Review: Motorola Q 9m
With my new job at Microsoft, I had to let go to one of my woobies. If you don’t remember the woobie, it was the little blanket the kid wouldn’t go anywhere without on Mr. Mom.
My woobie was a Blackberry 8700G. I have used Blackberries since the original pager like one and when I had to give mine back to Supervalu, I knew I had to get something to replace it.
After looking at Blackberries and their ridiculous off contract prices, I decided to go Windows Mobile (in salute to my new employer perhaps) and get a Motorola Q 9m.
My key considerations for a new device were pretty simple:
- I must have access to my email remotely
- I would like a decent mobile browser
- Chat and Mapping are a nice to have
- Fast Internet and the ability to tether to a laptop
Odd that I chose a music centered device when music wasn’t a key concern, I know! I should also add to the confusion that my most used computer is a laptop, a Macbook Pro laptop to be exact. This review will take two angles: How good is this as a phone and how easy is it to use it without locking it to a PC.
The Phone
So far I am very pleased with the phone. The call quality is great and it’s very well suited with features. With the optionally installed Windows Live Search this phone really shines. I have used it to get directions and movie times so far and it worked great. The OS is a little slow, but not so slow it’s unusable. My Blackberry was definitely snappier though.
I wish they had not used dark red to mark the alt numbers, it makes them a bit hard to see in dim light. Other than that the keyboard is a little rough textured and that makes it pleasant to thumb type. The other buttons are well laid out and the OS makes smart use of the soft buttons to make them quite contextual to the task at hand.
The Lilliputian flash memory card has a pretty hard to access door, bested by the nearly impossible to open audio jack door. (luckily I don’t intend to use this as a music player)
Other than that, with a nice rubber sleeve this phone has a nice form factor with a big bright screen. I am not in awe by this phone to say the least, but at $260 on contract, this phone is a good value.
Using it without a PC
One thing the Blackberry excelled at was using it untethered. I never once had to connect my 8700G to my computer unless I was charging it via USB. It handled everything fine.
I was disappointed that Sync on the Mac didn’t play nice with the contacts on this phone like it did with my Razr. I assume that’s a Windows Mobile issue, not hardware or Bluetooth compatibility. My email was super easy to set up and works just fine. There are no free chat apps that I have found so for that I am still looking.
I am happy that Bluetooth file transfer works great for transferring ringtones and other files back and forth with the Mac.
So far I am getting along just fine. I did install the ActiveSync software into my Windows XP Parallels install, but I have not really had a need for it yet. At least that does give me an option for contacts if I need to import some in bulk.
Summary
Overall I give this phone a 3/5 stars. I am not thinking it’s close to one of the best Windows Mobile devices out there. It seems to suffer from an underpowered CPU, possibly a RAM deficiency and of course Verizon always does their part to make it less than it could be.
I’m pleased with it, and I don’t think I will find myself pining over my Blackberry, but I am sure I will keep my eye out for a killer deal on something better if it comes along.
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i think that phone is georgeous but i truely believe thats entirely too much device for 2 hands. what happened to good old cold voice interaction. um the warmth of a cell phone to the face, the good old days.