I did it ... I admit it. I was one of the many silly people that got hyped up on the just released Motorola Q Smartphone. (It runs the Windows Mobile 5 OS  … the Smartphone edition). My contract was up and I was itching for a new phone/pda. I was debating over the Treo 700w, Treo 700p and the Motorola Q. In the end the Q won out with me because of it form factor and phone first mentality. Although, a colleague of mine let me play with his Treo 700w quite a bit (thanks Brian) and i have to admit that there is very little NOT to like about it either.

I have been using this thing for 3 days now and I am very impressed. Oh, it has its quirks, but it is a very impressive phone.

The biggest complaint I have is that it only comes from Verizon … which in my area means no high speed wireless connection. I do not get their EVDO service where I am, but I was surprised to see the standard CDMA network in my area gives me 100k to 200k … so its still snappy enough for the time being. Cingular is better in my area for data, and they were surely get the Q and probably the Treo before the end of 2006 (I don't know for sure, but I would think they would **gulp**).

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What drew me too the Q? Well a few of the things are ….

  • – It is as thin as the RAZR. I love how thin this thing is! I can slip it in and out of my pocket, no holster required!
  • – It has a QWERTY keyboard. Typing emails on a number pad is just a horrific experience.
  • – It offers the basics for me: email, IM, and phone … and it does them all very well
  • – The phone quality is excellent. This is a phone first and it shows.
  • – It can stream video or TV. Nuff said for the geek in me.
  • – It handles MP3’s and MPEG4 videos quite nicely on a miniSD card.

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    What caused my hesitation?

    • – Motorola is not known for making good Smartphones nor PDA’s.
    • – This phone has been delayed several times.
    • – There is no GSM version … yet
    • – Verizon is expensive with their data plans, IMO
    • – Software for the Smartphone is harder to find than Pocket PC
    • – The Q has a landscape screen. Very cool, but again, less software supports it capably

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      I’ll discuss more about what I like and what I don’t as I use it. And for those mobile developers out there, you can check out my upcoming “Smartphone Skills” blog post series.

       

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