www. qusers.c om and ww w.everythingq.c om (make sure you piece together the spaces though before you go to these sites).

They explain exactly how the Q works and should be setup to get the most out of it.

I've had this phone since October 2006 and its May (about to be June 07) and I'm loving my phone.

After reading about all the issues let me be the first to sympathize with all the people who got a defective unit.

My 1st phone had the bad battery life issue I've read about. After getting the windows service pack updates put on (MOL 2 and MOL 3 see motorola website) the life did improve somewhat but my phone started to experience some of the random power down issues I hear some of you complain about.

So after about 2-3 weeks of wanting to toss my phone under a semi truck because of the frustration, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get the unit swapped out.

Now, on my 2nd Q, I can tell you with, Microsoft Office Mobile (from Windows Smartphone 6), PDAnet for using my phone as a free highspeed modem (Which is reason #1 to buy this phone alone),Facade, Deepfish webbrowser, Agile AIM/Yahoo/MSN/ICQ messanger, Papyrus Calander Task manager (qhich also rocks along with Facade, Sprite, Orange, and lets not forget the NES, Sega Genesis, SNES and MAME emulators running over 1000 games, the DVD Mp4 movies, Mp3 collection and just about everything else my 2GB MiniSD card's heart's desire can contain, all I can say is this
phone ROCKS!!!!!

The only crutch is that there's a bad batch out there like with any product on the market. It seems as if the newer ones are more stable and less likely to experience the headaches the older ones had people gripping about.


But the final verdict lies with battery life and the customability of the device.

1. I'll address the battery life:
Its awesome!!! Let me explain...I used to have the old Q fully charged by 6am (time I leave for work) and make a few calls to my girlfriend 15-30 mins in the morning tops and check my bank account and a few work items = no more than 15 mins surfing the net. I'd immediately close all apps with task manager AND go into flight mode and out of it to log off the net completely (eliminate the arrows on the top of the battery meter)

Anyhow by 4pm central my battery would be dead and I'd have to plug the Q in. I got the Extended battery and my Q would last till 9-10pm at night before it needed a full charge.

2. With the replacement Q and old slim battery, I'm now averaging 14 hours of heavy use (emulators, 20 mins web browsing, music, 1.5 hours of phone calls total today etc) and still have 75% life left! Its night and day and looks as if my new Q is the winner phone we all should have. If yours isn't like this, SWAP IT OUT immediately.

II. Stability...

This new Q hasn't crashed at all even after doing all the necessary system registry tweaks (find out more on qusers)
1. the glyphcache one to spead up the interface
2. rearranging the keys (ex the old back key by the scroll wheel is now my speaker phone and vice versa)
3. the 3x web speed enhance hack
4. the memory cache hack
5. and the bluetooth volume enhancer hack to enhance my Jabra JX-10 volume (again see Qusers.com)

ALL of these and more and my phone just keeps going and going and going. I have had this new phone for about a week now and with HEAVY usage, enough to crash and burn my old Q for sure this new tank just keeps asking for more!
I haven't even tried the extended battery because I don't need to...Bottom line, SWAP your phone out at Verizon if its not acting like this. I'm convinced this is how the Q was intended to be....now if only everyone here can experience this!

I work at Enterprise in management and all the customers who walk in the door with Qs eyes drop when they see how customized mine is and how the battery life really is!

For that guy who complaied about the layout, check out the wallpaper setup on qusers and get the setup you like! With Facade and Fizz Weather you can have a killer setup on your phone!

So, I am currently on my 2nd Q, happily working my way to the 3rd.

Since I brought the phone in August, I have had problem after problem:

(1) The battery power sucks. If I talk on the phone for more than 1 hour, the battery power dies to 1 bar.

(2) Because I have my emailed account synced to the phone, my battery dies even faster. There are days when I have charged the phone all night, and by mid-day, the battery is either dead, or has one bar left

(3) This one is weird, there are times when the phone shuts on and off by itself. I know it's not me because I keep the phone locked so I won't accidentally call anyone. Again, once it cuts off and back on, I am, again, down to one battery bar.

The reception on the phone is okay, and I don't experience as many dropped calls as I did with T-Mobile; however, the stress of the battery life is what makes me what to just get a new phone!

I've had to replace this phone three times now. Once because the audio jack wasn't letting me listen to the mp3s and movie files I bought the phone to play. Once because it started freezing on startup every time. And once because the phone simply went dead and wouldn't start up or respond in any way, even when plugged in. Each time, Verizon just replaced the entire phone, without even trying to fix it. That's four unique instances of this phone in one year of use. That's the only impression I can take away from this.

I've had my Q for a little over three weeks now, and it has generally lived up to my expectations which, admittedly, were not all that high. I wanted a decent phone that could also grab my emails off of my server at work, keep my calendar, and allow me to occasionally surf the web. It does those things in a satisfactory manor.

The call quality is rather good, certainly better than my old Samsung flip phone. The dialing buttons are small, but manageable. They are not marked with letters for dialing purposes(i.e - "a b c" for 2, "d e f" for 3, etc). The buttons have a nice feel to them, and are close together but not so close as to make using them difficult. The back-lighting is adequate. The screen is bright and the colors vibrant.

The only truly annoying aspect of this device regarding its use as a mobile phone is the voice dialing function. I've never had a phone which has so much trouble picking up voice commands. In fact, it seems completely incapable of picking up a dialing command. The most recent example:

Me: "Call Jackie."
Phone: "Did you say, 'Call Rob?'"
Me: "No. Call Jackie."
Phone: "Did you say, 'Call Tina?'"
Me: "No. Call Jackie."
Phone: "Did you say, 'Call Home?'"
Me: *sigh*

This happens every time. Every time. Bluetooth or straight phone, it doesn't matter. The only thing that varies are the odd choices it makes. The fact that they do not sound remotely like anything you said is a constant. For those of you wondering if I mumble or have an accent . . . I do not (at least I don't think so!). My old phones never had a problem picking me up. I'm wondering if it's a software glitch.

Many have commented on the battery life. The battery life is only fair, but I haven't had the kind of issues that some other posters have. I charge it every night and it has never quit on me during the day. I'm careful to "kill" open applications when I'm done using them, and I retrieve my email manually rather than having it "pushed" to the phone. I may buy an extended life battery at some point, but thus far I'm doing fine without it. Those who are on their phones constantly may have a different experience. A car charger is very cheap to buy through Amazon, and I keep one of those in the glove box just in case.

The mobile Internet Explorer browser is a bit clunky and inelegant, but that's not the phone's fault. I'm hoping that when Mozilla get's done tweaking their mobile browser it will be a better solution.

This device does not come with software to create or edit documents. I understand that third party apps are available for this purpose, but it's not something I've looked into as I don't intend to use the device for this purpose.

Verizon's EVDO network - though expensive - seems to be living up to it's billing so far. The lack of WiFi has not bothered me in the slightest. I gave my old WiFi equipped Palm Tungsten C to my wife when I got the Q, and I must say that I like the on-demand nature of EVDO much better than having to search for often hard to find WiFi networks. Subjectively, I have found the speeds while surfing the net to be comparable, with the Q perhaps being the faster of the two.

The unit has a solid, well built feel to it. I've dropped it only once (so far) from approximately chest high onto a hard tile floor. The battery cover and battery popped out and when skidding across the floor, but when put back together all worked fine. In the three weeks I've had it, I've had it refuse to turn on twice. Removing and then replacing the battery cured the problem. There was no data loss. I haven't noted any other functional glitches.

At the end of the day I chose the Q from among several other likely prospects because of its relatively small size. It's a bit slimmer than my wife's Razr. I won't wear a belt clip (I seem to have misplaced my pocket protector, and it wouldn't seem right to use one without the other), and the Q does fit neatly into the pocket of either my jeans or my suit coat. You do need to remember to lock the key pad when doing this. Incoming calls can be answered without unlocking it. Locking and unlocking is painless, requiring you to push two buttons in sequence on the pad.

In sum, aside from the maddening voice dialing issue it's a good phone which provides email, calendar and web surfing capability.

Hope this helps.


Per Nick Riensch, a Verizon representative at their Largo, Florida, corporate store, "every salesperson tells every Q purchaser that the unit will not work well with the standard battery" and that "everyone knows to always sell the extended battery when they sell a Q."

We had replaced a RAZR with a Q; the RAZR would last about a week on a charge and the Q lasted less than 20 hours on standby with no calls, no running processes and no internet surfing or e-mail running. This is in the same house and work locations as the old RAZR and a Samsung i730, neither of which have any problems. After the first week, we went in and they replaced the battery, but we got the exact same results.

The following weekend when we complained again, Nick Riensch told us that "the only way [we were] going to get the phone to last more than a day was to buy the extended battery." We were still within the return period, so we dumped the Q and got a real PDA phone (the XV6700). No troubles at all with this one. The bottom line: Pass on the Q. Even Verizon's own employees tell customers (at least AFTER they make the sale) that the battery life estimates are not in (again per Nick) "real world" conditions.

I've had my phone for almost a year now. So far, it's been awesome.
The pros:
- I live in NYC, so the reception and sound quality are really good. Verizon seems to have the best service out here.
- Good Windows functionality. It's not slow, and boot time is quick.
- Not too expensive
- Synching is so easy.
- It's pretty tiny. Packs a lot of punch.



I sent for my second replacement. Nearly everyone on the other end says they hear an echo or just terrible sound quality from my end. What a waste of time. Had internet but a waste of time at $40 per month from Verizon. All other features are mostly ok. Won't work on my mac and the one time I tried to download games or do updates on the pc, it didn't work.

getting this phone was the biggest mistake ever. I have only had it 6 months and have had to get it replaced FOUR TIMES! none of the new ones have ever quite worked properly. its always one thing after another. and I'm stuck with the thing for another year!! X(

Motorola Q Sucks. If you are a serious user of cell phone, then don't buy this. The phone is not good. That is the reason, Verizon has brought down the price from $199 to $79.

Reasons why you should not buy this:

I get the standby time of only 10 hours and talk time for just 2 hours. Where as Verizon claims that this phone has the stand by time of 212 hours and talk time for 7 hours. But, that is not true.

Remember a situation like Sep 11 or Blackout day. If anything like this happens, then this phone will not help you for any reason.



I bought my Q because I am on the go a lot and needed easy access to my files and e-mail. While the functionality is great on this phone, it is laden with glitches and therefore, I cannot recommend this to someone who cannot afford to accidentally miss calls because you were ending another function on the phone. The lag time between doing various tasks on the phone is too long. It takes several seconds after I hang up with someone for me to be able to get to another function. Also, my Q has a tendency to power itself off, then restart occasionally. I have checked into the settings on the phone and checked with my carrier, but no one seems to have an explanation. Finally, pulling information off the SD card is not as straightforward as one might expect from a Windows-based phone. In short, if I had to do it all over again, I would have stuck with the Palm.

