Motorola Q

Among its major appeal factor is the units thinness at .45" making it easily pocket-able.  Unlike the 8700 series it is a CDMA 3G broadband unit with a GSM unit slated to support HSDPA from Cingular due in the fall.  In my opinion, both units will offer the BlackBerry some competition.  How serious will depend on several factors which I will cover later in my review.  Starting with this review I will give my overall recommendation in the overview with the following system:  Each area below will be rated from 0 (poor) to 9 (It doesn't get any better than this) and then an overall recommendation.

      Moto Q                                                                                                                 8700

Phone Usage: 8.5 (microphone needs to be a little louder)                                  7.0

Email Usage:  7.5 (To be fair I have not tested MS Push or GOODlink)              8.0

Ease of Use:   7.5                                                                                                       8.2

OS Stability:   7.0                                                                                                        8.5

Battery Life:    8.5                                                                                                        8.5

Style & Desirability:       8.5                                                                                        8.0

Quality of Construction: 8.0                                                                                        7.8

Bluetooth Support:         8.0                                                                                        6.0

Screen Visibility:            8.5                                                                                        8.5

Overall:                            8.0 (Highly Recommended)                                              7.8

Basic Features

Supported or Optional Features

Results

 Phone Performance - In prior reviews I have stated, "To me, a smart phone that does not work well as a phone is an over priced, over weight PDA.  I am always amazed at how many manufacturers don’t get this.  As a result, this is the first thing I evaluate and look for.  It is the one MAJOR shortcoming I find in the Blackberry line of smart phones."   Well, Moto got it right this time in a big way.  It really works well as a phone.    Call clarity is exceptional, I would say even better than the 8700 which is saying something.  The speakerphone is really loud and clear with no distortion.  The earpiece volume is equally loud and clear.  In fact, I would rank this handset as the best sounding phone I have tried and where I usually find GSM based phones to be a little better sounding I think this phone bests them.  Reception is another strong point as even with one bar reception appears to be strong and it holds the call well with no sign of breakup or distortion.  Even the high speed EV-DO seems to hold on well.  The Voice Signals technology speaker independent voice recognition works well but it is not as clear as Microsoft's Voice Command in its enunciation of names and words. Not only does it allow for commands like "Call John Smith at mobile" but it also allows commands like "Open Calendar."  I found that the voice command feature worked very well but the big improvement comes when you use a Bluetooth headset in that you can initiate the voice command feature over the headset making it possible to just keep the unit in your pocket and still make calls!  This is an area where it just clobbers the 8700.  To summarize, I I would give the 8700 a 4.5 out of 5 for phone performance, I would have to reduce it to a 4 because of the lack of the voice dialing and especially through Bluetooth headsets.  I would give the Moto Q a 5.

Bluetooth fanatics will think they have died and gone to heaven as it supports A2DP stereo, Hands Free, Bluetooth Keyboards, Active Sync and with a few tricks Bluetooth DUN (not standard from VZW but available at several web forums).  One note on Bluetooth, I have not been able to pair it with my 2006 BMW 325i though others say they have.  It paired just great with the Plantronics D640 and allowed me to use Voice Dialing from it.  The sound is very good and clear.

 This is what the Moto Q Sounds like.

Here is what the Moto Q sounds like used in a quiet environment.

Here is a recording of the Moto Q in a very noisy environment.

8700 Quiet for comparison.

Moto Q in Car while Driving

 The keyboard, I had great trepidations about the new keyboard on a device with 0.2"  less width than the 8700 and 0.4" less than a 7290 device.  The 7290 still has the best keyboard of any for thumb typing.  Much to my surprise it is too close to call when compared to the 8700.  This is because of the spacing and the angling of the keys.  The angling is reminiscent of the 7290 where the 8700 are only slightly angled out.  However, layout and functionality is another matter.  Here the BlackBerries win hands down.  But, when compared to a Treo or the HP6500 series and the 6700, I think the Moto Q is superior.  The location of the back space key, the inability to hold a letter to capitalize it is one shortfall; however, if you hold a letter you do get all of the foreign possibilities such as accented letters, etc. which is clever.  Too bad they didn't add caps.  It will capitalize the start of a sentence but does not offer the other BlackBerry shortcuts such as converting dont to don't.  Nor does a double space add a period and start a new sentence.  I found numeric fields to be hit and miss with it automatically converting to numeric input on some and not on others.  Some of you will like the hard domed keys and some will wish they were softer feeling.  I thought they were fine.  Certainly not perfect but a step up from all of the prior non BlackBerry keyboards and yet squeezed into .2" less width - quite an accomplishment.

 The new 320x240 screen is very bright and readable under almost any conditions from inside to bright sunlight.  Given the size of the device it is more than adequate to the task with fonts appearing crisp and smooth and providing a good photo viewing and web browsing experience.  The screen is 4.9cm wide versus 5.3cm wide for the 8700 and 3.7cm high for both.  Looking at them side by side, the 8700 seems much larger than the difference in width would suggest.  On the other hand, the screen on the Q seems crisper and easier to read even when the font size is smaller.  Why Microsoft has not allowed for different fonts is a mystery to me.  On the Moto Q you only have two choices, normal or large.  I have not yet found any way to adjust the backlight level although it will go to dim on its own after a certain time period.  All in all, I would give a slight edge to the Moto Q screen but it may just be my imagination.  They are close.

