is not very useful beyond a couple of feet. Video capture is also on board, but only at low resolutions sufficient for MMS video.
The Q was more capable on the multimedia front. Windows Media Player Mobile is used for both music and video playback and provides the tools you need. The Q can play back MP3 files and both protected and unprotected WMA files. On the video side, the Q can handle 3GP, MP4, and WMV files, including protected WMV files from stores like Amazon's Unboxed. The large 2.4-inch screen makes the Q a solid video playback device, although for either music or video playback you will want to invest in a large capacity MiniSD card to store your media.
As you would expect from a smart phone, the Q provides very good messaging capability. In addition to SMS and MMS messaging, the Q supports standard POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail accounts. You can also get push e-mail if your company uses a Microsoft Exchange server. The e-mail client is easy to use, especially using the scroll wheel to quickly move through your messages. Internet Explorer Mobile is on board for browsing the Web, which does a solid job of surfing mobile websites, but less so when browsing full websites. The Q supports high speed data via Sprint or Verizon's EVDO network, although this battery hungry network adversely impacts its battery life.
Battery life was the Q's biggest Achilles heel, with a call time of only 3 hours and 45 minutes. This is almost half an hour less than the Treo 700p, and not even half the battery life we got from the T-Mobile Dash. Anyone who spends a lot of time talking on their phone will probably find the Q's battery life insufficient, which is probably why Motorola includes two batteries with the Q. Still, that won't help if the battery runs out in the middle of an important call; we found the Q took a frustrating 71 seconds to place a call after being turned on. Music playback was a little lower than we would have liked at 5 hours and 25 minutes, and the Web browsing time was downright pathetic at 2 hours and 42 minutes.
The Motorola Q took the QWERTY form factor made popular by BlackBerry and Treo devices and made it slimmer and sexier. It has since been widely imitated by devices like the Samsung Blackjack and T-Mobile Dash. Despite having a solid set of features, the Q's poor battery life makes us hesitant to recommend it to anyone who needs a device that can keep going through a busy workday. You may want to consider the BlackBerry Pearl or T-Mobile Dash, two devices with similiar capabilities but a significantly better battery life.
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