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"Skeptical at first..." on by Akoni919
Pros: Nice business phone with a great keyboard and good multimedia features to boot
Cons: A bit sluggish, not a Palm
Summary: First of all, I'm a Palm fan that loves my TX. I didn't choose this phone, it was issued to me. The phone this replaced was a Samsung SCH-i730 that I grew to loathe (but noticed it received an 8.1 rating here). Between my love for the Palm OS and how much I hated my previous Windows Mobile phone I was prepared for the worse.
My needs for my business phone are simple: make it easy for me to receive and send e-mail. This means accessing my e-mail needs to be simple. An easy to use keyboard is very important. Occasionally I browse the 'net but I have a Boingo account and a laptop for that. It would have been nice if Google maps was pre-loaded.
The interface made it easy to accomplish my most immediate needs of this phone. I simply customized the home page with the icons of the apps I use the most. Messaging, calender and IE are the first three apps I have on my menu. Windows Mobile isn't as nice as the Palm OS and I miss a touchscreen but the use of the rocker and the wheel let me do what I need. (No more Brain Age for me and don't get me started on trying to play Solitaire...)
The keyboard is excellent. I haven't tried the keyboards of all the PDA phones out there but of the ones I have, (SCH-i730, Palm 6 and 7 series, Blackberry 8800), this beats all of them hands down. The keys are not slippery and they have good spacing. (I have good size hands. I can reach a 11 keys on a piano.) I'm not too happy about using the left side of the keyboard to dial numbers but this isn't a complaint against just the Q9M.
I've been using my TX to view videos on airplanes. I was pleasantly surprised of the multimedia abilities of the Q9M. The screen is smaller than I'd like but it is very sharp. (I'm forgiving of this because I don't want the phone to be any bigger than it already is.) I have a kickass BeyondTV setup and will be exporting TV shows to it.
I wrote this review mainly because I was appalled by Cnet's expert opinion. I've always been curious about the lack of wi-fi complaint about PDA phones. I'm always on the road so I'm skeptical about attaching my PDA to a public wi-fi router. For the heck of it I've attached my TX and and SCH-i730 to my work router and at home. I've never found it useful. If I'm at work or home I'd rather use my desktop/laptop.
The phone is a bit sluggish. Powering up takes about as long as you'd expect a Windows device to take. (I bet MS steals more productivity by making users wait for start up than the NCAA basketball tournament.)
The camera is only 1.3 megapixels. It's a PDA phone. I've never wished the TX or the SCH-i730 had a camera at all. Are there a lot of business users out there in need of a better camera. If there are, aren't those business people issued real cameras?
I'm not too sure what to make of the comment about smudges and fingerprints on the screen. Every device I have that has a screen seems to have smudges or fingerprints on it if I touch them. Does Cnet have screens that are smudge and fingerprint resistant? If they do, they should sell them. I'd be first in line.
Windows Live and Live Messenger are stripped from the phone? Are you kidding me? I think she's trying to invent issues to justify her rating.
Cnet should stick to pertinent issues when reviewing hardware. -
"Cnet isn't always right...." on by mholmes05
Pros: Lightweight, slim factor, terrific keyboard, email set up, personalization options
Cons: The verizon screen is terrible, battery tends to go fast, processor speed
Summary: I'm a former treo user converted to the lg enV, but after a year of the enV I had to go back to a smart phone. I've used cnet for YEARS when deciding on a new piece of technology and I have to say, they failed in their review of this phone. The set up of my gmail account was simple and flawless. Autosync between my outlook and the phone was a piece of cake. Yes, there's an occasional 1 or 2 second lag when moving between different programs, but all you have to do is close operating programs when you're done. It's quite simple. The battery does tend to go quickly if you opted to update your email every half hour, but after changing it to every 2, it's a lot better. I'm still playing with the personilization options for my homescreen, but so far I'm very happy with this phone. I debated waiting for the Samsung or HTC that'll be coming in the next 3 months, but it's Verizon Wireless - they could wait another YEAR before releasing another smartphone. On that note, I'm more than happy with my Q9m and I think a lot of people out there would love it too.
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"This is Great (Sorry cnet your got it wrong)" on by DennisDunaway
Pros: keyboard, ************, size, battery life
Cons: The red letters on the keyboard are difficault to read
Summary: After waiting 4 months after my upgrade date for Verizon to come out with a new more modern phone I was excited to hear about the Q9m. Then I read the Cnet review and backed off my decision to buy. I am a corparate user and don't need a sluggish phone / email. I then read all the positive reviews on the phone and went into the Verizon store to see for my self.
