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March 30, 2009 8:51 AM PDT

Motorola unveils the Evoke QA4

by Kent German

Motorola joined Nokia, Samsung, and LG on Monday in getting a head start on CTIA. Although the mobile festivities don't begin until April 1 in Las Vegas, Moto spilled details on its new Evoke QA4. to see it from all angles, check out our Motorola Evoke hands-on photo gallery.

Stocked with a midrange multimedia-feature set and sporting an eye-catching design, the Evoke should turn a few heads on the show floor. The 2.8-inch display takes up most of the phone's real estate. In addition to an icon-based menu, it also shows a virtual QWERTY keyboard for messaging and e-mail. Other exterior controls are minimalist; we only see a navigation control beneath the display.

The Evoke also slides up to reveal a traditional numeric keypad. You can text here as well, though we imagine that most users would prefer the virtual keyboard on the display. We like the silver-and-black color scheme and the rounded edges.

Features on the CDMA Evoke include EV-DO Rev. A support, stereo Bluetooth, a music player, a full HTML browser, a 2-megapixel camera, organizer features, a memory card slot, USB mass storage, and a speakerphone.

We don't have price or availability details yet, but we'll let you know just as soon as we get them.

Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) (19 Comments)
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by codynews March 30, 2009 12:43 PM PDT
Why bother? Until you have something that's better than the iphone, keep working.
Reply to this comment
by gsmiller88 March 30, 2009 12:49 PM PDT
If you ask me all of these CDMA competitors are better than the iPhone as they're on the better network.
by slecalvez March 30, 2009 12:47 PM PDT
What a Pam Pre ripoff.
Reply to this comment
by rmonaghan01 April 27, 2009 8:00 AM PDT
And the Palm Pre is an iPhone ripoff...
by BogusBasin March 30, 2009 12:49 PM PDT
Oooh! Me too me too! Pathetic. Why can't anyone innovate instead of immitate? They aren't even good at that. Let me guess. It's cheaper. You get what you pay for. Amen
Reply to this comment
by rshah29 March 30, 2009 1:02 PM PDT
Because that's what they've been taught to do since grade school. Very few leaders have the vision (or juevas) to create new things. It takes risk and putting your name and neck on the line. It's much more comfortable to sit back and copy.
by abcd9009 March 30, 2009 1:26 PM PDT
Not that I am saying innovation is not good but in todays world where you are judged so quickly right in the first few days of the product launch, it's very hard for anyone to step up.
When launching a new product the first thing on any exec's mind is, is the risk worth it in order to keep the share price high enough for the Board to stay off my a$$.

Now Apple was considered an exception to this up until the iPod became popular because when you used to think of Apple, it was always Mac and it was a niche market so Wall Street never cared what they did.

With the success of iPod and now the iPhone, Apple is also in the same position especially now that Jobs is on medical leave. The risks that Apple will now be taking will be very minimal compared to what it used to take because Apple, just like the other companies is in the spotlight and Wall Street is watching.
by rmonaghan01 April 27, 2009 8:05 AM PDT
"You get what you pay for."

Tell that to all the people who paid $600 for an iPhone that can't even record video or send pic & video messages.
by linuxforme March 30, 2009 2:25 PM PDT
Can't be all bad, it's got Linux on it: https://opensource.motorola.com/sf/sfmain/do/viewProject/projects.slide-alpha
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by codynews March 30, 2009 3:26 PM PDT
Why would 99% of users care what the OS is on their phone? Ditto their DVR or any other 'appliance'.
by maverick_nick March 31, 2009 12:09 PM PDT
Is this thing running Android or what? http://www.develgo.com/pages/article.aspx?articleid=10
by Telaxian March 30, 2009 4:10 PM PDT
That's why they use an iphone-the OS
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by rmonaghan01 April 27, 2009 8:10 AM PDT
If the OS meant nothing, then there wouldn't be such a huge buzz surrounding Android, the iPhones OS X, and the Palm Pre's Linux. Of course the OS matters.
by softwarepro March 30, 2009 7:12 PM PDT
I think only 5-10% of cell phone users need data plan like iPhone i.e. access mail, internet and other goodies. I know people who has broadband at home, office and distance from home to office is still 10-30 min carries iPhone, laptop or notebook (other crap) + desktop at office (mostly).

Why you want to pay so much money for data plan because important thing is to make call from cell. Again most of the user just access or have to because they are playing $120 or more monthly bill for iPhone + $50 to $100 for broadband at home. After all that people will complain we can't keep up with all bills in this economy..go figure..
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by kpopgrrl April 1, 2009 1:22 AM PDT
It has already been confirmed that this will be on Cricket Communications.
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by wittlekasey April 16, 2009 2:25 PM PDT
Can you people please go to an Iphone forum?
It would be nice to have a review over THIS phone rathing than ranting and raving about a phone on another network.
goodness gracious
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by rainbowchik06 May 7, 2009 1:24 PM PDT
This phone didn?t work very smoothly. A lot of times it would automatically turn itself off and the screen goes black when you are trying to take a picture and get a text message at the same time. Plus, setting up your personal email is difficult and is the only way that picture messaging is possible, but still doesn?t work very well at all. Too much hassle. Plus the touch screen is quite slow compared to most touch screens!
It looks better than it actually works. . Should have gone with the blackberry!
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by shstrang98 August 4, 2009 4:46 AM PDT
The QA4 is a real piece of work. Mine will stack up commands that it failed to execute earlier then try to do them all at once. My wife got a BB curve at the same time and although it may not have a "full html browser" it will actually work reliably.

That cannot be said about the QA4.
by shstrang98 August 4, 2009 4:43 AM PDT
The QA4 = uselessness that rings true. The only reason I bought is due to my z6 Rokr having a faceplace separation issue. My QA4 constantly begs be to throw it against the concrete; someday I just might. This phone is the most lumbering POS i've ever used.

Avoid at all costs.
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