I've owned my Q for over 6 months now and I'm pleased with it. Does it Never crash? No. Gimmee a break! But mine hardly ever crashes. The phone calls are good; I can hear people very well and they tell me they can hear me clearly. It's very good as an MP3 and WMA player, which are the most supported audio formatts. Use MP3s WMAs WAVs Midi's and others as personalized Ringtones. Use personal pictures to display for people you know. For $[...] you can buy an adapter from Amazon or Radio Shack to adapt it from it's small 4-pin headphone jack to a common 1/8" stereo jack; which allows you hook it to a car stereo with a front jack or your stereo at home or you can make recordings of your voice mails. It's oraganizer is good and reliable. It's Bluetooth works good. I installed a Bible on mine; so using it for book reading is good too. It's camera and video is what one would expect; however it has a flash which many camera's on cell phones don't have. Buy the larger battery or be a complainer. So what if it's a couple centimeters bigger, sheesh! It has a full keyboard and they only drawback is that many have a problem with the smallness of the buttons (I can work with them fine-but my fingers aren't fat). With web service you can check on team scores, road maps, or restaurants or movie listings or search other things. Check email and text message. In most areas you cannot use this phone for emailing large files; but with the installation of a 2 Gig (or bigger) Mini SD storage card - you can transfer large files between your PC and another. Buy this phone; because for a world where nothing's perfect, you'll learn to rely on this PDA phone so you can ditch your Palm Pilot - and there's NO Stylus to loose! It doesn't have a touch screen; but between it's jog wheel, back-button and navigation pad - there won't be a long learning curve. I'd personally suggest buying a 4 Gig Mini SD card; I know that sounds like alot but you can store some video on it that way. It play's back 30 frame, 320x240 MPEG-1's when the video is encoded at 600K/sec after installing freeware: TCPMP player for Windows Mobile Smartphones [...] It won't playback MP4 WMV RM or MOV's well because those formatts require too much decompression. So you can actually watch full motion shows on this phone so long as they are MPEG-1 videos, using the TCPMP player, and you have a good sized Mini SD storage card, and the bigger battery. All that for a base price of $200! (The extras will cost less than $80) And iPhones are for people who don't mind constantly spending money for the sake of not being more involved in making easily created content for the phone. I am very pleased with mine and don't forsee replacing it for years! Four Stars because I believe this phone could have supported smooth full motion video from the common formatts.

I got my Q about a month ago. At first I was enamoured with the looks, size, flatness, internet and sound quality. All of those are great. I still love how flat it is and it doesn't seem to scratch easily (unlike my scratch magnet iPod.)
I have had Verizon for a long time. I have not really had any bones to pick with them. They have been helpful. I really wish I hadn't mailed in my rebate so quickly. I would have returned it and gone back to plain phone and simple, cheap service. It will be nice while traveling though.
I think we should all be mad at Motorola for producing such a crappy piece o plastic. The "soft keys" on the Q feel totally cheap. The buttons look nice, but the top ones don't really feel nice. They feel cheap. I do rather like the rest of the keyboard, though. The battery is JOKE. What is the point of having a MOBILE phone if you have to plug it in 50 times a day????? I expect it to last AT LEAST as long as I am awake during the day. That's really not much to ask for.

Things to consider before you buy this:
1)Battery life IS abysmal. I had verizon send me a new one because I seriously thought it was defective...Nope. New one is the same- no life after 9 hours of sitting around doing nothing. I am going to have to invest yet another $[...] in the extended battery. It's a good thing I rarely use the nice leather pouch since it isn't going to fit in it anymore. It is a good thing I managed to fanagle this phone for free with rebates and stuff. I have definitely made up for the cost in accessories and programs- don't fall for the accessories trap if you buy this thing!!! I was told the pouch I bought was only $[...], but when I looked at the receipt it was really $[...]....and I hardly use it because it's hard to get the phone out.. and I already stretched it out so it would go in without mashing the buttons.

2)Expect to purchase every program you want to use on it. This does not come with anything useful except the internet, and the programs are not cheap! I really wish I had stuck with my Palm! Palm programs were way better and cheaper. The alarm clock allows you ONE alarm. That is IT. My old LG phone let me have multiples. The ringtones totally bite. It's a good thing you can use MP3s. There's not even a built in calculator. You can buy one. My old LG had way better functionality. I am starting to miss it even though I hated the flip phone. I am glad I still have it. I am going to keep it...just in case I get totally fed up with Q.

3)Program selection for purchase truly sucks. I hope it expands as time goes by...and be sure to use the trial versions before you buy because they are not very good in general.

4)Space for programs is limited. I have purchased 3 programs. Apparently that's about the max-I tried to load Mozilla's Minimo but I don't have enough space left! Boooooooo. My old cheap Palm could load tons and tons of programs and not have any problems...and they were GOOD and USEFUL and CHEAP.

5)Maneuvering between programs is awkward. The home screen is not really customizable as it should be. Maybe your 10 year old computer geek kid might be able to hack a nice usable homescreen for you. I bought a program to rig it up, but it is still dissappointing- you can't add shortcuts like windows- not that I expect it to really work like windows completely, but that seems simple enough and ya CAN'T DO IT. Boooooooooo. The quickie self building shortcut line of recently used programs is good enough though.

6)Email Gripes: Please won't Gmail rig it up so we can easily use Gmail on this! The web version works, but not the mobile web version. Also, Hotmail is supposed to be super simple and already built in, but I have to log into messenger for the hotmail to work! Boooooooooo. I just wanna check my darn email! I get error messages more than half the time when I try to check Hotmail or Gmail. Forget using that handy email button on the keyboard- It would be great if that actually worked for me.

7) Help is weak. FAQ's are weak. I can't believe how many message boards and sites there are dedicated to this thing.... because it is not good and people are frustrated trying to fix things. My screen wants to stay on all the time.. further draining my already lame battery. I think it is searching for network, but does it really have to do that all the time? Can't it wait until I actually want it to do something? There's probably a way.. but I am a decade too old to spend a week figuring it out.

8) Shortcuts. I hope you like shortcut buttons! If you want to master this thing, be ready to memorize and create shortcut buttons for everything. You can easily set them up, but remembering what does what is rediculous.

PROs:
Freakin awesome reception. I get reception and internet in places that always dropped calls before.

Internet wherever- fun stuff! ..but you can get that on virtually any phone now. (Google maps is totally awesome on it.)

It's thin and nice to look at.

Long story short: Black hole of accessories/programs/more money. I think it will break eventually becuase it is so cheaply made. PROBLEMATIC. I am very happy that I didn't get one of the first totally screwed up Qs, but even my updated new Q has too many issues. This phone seems like it should still be in the testing stage. It is not right. It is not a well built machine, nor are its brains very extensive. It's a pretty piece of plastic. It needs a way bigger hard drive memory, and drastic improvements in functionality and programs.

OH YEAH.. also... I bought an SD card for it, which you will want to do if you decide to waste your time and money on this.. but it took me a day to figure out that I needed to jam a piece of paperboard under the SD card to make it connect. It's still in there- under the card, behind the crazy rubbery plastic door that bulges out where the card is. Don't get it wet!

This is the first and last Motorola product I ever buy. COME ON! I seriously expected a far superior product from Moto.
This phone, like everything else in our modern world, is...Cheap, Plasticky, Produced to make a lot of money while giving a lousy product.
I am not a mega-computer-guru, but I KNOW they could have done better than this!!!
Wait a year or two. Buy something better.

Overall, it works. I definitely wouldn't pay anything for this though. I am crazy glad I got it for free! Carrying a palm and a phone around really wasn't that bad.

I live in a metropolitan area with adequate cell coverage. My family owns 1 Motorola Q and 2 Motorola Razrs. We have no problems with the cell signal on the Razrs. The Q is frequently dropping calls and searching for a network in the same locations that the Razrs are showing 2 or 3 bars. I have to keep the Q plugged into the AC in order to keep the battery from draining due to the constant searching for a cell tower. I would not recommend the Q unless you live under a cell tower.

I just switched from the VZW Treo 650 (Palm-powered) to the Q. My only complaint is the battery life, but it is not as abysmal as some reviewers would have you believe. Keep a spare charger at your desk, for cryin' out loud! As for the complaints about having to go through menus for different functions? Hell-o-o! It's Windows Mobile...Windows uses menus.

The sound clarity is way better than the Treo, as is the screen. The form factor is not to be outdone. I thought I loved my Treo...well let me tell you, that was just puppy love.

If you want the Q, bite the bullet. I don't think you will be dissapointed...unless your expectations are unreasonable. There is no such thing as perfection...but the Q comes pretty darned close!

Let me take you back to the time before I had Verizon and a Motorola Q, a time of bliss. Oh the days when I could plug my phone into a wall and it would charge! When the phone rang, I could answer it, and when I wanted to end the call, I could, just by pressing a button!

Now, in the cruel fall of 2006, I am chained to the Q, which is chained to the incredibly poor customer service at Verizon. Imagine a man chained to a three thousand pound boulder, which is in turn chained to the planet Jupiter nearing a black hole. Yes, it's that bad.

I made the mistake of purchasing a Q to send and receive calls, with an option to also send and receive data. I spent a paltry $130 a month, but this didn't seem to matter the second time my Q bricked up and refused to boot. I called tech support. "Hey tech support," I said, "this phone will randomly crash but the screen freezes. So, I'm missing calls even though it looks like the phone is fine. Plus, I'll look at the battery meter which says full, and then thirty minutes later my phone is off. And now it won't even turn on."

Tech Support replies, "Have you tried unplugging the phone, removing the battery, and letting it sit?"

Hmmm. No, I said. But I bought the $40 extended battery. And a car charger. And I keep both with me at all times, just in case the phone dies, or rather, for when the phone is sure to die, and I can remove the battery, plug the phone directly to the wall, and at least check the messages I missed while the phone was dead.

Tech support sends me a refurbished phone - two day FedEx! They couldn't send it overnight. Perhaps there's some $300 plan where they care if you can send and receive phone calls, but it's unfortunately out of my budget.

So I got my third phone. Yes, it would still crash and randomly turn off. Sometimes I would try to end a call, but it would just sit there, the minutes ticking away. The only way to recover it would be to remove the battery. You'd see me at Starbucks, sporting my Q and buying a chai latte. "Yes Bill, 200% ROI. No, totally doable. Totally." Then, I'd hit the red button, wait, furrow my brow, set all of my things on the floor, take the back cover off, remove and re-install the battery, and then turn the phone back on. That lovely Windows Mobile sound would echo like a death rattle in the cafe, and then I'd stare at it until it booted completely, to see if I missed yet another call during the resurrection.

And today, I arrived at the Verizon store, for the 7th time. This time, in Atlanta. I figured, maybe it was just my small town store that couldn't handle my problem. I explained - politely as I could - and said the phone had died again, and would no longer charge. Again. I received a blank stare, and then a sticky note with a number on it. I said, "You want me to call someone at Verizon to complain about my phone that doesn't turn on?" He stared back, blankly, and without a trace of irony said, "Yes."

I said, "So, there's no one at this Verizon store - this is Verizon, isn't it? - who can give me a phone, right now, that works?"

He said, "No. We could give you a new phone - we're one of the few stores that stock PDA phones - but we're out of the Motorola Qs right now."

