Last Updated June 25, 2006   Product Rating   Very vibrant and colorful screen QWERTY keyboard Bluetooth connectivity Decent battery life Excellent call quality EV-DO support   No integrated Wi-Fi connectivity Expensive data plans

There's a been quite a lot of buzz recently about the new Motorola Q cell phone. Many believe that it's the coolest and most sleek smart phone to hit the American phone market. Ever since it was first announced, most of its fame comes from its ultra thin profile and stylish looks. Our editors got their hands on one to check it out and see if it was what we expected it to be.

The Motorola Q's (we'll call it "Q" from now on) design is quite unique, but works really well. The Q is about 2.5 inches wide, which is one of the widest smart phones out there today. The biggest advantage is that it is only 0.5 inches thick, which is amazing! This size is without doubt very purse or even pocket friendly. It only weights about 4 ounces and has a giant 2.5 inch, 320-by-240 screen that is very bright. The screen is in fact one of the best that we've seen on any mobile handheld device on the market. Colors pop right out at you and hues are displayed flawlessly. Below the screen is a very functional QWERTY keyboard. It's buttons are at an angle so they point in towards the middle for quick use and comfort. The buttons also are quite tactile, which means that your fingers won't slip around them while trying to press the button you want. In addition to that, the keyboard's buttons also are backlit a cool blue color for night use, though they could be a bit more brighter. There's also a scroll wheel and button on the side and a five-way cursor pad above the keyboard. You can also use both of these navigation controls at the same time to really make navigating and using the Q quite easy and smooth. There is also a miniSD card slot that is on the edge opposite from the scroll wheel. On the backside of the Q there's an integrated 1.3-megapixel digital camera with flash, battery compartment, and a speaker.

The Q offers features that are basically just like every other smart phone today, but that was pretty much expected and the norm for these type of devices. The Q has 128MB of flash memory and an integrated 64MB of RAM, with about 60MB of that user-accessible. If you plan on have lots of documents or photos, you'll definitely want to use a miniSD expansion card with the Motorola Q. The Q comes with Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, which is an awesome mobile operating system. However, the Microsoft Office mobile programs are not included, which means you don't get Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, or PowerPoint Mobile. In substitution, Motorola provides a program called Picsel Viewer, which lets you view, but not edit, the above file formats as well as Adobe PDFs. However, for e-mail you do get Outlook Mobile, which also means that you can synchronize your messages, calendar, contacts, and tasks. The Q also supports the usual text, multimedia, and instant messaging. One thing we wish the Motorola Q had was Wi-Fi, but it does have Bluetooth 1.2 and EV-DO. The support for 3G cellular technology means you can enjoy broadband-like speeds averaging around 400Kbps to 700Kbps, which means that you'll have fast downloads of data, e-mail, and attachments.

The Motorola Q's integrated 1.3-megapixel digital camera works very nicely. It can shoot video and it also has a built-in flash as well. You can also choose to shoot pictures in 5 different resolutions and there is even a 6X digital zoom, which is excellent. Quality of the pictures taken with the Q come out pretty good as well. For those of you who want to view video, the Q comes with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, which lets you view WAV, AAC, WMA, MP3, MPEG-4, and WMV files.

Voice quality with the Q was amazingly great as well. It's reception comes on par with phones such as the Motorola RAZR V3c. If you do decide to use a Bluetooth headset, the sound quality is surprisingly clear and loud for a headset, which is a good thing. During some test calls, there was a little background hiss or static, but it was nothing that impaired ability to hear or talk with the caller. Call volume was also more than adequate for any calling situation.

Inside the Q is an Intel PXA27x 312 MHz processor, which is not as fast as other smart phones in terms of CPU speed. However, the Q was very quick to respond and performed very nicely without any performance issues despite the slower clock speed. Talk time for the Q is about 4.5 hours and a standby time of about 4 days, which is pretty decent.

Verizon wants to sell the Motorola Q to everyone, but its costly smartphone service plans stand in the way of the Q becoming the dominant smart phone in America. You get 450 minutes for $79 per month, 1,350 minutes for $109, and 4,000 minutes for $169, with unlimited data and in-network calling during nights and weekends. Unlimited Q data can also be a $40 add-on to an existing family plan. In order for everyday people to purchase the Q, Verizon would need to lower its monthly fees.

In conclusion, the Motorola Q is quite the smart phone that certainly packs a punch on the American cell phone market. It comes with a great set of features and a very sleek and stylish appearance. If you are looking for a new smart phone that has "the works," then the Motorola Q might just be for you.

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