Motorola Moto Q
Discontinued 26th July 2005
(Note: this is a CDMA device, not GSM)
When the first shots of the Motorola
Moto Q were leaked out a few weeks ago, this handset
was dubbed the "RAZRBERRY" and there was some
speculation as to whether it was going to be a real
handset or was just a design concept.
Well.. here it is. The Motorola Moto
Q is a Windows Mobile 5.0 device with a QWERTY keyboard
and a 320x240 pixel display, expandable memory on miniSD
cards, Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera.
The QWERTY keyboard on the Moto Q is
clearly inspired by the Blackberry
range of devices, including the distinctive way that
the keys slope. As with the Blackberries, there's also
a thumbwheel on the right hand side. Perhaps RIM (who
make Blackberries) will be looking at this closely with
regards to any patent infringements.
The
Moto Q's screen promises to be a very high density device.
320x240 pixels is much more than the rival Blackberry
devices, which should lead to crisper text and better
graphics. It's a powerful multimedia device too - the
Motorola Moto Q can play back MP3s, Windows Media formats
and video clips through Windows Media Player. It manages
to squeeze in stereo speakers too, and of course the
miniSD memory cards will be extremely useful in this
case.
The wide screen makes email and web
access easier than the "tall" screen on a
traditional phone. The Motorola Moto Q will come with
"Pocket" versions of Outlook and Internet
Explorer for mail, web surfing and contact management.
The Moto Q will integrate with Microsoft Exchange 2003
for business users, or pick up standard internet email
for everyone else. The Moto Q also features
speech recognition.
This is a very slim device, at just
11.5mm deep. The angular design is clearly a nod to
the RAZR,
but in our view the Blackberry 7290 is a much more elegant
device.. in fact, the Moto Q seems to be a bit of a
mess in design terms, especially the controls situated
about the QWERTY keyboard.
So, in pure technical terms, the Motorola
Moto Q looks pretty good, and the combination of a Blackberry-style
device with the Windows Mobile operating system makes
it an attractive prospect for corporate customers.
There's really big hurdle
for the Motorola Moto Q though - even though it's a
clever bit of hardware, as far as corporate customers
are concerned they want a full corporate solution, just
like they can get for their Blackberries where businesses
can install RIM servers at the back-end so that email
is delivered to Blackberries as soon as it arrives.
In the case of the Moto Q, Motorola only seem to be
selling the hardware and are interested in having someone
else work out the tricky bits of tying it all together.
And most corporates really don't want their users to
have digital cameras and MP3 players built in, especially
when it adds to the cost.
Let's not forget either that Motorola
face fierce competition from HP and HTC (who made the
T-Mobile
MDA and Orange
SPV devices). Nokia are doing their own thing with
handsets such at the 9300
and 9500.
And by the time the Moto Q hits the market in early
2006, the marketplace will be even more crowded and
difficult than it is now.
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Motorola
Moto Q Provisional Specifications
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Available:
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Q1
2006
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Network:
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CDMA
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Data:
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GPRS
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Screen:
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320x240
pixels, 65,000 colours
|
Camera:
|
1.3
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Compact
PDA 115x63x12mm
/ weight tbc
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
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Infra-red:
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Yes
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Limited
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Battery
life:
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Not
specified
|
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