I said, "Because you're replacing so many?" No answer, but a finger extending to point to my yellow sticky note. I wept quietly in the car.

I returned to the client site where I was consulting, and asked if I could borrow his phone, while apologizing for not answering my broken cell phone. Lo and behold, they had a three strikes policy, and I was eligible for a different phone! He asked me to hold while he got approval, and then returned and said somberly, "Unfortunately, since you have had your account only six months, we are unable to offer you a different phone."

I sat back in my chair, and tried not to spontaneously combust. "I have given you over $1300 in the past six months in service fees and equipment purchases. And I am not allowed to have a different phone, when the one you sold me doesn't work?"

There was nothing he could do except try - TRY - to acquire for me a "brand new, in the box" Motorola Q. Instead, I had a different plan. I had them turn down the calling plan as much as was possible, and requested all data features be removed. Then I bought and older Verizon phone from a friend, which I will use to send and receive phone calls - hopefully - until I have found a different provider who cares to provide.

So beware of Verizon and the Motorola Q if you are demanding enough require that your equipment works most of the time to send and receive phone calls. And doubly beware them if you wish to retain your sanity.

If you get this phone, plan on using all of your minutes on the phone with Microsoft trying to install Active Sync. It has very stringent requirements, none of which are mentioned on the site when you purchase the unit. I still cannot get it to work. Why Motorola would have hitched their cart to Microsoft's spur is beyond me. If you just want a really expensive unusually large phone that pretends to maintain your task, calendar and contact data, without actually doing so, then this is phone is perfect.

[...]

I bought the Q because of the poor phone reception of the Treo 650 I had. The reception was a little better on the Q but still not as good as a stand alone phone. After a month the Q slipped out of my hands and the glass cracked when it landed. I sent it in for repairs and was told it couldn't be fixed. I have now opted for a data card and a Mot Razr. Now I finally have a phone that will work at my house and the data card is a much better way for me to handle emails. It gives me portability and I only have to handle the emails once.

Our company just switched to Verizon which included getting Q's for people who previously had Treo's with another plan (Alltel). I had the Treo for 6 months and had a lot of problems with that.

My main beef with the Q has nothing to do with the phone or it's functionalities. Rather, it's regarding the abysmal battery life of the basic phone. What company would put out such an absolutely useless battery? Then, God forbid you actually complain to them about it, they have the gall to admit the battery is crap then try to sell you the 'upgrade.' Upgrade? How about including the better battery to begin with and give the customer some value for his money?

Motorola, Verizon, and other companies that tout the Q should be ashamed for putting this product - with this battery - on the market.

We're gonna give this phone about another week and then consider sending the whole lot back and returning to the Treo.

Shame on you Motorola.

This phone isn't all its cracked up to be. MP3 player is a joke. The menu setup is beyond frustrating. It doesn't do anything well. Go with a basic camera phone that does the simple things well. I'm really pissed off that I'm married to this phone for at least another year. Can't wait. Motoral isn't even willing to answer any of my emails about my tech problems.

Now let me get started on Verizon. This PDA is my primary phone. After three months I decided to add a phone onto my account for my wife. Simple. Yet Verizon decided to tack on the Data package (the expensive one at that) with out my authorization. Called and cancelled it. Two months later its on my account again. Come to find out that "their system" automatically tacks the data package on anytime you do just about anything to your account. They want me to sign up for automatic bill pay. YEAH RIGHT!!! When they are hoping I won't notice an additional data package here or there. Keep in mind thats an addtional $45.

GO WITH A BASIC PHONE.

This supposedly smart phone, is a nightmare, you shouldn't buy it unless you are some kind of manager, business man, who believe it is necessary to stay connected to some kind of Network 24/7, and being billed by Verizon Wireless for it. This is the worst thing ever when you buy that type of phone just for the big screen, and the Mini SD card, in order for you to enjoy your Pictures and VIDEOS on the go, yet having a screen big enough to see the details of these multimedia content, but do not care about surfing the web on a, then too small screen that doesn't allow you to see anything. THIS PHONE STAYS CONNECTED TO BROADBAND ACCESS (High speed internet download from VzW) 24/7, even when in standby, when you sleep at night and the ONLY way to discover this is when you receive your first bill from VzW. Verizon does NOT communicate AT ALL on this particularity of the Q, and other PDA, according to their sale persons, and No one at VzW Tech support is able to block this feature, in fact one girl from their Tech support did it once, and messed up the OS, the phone was trying to connect every ten second and sending to me error msgs, one after another with a horrible BEEP noise, I had to turn off the phone, and go back to the Vz store the day after, in order for the Tech people to download an upgrade and, billing me with DATA USAGE for it ! That was the LAST STRAW, after two months and a half of an absolute nightmare I return the whole thing and the VzW people in the store have been kind enough to take it back, and hoh by the way the Customer service receives so many calls of persons like me that they never complain to wipe out our DATA USAGE bill, nothing to pay. AGAIN DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE if you are just looking for a multimedia device that is also a phone with keyboard, it is NOT worth it at all, especially considering the other issues that this phone have, mostly coming from the OS Windows Mobile is LAME.
You want to see a lot of your personal videos that you will copy on the MiniSD card. let see, Windows Media Player is ONLY capable of reading the WMV, who cares ! NO AVI, NO MPEG/MPG, the most common files found around the world, nope NO luck it is NOT working. You want to use the keyboard to write a note real quick, nope you can't, no Notepad available, ONLY a voice Notes is provided, yes this a Windows OS without the Notepad.exe. The battery life expectations is ridiculously low even with the extended battery, especially if you are talking with someone, let see is it a phone or what ? The operating system is lame, the multimedia capabilities forces you to translate your videos files in Windows Media Video file format, good luck if you the kind of collection like I do, the battery life forces you to stay in charge for ever, and if you do not want to have the bad experience I had with the phone itself being connected to the Super Enhanced VzW Network, you can buy the monthly DATA PACKAGE, for 44$/month, just because the phone itself connects by itself, 24/7, 528$ a year just because of the phone, working this way and there is nothing you can do about it, and being an IT computer myself, I went deep in the core of Windows, looking for an hidden, NOT documented settings, well there is none, the phone connects and that's it ! NO choice No confirmation YES or CANCEL screen, nothing, to let you know that you are connected, I'm telling you, STAY AWAY.

I'm at a loss. I hope the problems I describe are described elsewhere in these reviews because this phone should never have even been put on the market and the notion deserves reiteration for those considering purchasing this phone. This smartphone has a long list of negative issues that prohibit it from functioning as a phone. I can't possibly get to them all but for starters: every day it shuts off by itself, locks up, won't receive calls, can't call out, won't turn on, and the only way to fix these little daily annoyances is to take the battery out and reboot the phone. And I am truly not kidding, I have to do this at an absolute minimum 3 times a day, some days I have to reboot it every time I pick it up. Seriously. The keypad fails, Media player skips all the way through the songs, miserable battery life, very slow internet speeds for what it is, etc etc. I do like some of the Verizon salespeople I have talked with about this though: they already know all about it. I say that indicates the mass of customers that had to have come in when the salespeople won't even put up a fight and are simply resigned admitting the phone is garbage. Several I've talked to won't sell anyone a phone with a Windows Mobile OS unless they are just hell-bent and won't listen. It also lacks the much of the smart function if you don't sync it with Outlook and only on your pc. Verizon won't touch it until you do the Motorola update (which is a medium-sized nightmare) and apparently will not replace the phone with anything other than a refurbished Q. Oh goody. So, I'm stuck with the phone for upwards of a year.
Generally, this is a terrific waste of energy, time, and money. Don't know about the Samsung Blackjack, but most of what I've read I agree with: skip the smartphone all together and pony up for a PDA, preferably without Windows Mobile.

I've had 2 separate phone service plans since Cingular had a great promo for the Treo 650 almost 3 years ago. I never quite got used to it, and the charger for the phone finally collapsed with a not so graceful "ping", flinging its metal charging prongs to who knows where.

So, I sold the sucker and went into Verizon for a new PDA (not to be confused with Public Displays of Affection). I don't think there was anyone working there who was more than a few days over 20! A nice young lady showed me the new Motorola Q. Grrr... there's no touch screen! Waaaah.

I tried to return it within 24 hours, breaking into a cold sweat trying to learn a new gadget. Another nice young lady looked at me patronizingly, and told me to give it a few more days. So, today is day 3 and I'm starting to really like it - realizing that you can't have everything in one package.

The Q is beautiful to look at. It fits nicely into your purse or pocket without the weight and bulk of the Treo, or many of the other PDAs for that matter. I figured out how to use it for internet connection, so no more silly hotel $10/day charges to use their air time. I can easily send and retrieve email, see my calendar at a glance, open an Acrobat file with the entire agenda and zoom in on what I need to see.

I can also have my own data card with music, videos and various programs on it, so I don't have to use up the device's built in memory. It's blue tooth compatible, and if I'm so inclined, I can even listen to my music/audio files via the blue tooth instead of lugging around another set of ear pieces.

This was certainly not love at first sight, but I am growing to love it.

Just got the Motorola Q for Christmas. So far, at first glance, I am very satisfied with it. This is my first PDA/Smartphone, so I can't compare this to other ones currently out on the market, but on its own, it is perfect for what I need in smartphone.

Quick view benefits
1. Keyboard
2. LCD Screen is large
3. Look and feel is very good. Thin and light
4. Funcionality seems excellent
5. Seems simple, but the speakerphone has worked very well so far. Sounds great.
6. Hooked up a nice Motorola BlueTooth wireless earbud which works very well.

Negatives
1. Battery life
2. email accessability. I am having problems getting my gmail account synced to it. Has anyone else had this problem? I know it is compatible with gmail, but my efforts are failing so far and Verizon Help 1800 number had no answers. Not sure if this is the phone, my mistakes, or gmail. I can send email from the phone, but cannot receive it.

outside of the email problem which I hope can be resolved, the phone is fantastic.


I use it more for business than personal use. Here are my findings.

1) Syncs with Outlook - I keep all my contacts and schedule on my Q. Sometimes the sync conncetion doesn't work, though. Puzzling.

2) Great screen - Not as big as a PDA screen, but big enough, and the quality/clarity is top shelf. Easy controls mean you don;t need a touch screen.

3) Great sound - Superior as a hands-free speaker phone or for playing music. Headphones are still better, but this speaker is nice when you need it.

4) Lots of accessories - I have a leather case, 2GB sd card, and bluetooth headset. That just scratches the surface. Also bought the hi-capacity battery.

5) Email. Supports POP and Yahoo (from my experience).

6) Battery life not so good with standard battery. Needs a charge daily. Keep a wall charger and car charger nearby to ensure you can juice it up when it is low.

7) Expansion options/versatility - Can be used as a GPS device with upgrade (not too expensive, either). Can be used with a Slingbox to watch TV. Nice!!!

I guess I like it because it does what I most wanted. I can listen to music and recorded talk shows via the mono bluetooth ear piece. I had the Chocholate for awhile, and it required a stereo blue tooth for the same thing, but I just need one small earpiece to listen to recorded radio shows.

