As we mentioned, you also get quick access to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Bear in mind that these aren't really native applications per se--these quick access icons are really just shortcuts to the mobile versions of the Web site. Included in the phone are quick access applications to Facebook, MySpace, and JuiceCaster, which is a social broadcasting tool that lets you upload status updates, photos, and videos to a variety of social networks including Twitter and Flickr. You only need to log in once to use any of these services.
As a 3G phone, the Karma QA1 also gives you access to AT&T broadband services like Cellular Video, which lets you watch streaming video clips from content providers like CNN and CBS, AT&T Video Share, which lets you stream one-way live video calls to a Video Share-compatible phone, and AT&T Mobile Music, a music portal with an online music store. You can purchase and download songs from Napster and eMusic from that store, and you also get access to XM Radio Mobile, Music ID (a song ID service), music videos courtesy of MobiVJ, and several other music-related applications.
The music player on the Karma QA1 has a very simple interface. You do get the basic player controls, as well as repeat, shuffle, and the capability to create and edit playlists. You can also toggle on spatial audio and bass boost to make the songs sound better. You can send the music player to the background if you feel like multitasking, and you can send songs to your friends via Bluetooth if you wish. If you don't want to download songs from Napster or eMusic, you can load your own songs to a microSD card. It supports MIDI, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, RealAudio, and XMF audio formats. The Karma QA1 has 100MB of user available memory, but it also supports up to 16GB microSD cards.
The Karma QA1 comes with a simple 2.0-megapixel camera. It can take pictures in four resolutions and three quality settings. Other camera features include five color effects, an exposure setting, six white balance/lighting modes with a night mode option, up to 8x digital zoom, a flash LED, a self-timer, and five shutter tones plus a silent option. Photo quality was average. Images looked blurry and the colors appeared washed out. There's also a built-in camcorder with three quality settings, four resolutions, the capability to toggle the sound on or off, and similar settings to the still camera. Video quality was not the greatest--videos seemed jerky and pixelated for the most part--but they're good enough for sharing with friends via MMS.
You can personalize the Karma QA1 with a selection of wallpapers, screensavers, and alert tones. You can download more via AT&T's Media Mall. The Karma QA1 also comes with several games and applications like Super Jewel Quest, Yellowpages, Scrabble Blast, WikiMobile, Mobile Banking, The Oregon Trail, MobiTV, Where (a location-based application that lets you find the nearest local business and so forth), and Zuma. Again, you can download more from AT&T's application store.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1,800/1,900; UMTS/HSDPA) Motorola Karma QA1 in San Francisco using AT&T's service. We were very pleased overall with the call quality. Incoming voices sounded natural and we experienced little to no static.
On their end, callers said we sounded very good, with very little background noise. The Motorola Karma QA1 uses Motorola's CrystalTalk noise-canceling technology, so that is perhaps why our callers could hear us loud and clear. Automated calling systems could understand us with few issues. As for the speakerphone quality, it had plenty of volume, though callers did sound a bit harsh. Callers said we sounded quite good, almost as if we weren't using the speakerphone at all.
We had a little bit of trouble with the data connection on the Karma QA1. Though the QA1 is a 3G phone, we sometimes had trouble getting a 3G signal. When we did though, pages loaded very fast. A full HTML page like that on CNET loaded in a mere 15 seconds or so. We also downloaded a 3MB song in around 35 seconds.
We didn't have such a pleasant experience with streaming video, however. The buffering was intermittent and didn't happen too often, but the video quality was really quite awful. There were lots of pixelation and blocky images, even with relatively still shots. Music quality is better, though the speakers do make the songs sound rather harsh and light on bass. We would recommend using a stereo headset for better audio.
The Karma QA1 has a rated battery life of 5.2 hours talk time and 14.5 days. We were highly impressed with the tested talk time of 13 hours and 20 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Karma QA1 has a digital SAR of 0.55 watts per kilogram.
What You'll Pay
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