Motorola Q (Verizon Wireless)

For your e-mail needs, you get Outlook Mobile so that you can synchronize your messages, your contacts, calendar, and tasks. Using the included USB cable and ActiveSync 4.1, we had no trouble syncing all our Outlook files with the Motorola Q. The Q can also wirelessly sync with your Hotmail account and up to eight POP3 e-mail accounts. Business users will be pleased that Motorola has worked with Good Technology to deliver push e-mail capabilities to the Q via GoodLink. The functionality is available immediately for Microsoft Exchange users, with support for IBM Domino/Lotus Notes coming this summer. In addition, Verizon offers its own wireless e-mail solution through VZEmail. Motorola and Microsoft are working on a ROM upgrade that will bring the features of the Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Pack to the Q. Microsoft would not give a specific time frame as to when we'd see the upgrade other than "soon," but it will be available to customers as a free download. The Moto Q also supports text, multimedia, and instant messaging.

Wireless connections come in the form of Bluetooth 1.2, EV-DO (backward compatible with 1xRTT), and infrared but no Wi-Fi. Again, we realize there's an argument that EV-DO eliminates the need for Wi-Fi, but coverage can be limited outside of large and midsize metropolitan areas, so it would be nice to have that Wi-Fi option. Still, the support for 3G cellular technology means you can enjoy broadbandlike speeds on the Q, averaging around 400Kbps to 700Kbps, so you get faster downloads of data, e-mail, and attachments. In addition, the integrated Bluetooth opens up the door for communicating with wireless headsets (including a stereo Bluetooth profile), car kits, and other peripherals, such as GPS receivers and Bluetooth-enabled laptops. Unlike with the Palm Treo 700p, Verizon will not support dial-up networking capabilities via Bluetooth on the Q.

When Motorola and Verizon announced the official availability of the Q, they made a point of calling out its "phone first" mantra. As such, the mobile offers a duplex speakerphone, voice dialing, smart dialing, and vibrate and flight modes. The Q's phone book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry can hold up to 12 phone numbers, three e-mail addresses, a home and a work address, a job title, and more. For caller-ID purposes, you can assign a contact to a category or pair it with one of 31 polyphonic ring tones or a photo.

Speaking of photos, the Motorola Q has a 1.3-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities. You can take still shots in five resolutions (160x120, 176x144, 320x240, 640x480, and 1,280x1,024), and we like that the 6X digital zoom is available for use even at the highest resolution. You also get a flash, a self-timer, a burst mode, and brightness and white-balance adjustments. There are light editing options available too, including rotate and crop. In video mode, you have a choice of three quality settings--126x96, 160x120, and 176x144--and while you get brightness and white-balance options, the zoom is not available. Once you're done with your masterpieces, you can share your photos with others via Bluetooth, multimedia message, or e-mail; view them in a slide show; or save them as wallpaper. Motorola wouldn't confirm or deny a cameraless version of the Moto Q but did say that this is just the first of a family of devices.

If you would rather view other people's videos instead of recording your own, there's Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for all your multimedia needs. A number of popular audio and video formats--AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-4, and WMV, to name a few--are supported, and if you have TV shows recorded on your Windows Media Center PC, you can transfer them to the Motorola Q and enjoy it on the handset's great screen (see Performance for more). Motorola also said the Q will work with the Sling Media Slingbox. Despite the EV-DO capability, however, the Q does not support Verizon's multimedia V Cast service.

Some final features of the Motorola Q worth mentioning are Memory Manager, Task Manager, a preloaded help and quick-start guide, and two standard games (Bubble Breaker and Solitaire). There is, of course, a vast library of third-party apps that you can add to the Q, including Virtual Earth Mobile, AvantGo, and Fizz Traveller.

We tested the dual-band Motorola Q (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco using Verizon's network, and call quality was generally good. On our end, conversations were mostly clear, although on a couple of occasions, we noticed some background hiss and muffled sound quality. Callers said they could hear us fine most of the time but also reported some crackling--nothing too bad. On the other hand, speakerphone quality was excellent. We had absolutely no problems whatsoever carrying on a discussion; volume was more than adequate even in loud environments, and our friends said they couldn't even tell we were on speakerphone. We also had no problems pairing the Q with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset or the Motorola HT820 headphones.

Web browsing on the Motorola Q was fairly smooth and painless, thanks to the EV-DO support. Graphics-intensive sites such as CNET.com took a bit longer to upload, but it was definitely quicker than with non-3G mobiles. What really blew us away, however, was the multimedia experience. We transferred several videos to the device, including a music video and an episode of Family Guy, and we had a blast watching them on the Q. The sharpness of the video on the Q was amazing, especially compared to the Treo 700p, with which we couldn't even get through a whole video because the picture was so blurry. Also, listening to music was top-notch, thanks to the dual stereo-quality speakers. Even when we placed the Q on a desk with the speakers facedown, we had no problems hearing the audio. The Moto Q's 1.3-megapixel camera took some of best pictures we've seen from a camera phone, producing defined lines and good color. The flash also did an adequate job of illuminating pictures taken in dark environments. We experienced a slight lag in response time when launching the camera, as well as with other apps, but it's not a deal breaker.

The Motorola Q is rated for 4 hours of talk time, which we were able to achieve in our testing, and up to four days of standby time. We'll report back soon on the results of our standby battery test. According to FCC radiation tests, the Q has a digital SAR rating of 1.11 watts per kilogram.