I like how easy it is to synch with my pc, and I like the ability to carry various media files on the minisd. It is an easy thing to move files from the PC to the Q. I will look for third party software to make it easier to switch between programs instead of having to wade through the various paths. I wish there was some good software (like SPB for the pocket PC) that would make the home page more customizable. I have only tried two third party programs and neither one of them really impressed me by adding a lot of functionality. THere was one that was supposed to monitor my data usage, but that has not worked at all, since it still says zero bytes used. For the time that I actually spend using them, this has the potential to replace my ipod and my Zen VW......if it only had a radio!
I like the feel of this phone and the buttons are not too small for me.
I have not learned any shortcuts to access various programs, but the unit really needs some. I like that it is small enough to fit into my pants pocket. I wish I could control more features via the bluetooth ear piece, at least more than on/off/volume.

My only COMPLAINT is the price for a data plan from Verizon....which is outrageous. Other than that, I really wish it had an FM radio, then I would not care so much about the data costs.

After 6 months of being using the Q, I believe I would've been better with a Palm Treo 650-700. The Q looks great and feels comfortable in my back pocket, but, the software is confusing, the keys so dificult to find ( specialy if you are almost 50 yo). Now lets talk about all in one funtionallity, I still cannot find a comfortable compatible headset for it to play my music, the bluetooth ones are lousy, big and the quiality terrible. The inear wired ones are not compatible, and the mini usb offered by some internet dealers simply don't work and do not even think about an adaptor. So I still carry my Ipod . If I could start all over again I will stick with the treo... What Motorola was thinking...and please don't make me talk about battery life......bad....

I have been using the Q for about three months, and have been very disappointed with its ability to function as a PDA-replacement. It's not a good product, and Motorola took a lot of shortcuts with the interface.

Things that annoy me about the Q:

- Number lock. It doesn't automatically turn on the number lock when in a field that would typically have numbers (i.e., fields for telephone numbers, dates, and times). You have to manually switch from letters to numbers on the keyboard.

- New numbers. If you want to add a phone number to an existing contact from your call log, you must manually scroll through the list of names, rather than typing in the same (and having the device search your contacts).

- Lack of Notes. It doesn't have the Notes program that is standard in MS Outlook and other Windows CE-enabled devices. I use Notes for tracking lists of restaurants, books, and wines so that I have them when I need them. Not so with the Q.

- Navigational functions. It's hard to get to the desired program quickly. For example, if you want to get to your e-mail, you have to go through a menu that lists all messaging functions (i.e., text messaging, multiple mailboxes).

- And, just to reiterate, the battery and keyboards also have problems. Enough people have covered those issues already, so I won't expound on them.

Some might think I'm being nit-picky, but I think these omissions in programming are unforgivable. Given the level of sophistication in PDAs/smartphones these days, you shouldn't have to work this hard to perform basic functions.

Before this phone, I had only LG, the latest being the vx6000. To put simply, I was blown away by the capabilities included with the phone and the opportunity to do much more. Data plan is kind of needed to take full advantage of EV-DO network and push e-mail, but Verizon's got to take the price down so most people can afford. Also, the larger battery is a must for serious users, especially if your using the data network. And anyone creating lots of movies and pictures or downloading content into the phone should consider a MiniSD card. I'm on my second one (1st had an irreparable software glitch) and very pleased, despite the lack of Wi-Fi (but imagine the battery life then.)

For the price, the Q gives you a load of features in a small package. The keyboard is great for entering info for contacts, notes, email, and txt messages. Not having to worry about a stylus all the time is nice too. You are limited by the Smartphone version of Window Mobile 5.0, but for my use it is perfect.

It will sync with multiple PCs without all the hubbub you get from a Pocket PC. This helps to get your contacts list all together instead of one set on your laptop and one set on your PC.

My favorite Windows Mobile application, Avantgo, works great. All the function it gave me before. This is a must if you travel. You are able to have the news, sports, and other sources of information brought to you.

I have been able to convert my videos and DVDs to run on the Q. This works great on trips so I don't need to lug out my laptop or a portable DVD player. I can have 2-3 movies and some music on a 1GB miniSD card.

I have been searching for new applications that have been designed for he Q and have been pleasantly surprised at the number that keeps growing. I found a program that let me keep my account register on here instead of keeping a checkbook (I don't write checks, just keep it for the register) with me. I have also found language programs that give you translations for common phrases. If you are a XM or Sirius subscriber, you can install a third-party application to stream from the internet. This is great, but will keep you charging it up.

I use the extended battery and have the standard as a backup. This is the only problem. If you use the data package for push email, talk on the phone for a while and use the unit for scheduling, you will need the extended battery to keep from having to charge it every day.

My last note here is that a few people have complained about the limited features compared to a full blown Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 5.0. You have to understand going into this that Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Edition is a less functional version. This is so that you can have it on a phone and still have the great core functionality, which the Q has. If you think there is too much on a Pocket PC phone, this will be the one for you.

I started out loving this phone, and the form factor & screen are definitely great. However, after using it for 2-3 months, I now *hate* several things about it:

1) The keyboard. This is the second Q I've owned, and on both I've had keyboard problems (sticky keys that won't type, phantom keypresses when pressing the 4-way pad). Also, on the personal gripe side, I found the rounded keys less easy to type on than the flat Blackberry keys, but others may disagree on this

2) Software. Sometimes the software crashes, like when I'm answering a call. Sometimes the buttons take me to the wrong app (again, this may be keyboard-related). In general apps can be slow to load.

3) Battery. When in low-signal areas, the phone tends to run-down really quickly.

4) Keyboard. Did I mention the keyboard is really baaaad??



Or maybe not. The good news is that for less than $200 ($100 if signing new agreement) this phone offers one of the best values in the current batch of "smart" phones. The bad news is that you will be paying alot more for VerizonWireless services.

The phone offers most standard features which you would expect such as Web Browser, Outlook, MS Office, Multimedia, etc. It has a nice design with big screen. The phone's talk quality is very good. I use Goodlink to synchronize the phone with my company's mail server, which works nicely.

When comparing to the Treo, Q's biggest weaknesses are the lack of touch screen and the inability to edit word docs and spreadsheets (the Q can read them but not edit). These features are not that important to me, but some of my coworkers find the touchscreen feature to be very useful. The standard battery lasts only about a day, but the extended battery lasts at least a day and half with moderate/heavy usage.

My biggest issue with the phone is the keys. My thumbs are too big to type accurately, so typing a 100 word email sometimes takes much longer than it should. I have been using Tmobile's SideKick for a while and it's ALOT easier to type on the SideKick.

VerizonWireless pricing is another concern, since this phone is a VerizonWirless exclusive I believe. The standard 900 minute plan plus unlimited data totals about $110 before taxes. After adding on $15 for a feature which allows the Q to be used as a broadband modem (Older Q models will need to download the latest patch first), $10 for 500 text messages, and $6 for insurance, my total monthly bill comes out to be somewhere north of $150. If you are concerned with the cost and your company is not reimbursing your wireless bills, I suggest giving up this phone and use another carrier as similar level of services could cost $40+ less.

Compared to the Sidekick, the Q lack a free, basic sticky notes utility, which I use all the time when I need to lookup airline and hotel reward numbers. Goodlink does provide such utility but it's not free.

Overall, I have been pleased with the phone so far. I tested the download speed when the phone is used as a modem and I got about 385kbps download speed and 56kbps upload speed. When using the phone as a modem though, you will also use up your airtime.



I replaced a phone and a PDA with the Q and have been pretty happy since. The display is sharp, so I'm not finding the smaller size a problem, and the qwerty keyboard is a whole different world from on-screen keyboards and a stylus. It is a little sluggish compared to my iPAQ, but still very useable.

Definitely get the extended battery, though. The standard battery is not enough if you're using the web browser with any frequency.

Pros:

* Qwerty keyboard is excellent
* Phone features are easy to access -- contacts are especially easy with the keyboard
* EV-DO data access is fast
* It's very light for a PDA, even with extended battery
* As with other Moto products, you can use your computer and a USB cable to charge -- excellent design!

Cons:

* Processor is a little slow compared to dedicated PDAs
* Some things are hard to find/confusing even for long-time WM5 users
* Some WM5 software won't work -- WM5 Smartphone is a different animal
* Probably not powerful enough for road warriors -- more consumer-oriented

On balance, I am glad to be carrying just one device that is as capable as the Q.

I've had a Smartphone for about two years, so I'm not one of those people who didn't like the "Q" because I expected PocketPC features on it. I switched from Cingular to Verizon for service reasons, and the Q seemed like the closest phone to the Audiovox SMT-5600 that I had and liked. It was definitely wider, but thinner, which seemed like a reasonable tradeoff.

In my opinion, it turned out not to be. The phone was really too big to carry in a pocket easily. Once I decided that I needed to carry it on my belt, I decided to get the XV6700 instead. It's a lot thicker, but it has a slide-out keyboard with much bigger keys, plus a stylus/touchscreen and the PocketPC features. I'm very happy with that choice. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't sell that phone for Verizon (though they have the Sprint version).

Other things I disliked about the Q:
- The keys are impossibly small. I used a small blackberry for a long time and was fine with it, but some combination of the size and the feel of the keys made it very hard to use.
- There are no dedicated keys for phone use. The whole point of a smartphone is to be a great phone first. Dialing a number on the Q is just plain hard to do. Finding the * and # keys is even harder! Finally, if you need to find any letter equivalents of the number keys, you're out of luck unless you've memorized them all.
Good luck with whatever you purchase.

-- The screen clarity is exceptional, much better than a PDA I own.
-- It's not cheap. Verizon unlimited data -- on top of a phone service -- is $44.00. If you have 900 minutes and unlimited data you may be paying around $130 a month. Also, be aware that although Verizon advertises "unlimited broadband" it isn't selling unlimited broadband. The agreement's fine print includes prohibitions against streaming and downloading large files. You can't use this a substitute for a cable modem/dsl connection if you stream heavily.
-- Battery life is no good. I bought two extended batteries, which I use full-time. The extended batteries change the shape and size of the Q but, honestly, I don't mind. Plan on buying extra batteries right away.
-- The sound quality is excellent. The best I've ever had.
-- The Windows software is a little buggy. Weird things pop up every now and then, but nothing that gets me excited. I haven't upgraded yet.
-- Cool thing: The voice recognition actually works with the bluetooth headset. If you are walking in the wind there may be issues, but I've found the voice recognition to be surprisingly responsive, not perfect, but usually good.

I was very excited a couple of months ago to finally be able to get out of my Nextel contract that my wife and I had. I decided I wanted a smartphone, I had my eyes originally set on Cingular and the BB 8700. But with Amazon you cannot port your number and that was a big deciding factor. I chose to go with Verizon and with the Q. I just wanted a phone that could sync with my work Outlook calendar, was not looking to use email. I found out that the Q would do that.

After a couple of months having it, it is a decent phone. Signal strength is pretty good. I just moved and my old house I could only get 1 or 2 bars (my wife's E815 had full signal) but my new house I am getting full strength. I especially enjoy the Bluetooth for my headset while driving and the IR port for syncing my Outlook calendar from my work laptop which has an IR port. The screen is nice and crisp and the camera takes decent photos.

