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Don McDougall, long time member of Aximsite and Mobilitysite, has sent us a glowing review of the new Motorola Q on the Verizon Network. I’ve known Don for a few years and trust his judgment, but I will still give it my impressions soon. Don has also judged the Pocket PC Magazine Software Awards in the past.

MOTOROLA “Q”  Review
Don McDougall

OVERVIEW 9/10
It arrived on Thursday morning, at 8am.  By 8:10 the unit has synced with our servers, copied over my e-mail, contacts and calender, and was sitting charging on my desk.  The unit was exceptionally easy to set up, the set-up instructions were complete and easy to follow. 

The Motorola “Q” is light, the screen is crisp and sharp, and the new WM5-Phone is easy and intuitive to use. The 1st impressions are how small and light the “Q” really is.  It is so light and small that you are prepared to be disappointed until you turn it on and look at the screen.  Then it is Oh My GAWD!.  The pictures do not so justice to the screen. The screen is amazing, far better then the Treo 700 or Blackberry.

The only wireless carrier to currently offer the “Q” is Verizon, their web site Verizonwireless.com has an interactive look at the “Q” giving you all the dimensions and particulars. What I’ve given you here is my impressions.

The unit is a smart phone, not a PDA and a phone glued together.  You have some trade offs for the size and weight. Such as WM5-phone does not include pocket Word, Excel or Power Point.  You can view these documents with the document viewer,  but you cannot edit them.  So if you are looking for the Motorola “Q” to replace your pocket PC your out of luck.

If you are looking for e-mail on the fly, and easy communications, then this little gem is a winner.  The very sharp screen makes it easy to read.  The sharp screen also makes it simple to maneuver around your programs and e-mail too.

Controls 8/10
The screen is not a touch screen so the unit makes use of soft keys, a

These change for each program and work just like they for for WM5 for the pocket PC.  While some Pocket PC users complained about the “soft keys” they are a excellent tool for the “Q”; you need the added flexibility to make up for the lack of a touch screen.

There is a jog wheel on the right hand side of the unit, along with a back button.  These two features make the unit simply to use one handed.  There is also a built in “home” hey and back key on the face of the unit.  Both nice features.

In addition there is a help available on line, and how-to sections available on-line.  Remember the unit is always connected to the Internet, and Microsoft makes great use of this by having a lot of on-line services available.  The help section links to web pages on each topic.

Web Browsing 9/10
WM5-Phone loads up your “favorites” just from you desktop, and gives them all available to you.  Some web-sites that failed to properly load on a WiFi connected PPC load easier and cleaned on the “Q”.  Again the screen shines

As a Phone 7/10
The fact is this rating is probably lower then it should be, the “Q” is a better phone then the Treo or Blackberry, it has Blue-Tooth to let you use a headset, and a very nice speaker phone function.  I’d give the Blackberry and Treo a 6 and a 5 as their ratings for a phone.

You can (as hoped) access your Outlook data base to help make calls, and there is a very eloquent and useful voice recognition system in place for making calls.  Unlike some of the other voice recognitions systems for phones this one seems to work.

As a Camera
The “Q” has a 1.3 mega pixel camera that also does video with sound.  Sure I’d prefer a Nikon 70, but for the size and price it is a nice feature, it also has a flash that turns out to be very useful.

Extras 9/10
There are not a lot of additional programs out yet designed specifically for the “Q”.  I put on NewsBreak from Ilium Software because it works flawlessly. There is also a mini-SD slot, and a 1 gig card costs less then $60.

Yes it plays videos, and music. Just like WM5, and the sound is not all that bad given the unit’s size. The “Q” has all the parts and pieces to let you watch streaming video and on-line TV as well. I tired this out while waiting for a seat at a Sushi bar in LA.  It was better then the V-Cast from Verizon, and clear with good sound.  It also drew a crowd.

The Little Extras  9/10
The “Q” uses the same cables that you use for your USB connections to a card reader or a digital camera, the mini USB connector.  Meaning you can get a spare cable for next to nothing at any Radio Shack.

• The keyboard is back lit.
• The Keys are spaced as best they can be.
• After four days I keep finding new features

Battery Life 7/10
Barely acceptable, like the Razor it gives up some of it’s battery life to accommodate the small size.
The USB cable will charge it off of your PC or Notebook, and after market chargers are available for car and others.  But I get just JUST one days use, and I had hoped for more, and by a day I mean the working part, not 24 hours.

To help fix this the “Q” gives you a wide ability to change your power usages, and the very extensive help section I mentioned above has an area dedicated to this topic. Let’s just say it is not as bad as it could be, and I wish it was better.

Conclusion 9/10
The “Q” and Motorola deliver exactly what they promised.  This was suppose to be a Treo killer and it may be just that.  Smaller lighter smarter, and a better phone and camera. With the unit being so new things can only get better, I am sure that additional programs and ad-ins will keep this unit expanding and growing.  In many ways it is revolutionary.

The Pluses

• Small, light, fights in a pants or shirt pocket.
• Amazing screen quality
• Charges up quickly
• Lots of support
• Easy to use one handed
• Easy to set up and get e-mails (Like MSN and Hotmail, a nice surprise!)

The Minuses

• Weak documentation, with a limited size keyboard, you can access alternate keys by hitting the uppercase key and number key together, but no where do the instructions ever tell you that.
• Weak battery life
• Maybe too small, you can put it down and have to search for it, it is that thin.

Chris Leckness (3531 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.