Motorola makes its bid at designing the next "Blackberry killer". The Smartphone simply called Q is one of the most anticipated handsets this year. Moto gives Q a style that makes a fashion statement, much like the popular Razr cell phones. This is the thinnest Smartphone on the market that features a full QWERTY keyboard at only 11.5 mm thick, it'll slide comfortably into your shirt pocket. The simple design looks much like a Blackberry except for the bright aluminum finish (and the Moto logo) sets it apart from Blackberry's dark grey and black color scheme.
Q handles like a Blackberry with the click-wheel and keyboard combination for navigating. But Moto Q also borrows from the Palm Treo with a six way quick nav buttons in the center. One glaring oversight Moto left out of Q was a backspace button on the QWERTY keyboard which will certainly annoy anyone who is accustomed to quick thumb typing on this kind of PDA. One thing it didn't borrow from the Treo that would have been nice is the touch screen.
Not surprising Motorola chose Windows Mobile 5 for its operating system. The OS is probably the most complete Smartphone operating system you can get but is often criticized for being a bit too complicated for many users. Win Mobile is a trade off. You sacrifice the intuitive and simple navigation and control of Blackberry and Palm OS but you get more than just the ability to view attached Office documents. You'll get more integration with the Windows desktop operating system if you can overcome the steep learning curve of Win Mobile's interface.
Features
- Video clip capture and playback
- Bluetooth, infrared and mini-USB
- Support Multi-Media Messaging (MMS)
- Audio support: iMelody, Midi, MP2, AAC, WAV, WMA, WAX and QCELP
- Video support: H.263, MPEG4, GSM-AMR, AAC, WMV
- Image support: GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG
- Mini-SD flash memory slot
- 65K colors inside a 320x240 pixel display
- 1.3 mega pixel camera
- Quad Band network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Quad band networks mean as a cell phone it's compatible with high speed (GSM) networks in Europe and Asia as well as North America. In the US Q will connect to Verizon's broadband network for high speed. The Smartphone offers wireless sync for e-mail, calendar and contacts. It'll also support Yahoo and Hotmail e-mail and its own instant messaging. Plus Q will include video playback with Windows Media Player Mobile.
Moto's new Smartphone is certainly designed with a few stylistic improvements over Blackberry and offers a Win Mobile alternative to the Blackberry OS. But will it really make a dent in RIM's share of the Smartphone market?