I do agree with other posts about how it seems to take 5 "clicks" to get something done. Very annoying...I also do not enjoy the lack of home screen layouts. None of the layouts that are pre-loaded I enjoy. I do not know how to program in XML to get one the way I want to layout. One thing that does drive me crazy is the battery door. It is made of this cheap, flimsy plastic. You would think with a high quality phone like this it would have a better quality plastic or even possibly metal? The corners constantly pop out.

So all and all, it is an alright phone. I can't beat the price that I got it for and it does want I want it to do.

FYI- you do have to order the phone with the data package, but you can always CANCEL it when you get the phone set up. Amazon customer service told me that this is not a violation of the terms so you are not docked the $250 for the price of the phone discount.

I have had my Q for about 2 weeks now. I love it! I use it for receiving my e-mails (which was as easy to setup, as any other e-mail in outlook.) I used it as a modem, simple! The phone is fun. I use the Internet too. The voice recognition
is also neat---I can say numbers and it translates pretty good. With my old phone, I had to record the name and it would search for that name when using voice recognition. The Q actually translates to the number or searches the contact list without having to record anything. The only thing that is not that great is that it deletes the e-mails after a week or so. I would like a touch screen, but I don't miss it. The heard the treo 700w touch screen isn't that great anyhow. That was the other phone I considered. I love it!

My phone was fully charged when I left work yesterday at 4 pm. I then talked on a call for 37 minutes. I did not do anything else. The phone was dead this morning at 7 am.

It is dead every morning unless I remembered to charge it. It is completely usesless for morning commute business calls because it always dead and I don't always have access to a plug.

I am also irritated that I have to keep car and wall chargers with me at all times. I have never had a cell phone die like this.

I still like the PDA features in the phone. It is light, slim and fits in my front pants pocket. It is very easy to type and download email, check my calendar, news, etc. It is top-notch for managing my work and family life.

Thus my only complaint is the battery. I would give it a five star rating but for this very big issue. I am now going to try to contact the kiosk vendor at Costco where I got it, Verizon and Motorola to see if one of them has a solution. I should not have to waste my time to resolve this.

I have used Blackberrys and Treos and I figured I would try the latest and greatest...the Motorola Q. Boy was I wrong. Sure it is slim and has good audio quality. But the battery is absolutely horrible. Maybe a day of standby. And now three weeks in, the device simply crashed. Now the hassle of getting it replaced......don't do it.......

All these people complaining about the phone are clowns. The following are the reasons why.
They are expecting something that the phone does not promise. They want a blackberry device, but purchase this instead? Where is the logic in that?
Also, it should be noted that this is a Smartphone, not a PocketPC. However, people are constantly complaining that their PocketPC applications will not install. Of course they will not install! They are not the same thing! Thats like someone complaining that their DVD player wont play their VHS tapes.
I also see people complaining that their device freezes, or locks up. My device did that also. Then, I called verizon wireless, and the tech reps were very helpful. They made a phone call to the local verizon store, and told them to replace my phone with a brand new one. The new one i recieved worked like a charm, and never once froze. Unfortunately, my phone was stolen from me a week ago, but I love this device so much, accompanied with Verizon's service, that i actually bought another Moto Q.
It is true, the battery life is short if you push the tool to its limits, there is no denying that. However, what exactly do you expect? This is a cell phone and you're browsing the internet, reading E-Mail, Chatting on MSN Mesenger, taking photos, video clips, listening to MP3's, Watching movies or shows on Windows Media Player, and maybe even playing games. The fact that this little device can do all that on a small battery is pretty impressive. All the nay-sayers are just expecting something that no phone can deliver to this date.
Lastly, Motorola has just released a firmware update for the Q giving the device improved bluetooth support, SMS-to-Email functionality, and Dial-Up-Networking, just to name a few.
I almost forgot. "B. Lim" complains that the phone no longer fits in the holster with the extended battery. This made me literally laugh out loud. His Moto Q is not fitting in the holster, because the screen-side goes into the holster, not to be confused with the camera-side.


Having previously owned the LG VX9800 (one of the best phones EVER made) for nearly a year, I was hesitant at first to switch over to a PDA/Smartphone format...but I'm glad I finally did. The Motorola Q is a must-have for anyone who needs both Internet access and PDA productivity features wherever they go. Most PDA phones are bulky and quite clumsy for the task of conversing without the aid of a headset. This phone, however, is short and slim enough to make that problem negligible. It fits in an ordinary shirt or pants pocket with plenty of room to spare. The speakerphone is of good quality, so if you don't have a headset and don't like pressing a PDA to your face, phone conversations still come through very clear. Windows Mobile 5.0 has many useful features, but accessing them can be somewhat tedious work at times. The keys are very tiny and I was disappointed that the Q doesn't have dedicated number keys, unlike the VX9800. Also, the plastic cover on the mini-SD slot is hard to remove and practically requires a pair of small tweezers just to open. Those are my main gripes about the phone, but overall the positives outnumber the negatives. The camera takes decent pictures and the side scroll wheel comes in very handy for navigating around the screen. Speaking of the screen, its very bright and crisp...though using it in direct sunlight may prove a little challenging. As I stated at the beginning, the Internet features are oustanding. I have Verizon's unlimited data plan and despite the fact EVDO is not yet available where I live, I can still stream radio stations flawlessly over the built-in Windows Media Player. In fact, the Q multi-tasks like a champion: One time I was listening to a streaming audio feed, surfing the Internet, and sending a text message all at the same time without a trace of hesitation from the CPU. Non-Internet applications like Pocket Streets and Trips also run smoothly. With a gadget like the Q, laptops are suddenly looking more and more like desktops.

The phone is beautiful and slick. The display is gorgeous, keyboard easy to use, and call quality is superb. Unfortunately, Windows Mobile is a most retarded piece of software. Things that should take one key press take 3-4 and the menus and commands are completely counterintuitive. Motorola should write their own software or have a serious talk with Palm!

This seems to be a frequent issue with many of my recent purchases, out of the box few of my recent toys are up to spec. But after a some well spent minutes at www.qusers.com everything is good again.

As with my Axim X51V, and Olympus E500 SLR, TRD Supercharger, these things need tweaking out of the box for them to work as one wishes.

After making the mentioned changes this device not only flys but it has made up for itself many times over.

I am shocked that nobody has mentioned its Bluetooth PC Remote, you can control the mouse/desktop/powerpoint/mediaplayer using your Q via a bluetooth enabled PC.

I find myself traveling frequnetly attending lectures and presentations mainly by industry leading professionals. Yesterday our VP was presenting to a large room and got VERY bothered by the fact that the admin did not have a wireless controller for the slide show he was presenting. 20 minutes into his 2 hour presentation we had a break, and I wirelessly connected my phone to the bluetooth laptop and offered him its use. Not only was he grateful but blown away (I am known at the office for my tech savy, but its always nice to see its practical implementation in such context).

Just had to share that..

Other great features are its blazing EVDO connection, it is just as quick as my blackberry from work when browsing the web, and the interface handles webpages better then my BBERRY does.

The Bberrys interface was much snappier out of the box but by applying a few quick tweaks from qusers.com its within competition.

Somebody mentioned the rubber flaps are weak, not true, they are the same flaps that are used on my E500 Olympus SLR camera, and my brothers 2,000 Canon SLR.

And with the recent updated from Motorola you can wirelessly (bluetooth) tether it to your laptop and you can access the internet on the road!!

These are the main topics that I felt were not covered at all, everything else you will find in the other reviews..

Also this may even replace my Axim X51V permanently.. time will tell Ill update this again in about a month.

cheers

I wanted out of my contract with cingular and the Q was just the motivation to make the jump to verizon. I wanted something PDA-like but not a treo (I have a palm and well PalmOne's OS has not really evolved). I wanted something that wasn't too pricey and at 199 the Q worked. The basics are great (i can make calls, the person on the other end can hear me, the speakerphone works well)and the price point -- also great.

However the screen is bright but barely seeable in bright sunlight (which may be a bit of a problem considering it's portable and people are prone to make calls -- outside). I find myself often looking for shade to see which contact is highlighted or which app is highlighted. The battery fully charged barely lasts 6 hours. The extended battery which I purchased after realizing this fact, lasts a robust 9ish hours. Of course the problem I have is that it's not like I am talking for a considerable amount of that time --- generally my day consists of a few (maybe 3 or 4) calls, that last a few minutes each (maybe 7 or 8 minutes top). I find myself rushing home, hoping the battery will last until I can get home and charge up the phone.

Some minor qualms about the Q are the covers for the miniSD slot and headphone jack, the button sensitivity and the lack of software (the version of windows mobile 5.0 used on the Q is a hybrid of the windows mobile OS used for the treo et al). The covers for the slots are crappy and will probably break off soon. The buttons are really sensative, I have to be careful when it's in my purse or pocket as a slight brush results in the camera coming on with the flash or random dialing from the contact page.

Overall -- I've seen worst but the Q hasn't lived up to the hype and I hope there are some serious improvements in the work for the GSM version.

I am writing this review from my Moto 'Q' so that should tell you a bit about the power of the 'Q'. There are some really great features. I purchased the 2 gig minisd memory and have everything from movies to music stored on here. It plays every music file (except apple format) but .mp3, .wma, and even .wav are clear as my pc. I even got the sterio adapter and have over 500 tunes I can listen to by plugging this puppy into my amp! I compress and converted video files to .wmv format and watch videos on the plane. There is also some great 3rd party software I put on this, and syncing to the pc is a snap. (now i use this as my laptop modem) I could go on and on about the features, email, im, sterio bluetooth, any song I want as a ring tone. I just don't know how this little device can do all of theese things! Laptop and ipod manufacturers beware, the price on this is way better than a laptop and why buy an ipod when all it does is play music... I get to surf the net, call my buddies, play games, and when time permits get a little office work done too. Call quality is better than my land line. If you can buy one for $100, do it!

Thin, light and packed with useful features...and the voice quality of the calls is amazing. The keyboard is probably the easiest to use that I've tried. The keys are space a little farther apart than Blackberrys and easy to hit. Response is quick on the internet side and the camera works beatifully. I wish the battery had a longer life to it, but I've been using this phone so much since I got it I may be overdoing it. I think I'll check out the extended life battery, though. I even saw envy in the eyes of the IT guy at work when he saw my new phone. No problems so far, and I'm happy with my choice of the Q.