I have had my Q9m phone for 3 weeks now and just came back from a trip. The phone has been fantastic with many nice features as compared to my old Samsung i730. I don't miss the sliding keyboard, bulky size, or touch screen.
The Q9m has a very logical layout and is very intuitive to use. The screen looks great. I think the performance is great along with battery life. I must say that I bought and use the extended life battery. I can go 3 to 4 days on a charge and thats with my phone syncing to my company exchange server every 5 minutes. I use the standard battery as a backup. The keyboard is very nice also and much easier to type with compared to the i730.
Cnet, I like your reviews and trust them, but I must say that you got this one wrong. -
"Ultimately a Disappointment" on by VarLordahl
Pros: Beatiful Casing; Windows Mobile 6; Great Keyboard; Simple Setup; Great Bundled Software; Impressive Call Quality
Cons: Battery Life is Pathetic; Phone is Painfully Underpowered; Glitches Galore; New Slide Wheel is Terrible
Summary: Where Do I begin?
Let me first say that if you are a casual user, and just want to check the occassional e-mail and make the occassional phone call, this phone will probably suffice.
That said, if you are even a moderate-to-power user, the phone simply is an underpowered, underdeveloped device. My main gripe comes from the almost innumerable software/hardware glitches. All of the sudden buttons will stop working for one function, but not for the other (which indicates the software is at fault). If you let the battery die (which is very easy to do...more on that later), the O/S requires a soft reboot before the phone powers on again. Regardless of whether you use BlueTooth or USB connections, the phone doesn't sync about 33% of the time -- it just hangs. I've tried it on two of my computers -- one with Windows Vista32 and one with Vista64 - same problems. Considering Windows Mobile 6 was built with Vista in mind, this is quite disappointing.
The battery life is abysmal -- and for whatever reason, Verizon disabled the O/S's ability to adjust screen brightness to ameliorate that fact. I have my phone set to check 2 different e-mail accounts every 15 minutes. Additionally, I probably send 10 - 15 text messages per day. I talk for 20 - 50 minutes per day. I will also check the internet for 5 - 15 minutes. I have not had the battery last longer than 14 hours under these conditions. Being in law school, my days often verge on 20 hours, and when the battery dies (see above), then the whole phone freezes, you have to do a soft reboot, etc...
Moreover, the phone is terribly underpowered. The old Q had this problem. This Q is even worse as it uses the same processor for a newer, more resource-hungry O/S. There are often 1/2 - 1 second delays between pressing buttons and the device responding. In fact, if you have a web page loading in the background and you try to simultaneously dial someone's phone number, the buttons completely freeze for a good 10 seconds. How this product made it beyond initial testing is astounding to me. It plays music fine, but high-bitrate MP3s or higher resolution videos (above 320x240) cause it to stutter and freeze.
That said, the screen is bright, durable, and easy to read. The keyboard is GREAT, and provides a solid tactile feel (the best ever on a smartphone in my opinion). The sound quality on calls is amazing, and I've gotten lots of complements that I sound loud and clear on the other end as well.
All in all, despite the pluses, the obvious draw-backs (all of which mentioned in the cnet review) make this phone "average." -
"'Phone First' AND solid PDA (who knew?)" on by aga1296
Pros: Very reliable phone, excellent messaging
Cons: Kinda heavy, wide form factor took getting used to...
Summary: I was concerned about going from a WM5 Pocket PC/Phone (Samsung SCH-i730) to a 'smartphone', but the 'phone first' mantra from Motorola convinced me that nearly anything would be better than the 'nothing first' performance from my WM5.
The Q9m is a very strong device and it performs well under 'business' conditions (phone, MS Exchange synch'ng, web browsing, etc.). The bluetooth connectivity is excellent (speakerphone in the car, Moto stereo headphones, file exchange) and the battery life has been terrific.
I was holding out for the Samsung SCH-i760, and I thought that I would miss the stylus, but I am glad to be rid of it (I've lost more than a few).
Don't be weirded out by the wacky VZW main screen, you can switch out of that funky interface very easily to the pretty intuitive WM6 standard layout (I'll never go back).
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