8700 Screen Shot

Moto Q (Ignore lens fringing effects on pictures)

Another Shot of Moto Q Screen

Moto Q v 8700 Side by Side

Moto Q v 8700 end-to-end

Moto Q v 8700 Thickness Comparison

Moto Q on top of 8700

Bluetooth on this unit shines.  There are profiles for headset, hands free, synchronization, stereo headset, keyboard and serial after a minor tweak.    The hands free profile using a Bluetooth headset is excellent.  Pairing is quick and easy and the sound quality and volume are great!  I tested this with the Plantronics D640 and will be testing it with three additional headsets, the Plantronics V510 and the Custom AX2 and the Flamingo units.  If I have time I will add the nXZEN Plus 5500.  Sync via Bluetooth works very well   It is easy to setup and use ActiveSync over Bluetooth following the instructions in the help file on ActiveSync and the user manual for the Q.

Here is of the Moto Q sound using the Plantronics D640.

Here is the Moto Q sound using the Custom AX2.

Here is the Moto Q using the Flamingo.

Here is the Moto Q using the Plantronics V510

Here is the Moto Q with D640 while driving (not very good)

Here is the Moto Q with the V510 While driving

Here is the Moto Q with the Custom AX2 while driving

Here is the Moto Q with the Flamingo while driving

The unit paired easily with all of the above headsets and I was able to initiate and voice dial with everyone of them.  On my end the Plantronics units sounded the best with the D510 sounding the best of all of them.

 Battery Life is surprisingly good for a CDMA unit and one that is so slim.  I have gone an entire day without seeing the bar drop off of 100%.  Even after 24 hours with Bluetooth on and polling for email every 15 minutes it still had 25% left.  With Bluetooth off and polling once an hour it goes 2 days without any problem on the standard battery.   I would say it is close to the performance of the 8700 but not the equal of the 7290.  VZW offers the extended battery for $19.95 on sale and that should make it good for a week of normal use.  I have one but have not tested it yet.

 The plastic holster that comes with the unit is similar to BlackBerry holsters but make it a bit more difficult to remove the phone.  It keeps the unit close to you and protects the screen.    Like everyone else, I would prefer a leather holster that does not add bulk. I like the fact that the holster helps to keep the low profile for the unit and you don't have something sticking out to catch on everything but with this unit I really prefer to carry it in my pocket.  The holster still makes it stick out further than I would like, especially given it thinness.  It is easy to carry in the pocket, much easier than the 8700.  I won't even try that trick with the 7290. 

  Operation of the unit is where both positive and negative differences emerge.  First some of the positive ones.  It has a slot for Mini-SD cards allowing for extended storage beyond that of the BlackBerry.  This is a significant positive that RIM should have allowed some time ago.  I fully understand the security issues but I think they are bogus because the places I can't take a memory stick are the same places I can't take a phone no matter whether it has a card slot or not.

Moto Q in Hand

Moto Q Back, Note Stereo Speakers and Camera with Flash

It has the ability to play music in stereo on stereo earphones, its built in stereo speakers, and via Bluetooth Stereo.  While it should be able to play .WAV files (voice mails) attached in emails, for some reason it doesn't.  I will investigate this later since it does include the attachments.  I found the solution thanks to poster larryka on Qusers.com.   You need to download the free media player tcpmp.smartphone.0.72RC1 and the plug ins.  One of them, I'm not sure which, allows you to play back .wav files and set it to be the default .wav player.  It works perfectly.  It also has a built in 1.3 Mega Pixel camera.  For those that have been wanting a camera this is a boon.  It takes still and motion video with sound.  It has been made to work with Sirius and XM Satellite Radio for another plus.  The unit is responsive and works very well in most respects.  However, there are more than a few menu quirks that can be both irritating and make usage more difficult than it would be if done right.  In menu navigation, the Berries come out ahead.  An area where it should shine is hampered by Microsoft's WM5 version of IE.  IE is slower than it should be given that download speed at my house is 408kbps.  The BlackBerry 8700 with EDGE trounces it and has a much more usable browser.  IE is just plain slow.  I hope to find a better browser.  I tried the new Opera for it but was disappointed in its rendering and performance.  Emails down load very quickly.  It has a scroll wheel and a back key ala BlackBerry but they don't work as well or as intuitively.  The scroll wheel has a notchy feel that makes it sometimes difficult to use as it is not fine grained enough and it is very slow when scrolling in the browser.  The back key can become circular as you keep backing you seem to sometimes back all around like it doesn't recognize when you have reached the top of the tree.

I have only tested POP email and it works just fine.  I do not have Good and there is no other option except for VZW Wireless Sync.  I have not tried either.  Rumor has it that both MS Push and BB Connect will be made available in the near future.  Since I have BlackBerries for push email, I really haven't focused on that aspect and for POP email it is very satifactory.

  Construction and feel.  The unit feels solid and the battery cover is snug  It weighs just enough to feel like a substantial piece of equipment without feeling like you are carrying a brick.  It weighs 0.6oz less than the 8700 which helps for carrying it in a pocket and not having the pocket sag with the weight.  I would prefer that it was about another 0.7oz lighter but you can't have everything...yet.  For in the pocket use, I would recommend that you put a screen protector on it.  I cut down one of the Screen Patronus protectors and it works just great!  The unit has a very good feel in the hands.   By the way, the first unit I received would randomly lock up after going to sleep and the only way to awaken the unit was to take the battery out and do a reboot.  A little while later it would go to sleep and not want to wake up again.  After a day of this frustration and a search of the net I discovered that others had experienced the same problem and the only solution was to take it in to a Verizon store and have it replaced.  Other than the software quirks that you can read about elsewhere (not unusual for a new devise) it has been very solid and worked well.