I just got this wonderful little tool but found it a bit overwhelming. It may be my age but slowly I am getting the hang of it. Verizonwirless Have been very helpful once I get to a point of frustation. Because I purchased it online I now need to take it to a Verizon store to have my contacts transfered to the Q

Let me start by saying that I've had a Blackberry since 2001 and am addicted to e-mail and the mobile web. I actually worked in the mobile industry for 4.5 years and was involved in applications, handsets, and mobile access. So, naturally I compare this Motorola Q to the string of Blackberry's that I've used. I thought that this would be the right combination to make me switch to a "smartphone." I have to say that after a month of use, it's not quite ready for prime time. It's a great phone (great reception, pretty good speakerphone, etc.). As far as a data device, it's ok. The big complaint comes down to... It's not very intuitive to use. The user interface can be frustrating at times. Which controls do I use (is it the roller button, the back button, the toggle, the push button, the home button, the 'off'' button...). The applications are not consistent in how they are used and thus frustrating. As compared to the Blackberry (even the 7130e on Verizon, which is a horrible phone, reception wise), which uses a consistent user interface across applications, it takes awhile to get used to things. It's hard to tell if it's the immaturity of the Windows Mobile operating system, Motorola's implementation, or the immaturity of the developer tools, but likely a combination of all of the above. One really annoying quirk is the roller button keeps going into adjusting the headset volume (in a loop) when you're trying to navigate mail. The other big complaint is that the mail interace is a data hog if you want it to push mail to you (it doesn't seem to actually push, the phone polls the network using your data allocation). If you're going to use mail at all, get the $49.99 unlimited plan. You'll burn through the 10mb pretty quickly. I used 4.1 m the first day (realize there is some set up overhead, but it was still amazing). Didn't use 4.1 m a day on my blackberry (ever) and I receive over 200 messages a day.

I've only used it a month, which is good and bad. I wanted to give it time to get comfortable and second nature, before I rated it, however, it took me a month....

Just a short note to say that if you use AOL and/or ACT 2006 contact management software, stick with the communication devices you have. Do not buy the Motorola Q. AOL email is not coompatable with the "Q" and neither is ACT 2006(you can't download any database). This took me hours on the phone(with INDIA!) discussing this with Verizon, AOL and SAGE, the present owner of the ACT software. The problem is being worked on but the only advice I got from any of them was,"Just check back on our website occaisionally and we will post when the problem is solved." I think maybe I should change to another phone company--YA THINK! Very frustrating as I spent hours on trying to like this phone. Very frustrating.

I think the style of this phone is what sold me on it, well that and I was about $100 short of what the XV6700 costs :) I would give this phone a 3.5 (why don't they allow half stars on here??) In all honesty I wish I could give this phone a better rating. But, from my week or so with it, it's mostly style and not a lot of substance.

I will start with the cons
It's a Smartphone and NOT a PDA phone, it can do a whole lot more then a regular cell phone, but next to a PDA this is a semi-toy. I think Motorola isn't saying "smartphone" and people see it and think it's a Treo.

No touch screen, no Smartphones have them, but it would make things a whole lot easier. Can you even select/cut/paste text from a web site? I can't figure out a way. For over $400 bucks spent (wasn't eligible for upgrade) I expect a bit more power
it's butt slow, I did the "speed hacks" which I found online, and they did help, but it still takes forever to boot up and some of the programs seem to sit there and think before they open.

contact section is a joke, there are almost no configuration options. I ended up spending $30 bucks on Photo Contacts Pro 4, which does what the phone should have done out of the box.

this ties in to the last one, you can't use mp3's as caller id ring tones, it will allow you to set an mp3 as the default ringer, but not for people in your contacts. Photo Contacts Pro solves this, but again, I shouldn't have to spend money to do basic things.

surfing the web is hit and miss. Some pages don't display right (the screen is small) and some do. And some of the ones that do, you can't navigate well because I don't see a way to select buttons. Something the scroll wheel could and SHOULD DO!

My screen fades to white and requires a reboot at least twice a day. I am going to be taking it to the Verizon store to see if I need a new phone. From some Googling, I see there are a bunch of people returning the phones due to problems that make the phone unsable.


The phone has some pros.
the size & shape are very nice. Asthetics is a personal thing, but a lot of people seem to love the looks of it. It feels pretty solid in my hand, and it only took me a few days to get the hang of using it 1 handed, even to text message

the screen is great, it's not as big as I'd like, but it's very colorful and the text is easy to read.

the speakerphone is decent. I am very hard on phones when it comes to judging the speakerphones. It's not nearly as loud as a Nextel phone, but it does the job much better then any other cell phone from Verizon I've used. Ringers are plenty loud, and at max volume it doesn't crack, or hurt your ears. Sometime a Nextel can.

Battery life - a lot of people have been complaining about this, so much so Verizon sells the extended one for 20 bucks. I honestly think with the battery size and the screen size, the phone gets acceptable battery life. I bought the desktop charger so I can charge both batteries, get data connectivity, and have a nice little stand for my sweet looking phone. So battery life is no biggie.

phone is easy to use up against your ear, nobody has complained they can't hear me, and I can hear everybody fine.


depending on your stance, the fact the phone doesn't have Get It Now, may or may not good a good thing. I kind of wanted to get some of the 3d games, oh well...

For everything I dislike, there's something else I like. The phone is far from perfect, but it's got the looks, and seems to work resonably well.

3.5 stars. I was very excited about the launch of the Motorola Q, since I was completely over my clunky, boring Blackberry for some time. I thought that the Q would solve my "Blackberry problem" of being able to read attachments (in plain text format), but not being able to edit attached documents or compose and email documents from scratch. How wrong I was! Don't get me wrong - the Q does have a lot going for it: (1) a more attractive form factor than ANY Blackberry or PDA-phone I've ever seen, it's slim, light, and looks as much like a phone as a smartphone can; (2) it runs Windows Mobile, which is infinitely more attractive and familiar to me than the Palm OS or Blackberry platform. It's also pretty strong on the "fun" factors, since it has a cool internet browser, Windows Media player for your music files, and a built-in digital camera.
However, the Q's main shortfall--the inability to compose/edit documents--was a deal-breaker for me. If, like me, you plan on using your smartphone as part of a mini-mobile-office, and your job involves heavy review and editing of documents received via email, then you might want to look for alternatives to the Q. If you're a Windows-over-Palm person, the Palm Treo 700w may be a good alternative that has document composing and editing capabilities. (I'm opting to get a laptop instead of a Palm 700w, given its memory limitations). Or, if you are wedded to the Palm OS, there's always the Palm 700p. That said, if editing documents is not as important to you as simple emailing and messaging, then the Motorola Q may fit the bill.

Hi,
I got the Q a week ago, reset it a few times had various other issues.. But fairly happy with the phone..

But... I left the house this morning with a full charge (9 AM), went to lunch at 12:40 and the phone was working fine (full battery charge) - showed it to a friend at lunch, and was trying to bring up Internet Explorer... It couldn't connect to any sites (2 bars) - I said OK, fine and left it alone..

By 2:30 the phone was DEAD, no signs of life, removing the battery, nothing...
Attempting to charge it on USB - NO LUCK - (it appears to respect the USB protocol of not drawing any real power until the device tells the host it needs power - something that should be done in hardware/firmware..)

I was able to get it to come up with a car adaptor.. Got enough charge on it, and I was able to transfer it to the USB. (First attempt failed, went back and charged it until it stopped beeping)

Now, it is sitting there "charging" - but burrning power to keep the display on, backlight on, and the CPU running to display an image of a stupid battery 'filling' - which is totally useless (if you are going to show me something, tell me how full my battery CURRENTLY IS), but worse, is likly burning 20-50% of the power it is getting from the USB!

I don't think a super large replacement battery would have done ANYTHING for me - except extend the time till it died, maybe as much as 4 hours.

My guess is that it locked up while transmitting at full power or something...

They say standby of 238 hours or something, but I say better charge it daily, and don't count on it after lunch..

Other than a few really dense things like this, the phone seems pretty good and I like it. I like the idea of a phone and Pda together.

-Chert

My first statement right off the bat is that those who are writing negative comments seem not to understand the difference between the PocketPC and Smartphone operating systems. I have personally been using both since the introductions of both PocketPC (with the original iPAQ) and with Smartphone (with the original Orange SPV). I am switching to the Motorola Q from the i-mate K-JAM (aka the T-Mobile MDA/Cingular 8125); some of my more recent devices include the Treo 650 (Verizon), Samsung i600, Orange SPV, and the i-mate Smartpone2, as well as several iPAQs: the 4150, the 2215, and the older models as well. I will say off the bat that I agree, the Smartphone OS is much more simplistic, and I honestly LOVE it that way because that's what a phone OS should be like. I definitely loved the PocketPC Phone Edition with the K-JAM but found myself wanting something smaller that would handle my contacts, calendar, To-Do list, multimedia, occasional gaming, occasional eBook reading, heavy web browsing and some light document viewing. Enter the Motorola Q. It does everything and it does it well. I love the Smart Dial for instance: start typing in a name OR number and it will immediately start searching your contacts database for a match from which you can directly dial. Try doing that with one hand on a PocketPC. You can do it, but it's cumbersome (for the K-JAM/HTC Wizard, install SmartKeys from xda-developers.com for some improved one-handedness).

In fact, anything can be managed with one hand because THAT'S how Microsoft designed the operating system. I admit off the bat that I truly do not like Windows XP and I am a Mac user. [I synchronize my MotoQ with my black MacBook using Missing/Sync and have not had any problems synchronizing via USB (occasional trouble via Bluetooth).]

Microsoft's mobile OS, on the other hand, I am a great fan of. To those complaining that you can't edit Microsoft Office documents, WHY would you want to on a screen this small? It's not meant for that. You can do some TXT editing as well as some light spreadsheet editing (using PTabs...check Handango.com).

The PIM organization is nearly identical on both the PocketPC and Smartphone: if you want improved management of Tasks (as well as a better Calendar), I HIGHLY recommend Papyrus or Pocket Informant (both adapted from the PocketPC apps, and both are identical on the Smartphone). Also, I highly recommend FACADE (again, check Handango or Smartphone.net), which enables a much more detailed (and TABBED) view of your schedule and To-Do list on your homescreen.

For multimedia, the Q cannot be beat...the experience is much better than the Palm OS (the best multimedia app on the Treo 650, TCPMP, is better on the Smartphone). I use TCPMP for video (it handles iPod-encoded MP4 video that is NOT purchased flawlessly). For music, I use PocketPlayer 2.8 from Conduits (which displays a library screen similar to my iPOD's, with Album/Artist/Album Artist/Genre/etc. categories). Sound quality using a 2.5mm to 3.5mm headset adapter and my iPOD headphones is excellent and sounds fuller than my iPOD, albeit with a lesser volume. The Q supports Bluetooth stereo / A2DP as well; I have not yet tested this out.

Other apps I highly recommend: CityTime Alarms SP (for a top of the line alarm clock application), PocketNES (NES emulator for the occasional Mario), MobiPocket Reader (for eBooks that you can purchase or, if using a Windows computer, convert with their free desktop importer-->I currently have The Kite Runner, The Devil Wears Prada, and The World Is Flat... on my device). Agile Messenger is a great IM program. SlingPlayer is a MUST for SlinBox owners and works flawlessly over EVDO (just be careful not to use 10+GB of data per month, or Verizon will terminate you based on their TOS). Finally, Virtual Earth Mobile is PERFECT for a 411/directions app all in one...it's sort of like mini Google Earth. Excellent for a free app. Finally, PhatNotes from www.phatware.com is a top of the line notes application for jotting things down on the MotoQ...you can add text, voice, pictures, links, etc.

On data: EVDO speeds in the NYC area are excellent and extremely fast, much to my surprise. I don't miss WiFi much and love having fast internet wherever I go. I use the EVDO for slinging, web browsing, Wikipedia searching for research information, Google.com/xhtml for everything Google (including access to my personalized homepage and news and GMail), Virtual Earth Mobile for directions, maps, and 411 lookup-type features, Agile Messenger for AIM conversations, and NewsBreaker for RSS feeds.

Battery and performance: I was disappointed at first with battery and took advantage of Verizon's extended battery offer. I have ceased to use the battery since buying it, however. I can now use my Q for 2 days (with all of the above being used regularly, i.e. music for 45 minutes while jogging, browsing, eBook reading, PIM, etc.) on the STANDARD battery. The biggest battery saver is a registry hack found on QUsers.com which enables EVDO time-out disconnects; without it, the Q remains dormantly connected to EVDO until you turn Flight Mode on or reboot the phone. I saw a significant increase in battery life. Note, this modification is not for those who use Wireless Sync. For those who are concerned, pick up a car charger from Amazon.com for $8.99. As for performance, the Q is SPEEDY, particularly if you disable the Key Tones (under Sounds in Settings) and if you use a Registry editor to increase the GlyphCache (again, see QUsers.com). The performance of the camera is excellent for a camera phone and, in solid daylight, the pictures are truly print-quality (with fuzziness of course, but printworthy nonetheless in 4x6).

Overall, I have owned many mobile devices and love almost all of them; none of them have been as much fun to use as the Q, and none have seen the amount of use I get out of the Q (largely due to its size and ease of transport). I highly recommend it to everyone who is not seeking a full-fledged mobile Microsoft Office editor; also, I recommend it to those who are at least somewhat tech savvy. It requires a litte bit of work, but so did all of my devices. Please do your research before slamming a device for not doing what it was not meant to do!

I started out with the Treo 300 and have tried each model since, and 3 diff pocket PPC models, all w Sprint.

This device is the best device from a form factor and interface perspective, but I fear it's not ready for prime time.

Mine has started to freeze 5 to 10 times a day. I can not afford that kinda of spotty performance since I depend on it for my business. It was fine for the first 3-4 weeks then it started to crap out with greater and greater frequency.

To be fair I have the Goodlink software installed, and that might be an impacting factor.

This phone is new. I have always known that one of the problems with being a pioneer, is that you end up with a lot of arrows in your back. I don't mind a certain amount of early adopter pain, but I have to draw the line when a device starts to adversely impact my professional propductivity.

I do have a great deal of confidence in Motorola based on past experience. FYI: they have set up a toll free line for Q users:
877 331 6456, x2216

Good luck fellow pioneers!

This phone looks good on paper, in person, and in my pocket, but it was a huge hassle to use compared to a Treo. First, everything runs sluggishly and it takes a long time to do anything. The Treo has less memory but runs much faster because it is better optimized, and more importantly, has a touch screen. With the touch screen, I can click on links, buttons, etc., even with my finger, which saves a lot of time compared to using the thumbwheel and arrowpad. Finally, the Q's battery life was terrible. I thought I received a defective unit so I had it exchanged...the second unit was just as awful. Finally, the Q's keyboard looks better and is bigger, but is harder to use -- the keys are harder to press and because the system is slow, sometimes keypresses don't register (while Windows Mobile is trying to catch up or something). I wanted to like the Q but came away utterly disappointed.

I can't be happier with the phone and my feelings seem to be summed up in other reviews, but they all seem to not know one important piece of information. I worked on one stage of the product's development which I will not disclose, but I had to understand the guts of the phone's software and I shall say this.


In Windows Smartphone, the memory allocation is such that after a certain amount of time the applications release their memory for other applications to use. This is sped up if you open more programs and demand more resources. The purpose is that it effectively eliminates the need to close any applications, and in fact you will get the best performance if you do not use the task manager to close programs unless they are causing faults. So basically, don't worry about it and just have fun, the OS takes care of most of the details and it's not your standard "PC" type OS.

Personally, I can't believe I ever lived without this phone, and I can't get enough of the "Audio Enhancement" accessory that is shipped with the phone.

I have had my Motorola Q for a week now and it has been my favorite phone i have ever had. I have had an Nextel i60, i95, i730, i860, and the i870. The i860 and i870 were great phones, but service made them act as if they were bad. So i got rid of Nextel and went to verizon with the q. The Verizon service is great, i get service EVERYWHERE! Texting is quick and easy. The Q is the coolest handheld device i have had. Windows Media Player is great for your playlists of videos and music. Internet Explorer can sometimes be faster than my computer! You can download media files from the web just by clickin the link. Installing and removing apps are easy. The phone is overall very easy to use. It is just like a computer. Now here are the goods and bads.

good
- service
- web
- media manger/player
- camera quality

bad
- e-mail
- scrathes pretty easily
- battery


The only interal problem i have is the e-mail. I spent 2 days trying to set my aol e-mail up and when i finally did it successfully, i could only recieve mail and not send. also i suggest getting a leather case or rubber skin glove because the clip tends to scratch it easily. if your gonna use this phone every minute of the day, i suggest geting an extended battery because i am one of those people and the battery will only last 15 hours if lucky. If you leave the phone idle most of the time and just recieve and send phone calls it can last for 2-3 days.

this phone is awesome i give it 5 stars and i wouldnt mind having a 2 year contract with it!

A lot of the reviews here are negative for a good reason: If you love a new product so much, are you going to spend time raving about it on random websites? No, you're probably going to be using it. I read this reviews, was nervous, but bought the phone anyways because everyone said it has great call quality- something you can't find in most phones with a QWERTY keyboard and windows mobile.

So I've had the phone for about a week now. Setting it up on the network was tough because I ordered it with overnight shipping and Verizon didn't have me in their system yet. After calling customer support they had it on in an hour. After syncing my blackberry one last time I installed the active sync software and all my appointments and contacts were downloaded easy. I don't use outlook, I use gmail since I use 4 or 5 different computers depending on the day, so after setting up the POP access emails were downloading easily. Almost too easily. A glitch with gmail means any email I send from the web, also appears in my Q's inbox. Its annoying, but any email I send from the Q also appears in gmail so I always remember what I sent other people. with my work email account using SMTP I have no problems. If you do use outlook or something similar on your computer, wireless-sync will "push" emails to your Q. For me, it checks every 15 minutes which is often enough but not instantaneous. Like I said, all emails I send from gmail appear on the Q so that eats bandwidth. No problem if you have unlimited, but I don't. I set the Q to only download headers. If its important I then download the whole message (only another minute to wait) and if its not I delete it, and deal with it on my computer.

The main reason I bought this phone over the HP Mobile Messenger, another Blackberry, the SDA, and the other sliding QWERTY phones is the call quality. My Blackberry sucked, thanks in part to TMobiles crappy reception. Verizon is clear as can be. People are excited they can finally understand me when I use my cell, and since almost everyone I know is on Verizon, its all free calls. So the phone is great, speakerphone isn't bad, but most speakerphones are less than ideal. You do get some noise in windy environments though.

Controlling the device is a little odd since I'm used to the Blackberry which had a trackwheel and back button on the side. The trackwheel works the same, but the other button doesn't. There is also a back button on the front of the Q and the two act differently sometimes. I still haven't figured it out. The home and "end" keys also have similar functionality. There is a dedicated messaging key, and camera key which is nice. Again, since I'm used to the BB I'm not used to using the "back" button for delete- where the delete key on the BB was, is "enter." This just takes time. Another nice thing is "check names" like outlook. When I compose a message I just type in the person's name, and then it will search after i hit send and I select the final recipient. Or, I can type the name from the home screen, select, and then select the type on contact method. Last annoying thing about messaging- a popup tells you when a message is sent. I KNOW a message was sent- I sent it.

So that's how the Q fares as a communication device. As for PDA-like features the calendar is standard, nothing special. I haven't downloaded apps but since it is Windows I'm sure there are many. Included games are solitare and bubble breaker, which are addicting as any games. I haven't used the internet so I can't comment on that, nor have I used voice dialing. One thing I do like about the Q is that I can assign pictures and ringers to individuals contacts- something the BB was without. Camera is great, I just spent half a day going around downtown and the pictures are awesome for a camera. Not professional, but I'm not a photographer by trade.

Another feature that I love about this phone is media player. I bought a 1GB miniSD card, and filled it with songs and used a pair of bluetooth stereo headphones from an old HP PDA and it works like an MP3 player. Audio does skip at times, but not too bad, and that has to do with BT not the Q- I've had the Q play as a radio in my office and it was fine.

Some bad things: the battery does suck. Some people complained you had to charge it everynight. I've charged every phone I've ever had every night. This one won't make it the day if I use it as an MP3 player often. I plan on buying the docking station and an extra battery. The station can charge my Q AND a second battery. So, I hook my Q to my belt, and slip the battery in my pocket, switch them halfway. Its a small price to pay for the sleekness of the Q. Other solution: buy the extended battery and have it stick out a bit. Other annoying thing is that the phone isn't completely customizable. Granted my BB had two themes- Tmobile and BB, but with an open operating system like windows I would expect to be able to choose what appears on my homepage and where.

Other problems posted here:
-Freezing- It has now and then, not daily, and its not the end of the world to pop the battery out. I've found that since I turned off the device at night it doesn't freeze. Let it rest!
-Processing speed- It takes time, sometimes, especially the camera, but nothing really aggravating. Just take a deep breath and its ready.
-Closing apps- I couldn't find a way to close the apps that appeared on the quick launch bar (which I assumed to be a taskbar) My friend showed me the task manager and that only a few programs were actually open (media player, msnserver, quick list, remote API, solitare, and task manager) which only took 30 out of 50MB of RAM.
screen off center- Yes, but doens't bother me.
Bluetooth didn't work - works fine for me
No Office Editing - Don't use it, doesn't bother me
Security code only numbers - don't use it
signal strength - never had a problem. I'm actually very happy with the signal since I came from tmobile which would loose signal once I went inside. Verizon works almost anywhere- even in basements and elevators (although barely).
Can't input numbers in call - not true. I've called and used numbers for voice trees fine- verizon voicemail requires you to punch in a numeric password which works fine too.
Screen stays on- to the guy that wrote "you have to hit a button to see the time, and then it stays on until it times out" I'm not sure what you were expecting. It saves battery life by turning off.
Price of verizon- I'm paying what I paid for the blackberry, plus I now have extended warrenty and insurance about $80 (I have 10MB of data a month, whereas I had unlimited for BB)
"Spoofed" email address- I've had no problems getting flagged as spam, I think it was how that guy had his spam filters set- that's your problem buddy, not verizon, and def not the Q. Your Q is not given a specific email address like my BB was so it appears to be sent from my gmail. No problems with that here...
BB "smart complete" better than Q- perhaps, but I turned it off on my Q. With a key for every letter I don't need the phone to figure out what I'm typing like the BB 7100t did (two letters per key) I just type it out.
"Extremely Delicate" - I dropped my Q on pavement crossing the street the first hour I had it. (I put it in the holster the wrong way) Minor scratch on the corner, but still works fine.
Hard to feel vibration - I almost jumped out of my chair at work when this thing started vibrating on my waist- and that was just an email!
Loud error beep - haven't heard it.

All in all, the negatives you will read on here and other sites are the minority. I'm very happy with my phone. If you have any specific question email me nf515738 at gmail dot com

I have had this phone for over a month now. I have repeatedly done Master Resets with no luck. Here are the problems with the phone:

1) Signal Strength. You can be holding it in the same spot for 5 minutes and go from no service to 3 bars. I live in NYC and with all of my prior VZ phones I never had a signal issue. This results in 10% of my calls being dropped.

2) Battery Life. Every post here is dead on. I bought the extended battery and I maybe get 1 full day of life out of the phone. I use the Outlook client and it works ok.

3) Freezing. The phone freezes and just shuts itself off. This happens once a day without fail. It is not just me, 3 people in my office have this phone, all 3 freeze. You have to pop the battery out to reset. This is intolerable.

This phone has a great screen and form factor, but it feels like someone forgot that it should work first and look nice second.

Do not buy this phone. I missed my return window by 2 days b/c I was out of the country. Do not make the same mistake as me.

I'm on my 3rd Verizon Q phone in just 2 months. The operating system appears to be unstable as well as the phone. Both the software and hardware appear to be untested. The other Q phones I've had both got to a point where they were unable to boot.

The times when it is functioning it's ok. It checks your email for you and you can browse the web. The camera is decent.

Now I will spend another 30 hours configuring my latest Q replacement. I'm crossing my fingers. If it dies again I will be looking at a Blackberry.

I may not be a good person to review, cuz Im pretty technical, and really deteremined. So everything I've wanted to do with this phone, I've been able to do. Combined with the light weight and sleek look, I'm satisfied. But I could see how the average user would have problems taking full advantage of it.

Well i bought this thing for my wife even though my gut and the review i read said don't.I should of listened one or the other.Don't get me wrong it looks the part and when it was'nt misbehaving it got great reception and so far as i know it never dropped a call.That has everything to do with Verizon and nothing to do with Motorola and if it comes to that it's not as if Verizon is exactly bargain basement prices either.
I would'nt want to give the impression that the Q was broken all the time because it was'nt.It is just buggy ,it sticks, freezes, and generally misbehaves;leastways the one i got my wife does. Which equates to me getting it plopped in my lap every time it does which is more than slighly annoying after the second or third time within the first two weeks.The bottom line is fix the glitches,windows is well windows and fix the stupid battery.
OH ,just as a footnote,as i understand it,when you call tech support or customer service they are supposed to know more than you do so beware of bum advice if you do have to call.

I have been using Q for two weeks. Q is best style and convenient multimedia phone for me. Whenever my daughter (11 months) is fussy while eating. I just play the Madagascar or Baby Einstein for her by Q (in flight mode). She will immediately calm down. She really likes it, and Q is so light and thin, so she can easily handle it. Now she can view the pictures on it by herself.

In addition, it is most stable smartphone so far for me. I tried Treo 700w before and it has to be reset 2-3 times everyday. That's the reason 700w has a reset button on it. For Q, it only happens once when I was using Explorer.

From features and price points of view, I didn't find a phone that can beat Q now.

I purchased this for one day and returned it the next. I wanted to replace my Treo 700P with Sprint because I was frequently getting dropped calls where I recently moved to. The Moto Q attracted me because I saw it in a store and loved the screen and thin design. Too bad that's all it has going for it. The EVDO was nowhere near the speed that Sprint offered. In fact, Verizon was even slower than the non EVDO Treo 650 that I previously owned. The worst thing was that when I dialed my home number to check my answering machine it would not recognize my code. If you call any number that prompts you to press a number for anything, the phone is designed is such a way that you cannot input numbers after you make a call. Verizon tech support did not know how to fix this. I had to call Motorola tech support and they told me to switch a TTY setting. Well I did and it didn't work. Then they told me that it was the area that I was in. I am in Los Angeles. How could this be happening in such a large city? Another bad feature was there is no manual control to shut off the display. You have to set the display to turn off after a certain length of time and when you want it back on again you have to keep hitting the center button. If you set the phone to go off after 1 minute and you want to check the time, it stays on for a minute. Nuisance and bad feature. So I'm back to my Treo 700P and just dealing with the occasional dropped calls until I move again at the end of the year. I will say this about Verizon, with the few calls I made with the phone I never had one dropped call and it worked well in my apartment where my Treo did not. One last thing, Verizon is outrageously expensive. Over twice what I was paying with Sprint. 450 minutes with Verizon was $40. I am paying $35/mo for 500 minutes with Sprint. My daytime minutes with Sprint is 7A to 7P. With Verizon it's 6A to 9P. What a ripoff! EVDO with Sprint was $15/mo. Verizon charges $40/mo and that was their special at the time. It's normally $60/mo. As bulky as the Treo is, it is still the best phone out there. I have the Palm OS version. I didn't like Windows at all on the Moto Q. Took forever to boot up...typical Windows.

I want to warn IT professionals that Verizon Wireless phone data email service is inappropriately spoofing sender's email address in messages sent from Motorola Q. This is creating problems with our anti-spam filters and I also believe this is unethical and should be illegal. We recommend against buying phones with this data/email service in our organization.

When we configure our IMAP server option for the Motorola Q phone owned by one of our executives, the Verizon system is "spoofing" the email address as if the messages are being sent from our email server. These external but spoofed as internal messages get blocked by our anti-spam filters.

When we wanted to try to "white list" (unblock) the Verizon servers on our anti-spam server, their technical support and Verizon representatives refused to give us the IP addresses of the servers from which email messages are being sent. This was probably refused by their network administrators for security concerns and I don't blame them for this. I'm sure they will agree with me that the problem should be instead resolved within Verizon's system software solution.

Instead of spoofing a desired email address, messages coming from Verizon phones should have a distinct "From" and "Reply-to" addresses, with the first being any external Verizon wireless address, and the latter being the customer's desired and commonly used email address. The two must differ and only then the messages will not end up as spam because the sender won't be spoofed.

Although Q seems like a good device, we advise against purchase and don't support their email integration in our organization until Verizon Wireless makes both "From" and "Reply-to" fields configurable. Small shops with Microsoft Exchange and loose anti-spam settings probably won't have problems like this.


As everyone says - battery life is extremely terrible - especially if you surf the net from Q. I have gotten pretty good speeeds connecting from Q to the internet - but I noticed that battery starts fading after 30 mins of continous internet use.
Q performs as well as any other cell phone out there. It is just that the hype has gotten way over what reality is. Reality is that is a pretty decent hardware with a software that can really get you frustrated from time to time. It is annoying to see messages pop-up indicating microsoft has a problem with the device - Can we send information to debug etc - ON your cell phone. I had a blackberry 7100t before from T-Mobile and I still think the intelligent text completion is much much better in the blackberry than Q.
Bluetooth device recognition for headset worked well. I also downloaded syncml for doing some corp server sync up and that seemed to be good as well. Ringtone and picture customization seems to be prety good as well. When you are in bluetooth mode - voice command gets activated on engaging which I thought was nice.
I DID return the first device that I got as it was buggy to the max - the second one that I have for the last 1 week - seems to be holding up well

Bottom line -test your unit real well.
Carry a charged battery all the time - when you are not on Q - keep charging (either through your computer - through the USB or in your car).

Phone quality is tinny- by that I mean choppy- weak. With the reccomended bluetooth it is even worse. Speakerphone is not as clear as I expected it to be. MP3 and streaming quality- not at all as good as the tmobile SDA (which is overall worse than the Q). The batter life is not great. Every time you shut a program you have to go to task manager and stop the application from taking up ram- weird.

When the phone is working its great..but you can charge it all night and it will die the next day just sitting a few hours...I do not recommend this phone....I think there is a big coverup going on..this phone is flawed. And of course the goofy microsoft OS. Unbelievable. I wanted a "phone first" and email/web device 2nd..when the phone is on its GREAt..but to pick up your phone and find it dead(car charger will not bring back to life)...i am sorry but that is a major problemo.

6/25/06 Update
Phone Died again today..USB will not charge it. Luckily I had miscalculated and was on my 15th day of activation. I waited a half hour in a Verizon return line...I order to keep my same number I needed another phone to activate on the spot. I bought the Treo 700p(not the W!)...within an hour i was walking around the mall amazed by the intuitive smart interface..and the speed...really..it costs more but is well worth it..I sure don't miss that Q.

But now that I am not a Q owner..I wonder if I will still get my share of the Class Action suit when it is discovered that Motorola sold a lemon to millions of people.

original verizon smartphone user (two years ago), bb 7250 user for 1.5 years. always used extended batteries w all devices. always synched w exchange server. bluetooth.

synching twice an hour, maybe an hour of voice calls, keeping bluetooth headset paired, max of about 10 hours which is slightly worse than the bb 7250.

sound quality much better than 7250, dropped calls in weak areas about same. (acceptable).

keyboard somewhat awkward cf to bb, espec no left shift key, but acceptable.

microsoft "direct push" synching not available for this phone yet, so for server synching (hosted or your own) gotta use the dumb sms initiation method. that would be a cost issue if you received a lot of mail since vzw only gives you 2,000 free sms for this, but battery life is the real limiting issue.

btw, vzw plan wont give you free within vzw photos and sms if you take the 2000 free sms for data synching. dumb.

bb 7250 great messaging, awful phone. will give treo a try, but suspect cdma and bluetooth are battery drainers no matter what.

as a former treo user an now a q owner i have to say this is the best pda/phone out there. As a verizon employee i can say that this is the most stable pda we have. Of course there's always a few phones that are defective but overall this phone has had the fewest warranty issues out of any pda. For every Q that happened to be defective I can show u six treo's with much worse problems. It might not be as customizable but its easy to use, straight forward and works. As far as BT...so much better than any treo, motorola voice dialing is far superior. Phone has not frozen unlike the treo's which would freeze with a text message. As more software becomes available allowing more customization i think that this phone will be perfect. I also use a blackberry as my work line so i know my PDA's. Being able to view attachments and the camera puts it above the blackberry. If you want a good pda go with either the Q or the Blackberry. The Q still has a better phone though

i have read the other issues and have seen them...for the XP not recongizing the Q that is an active sync issue that happens randomly even with the treo's or 6700. Microsoft does have a new version that fixes that free download, do need to uninstall an reboot before re installing. Alerts can be silence you have to be patient, the menus are hidden, i've had it for a month and still finding new options. Battery is still better, but the extended is needed. Just like any device EVDO and email drain battery fast. Email service with POP3 accounts can be less than perfect...but then again its a free online account. just like home computers sometimes a simply re-install fixes things, or a soft reset. The "profiles" are for sound quality and volume not for ringer control. Most q's have answers that are easy enough.

as a former treo user an now a q owner i have to say this is the best pda/phone out there. As a verizon employee i can say that this is the most stable pda we have. Of course there's always a few phones that are defective but overall this phone has had the fewest warranty issues out of any pda. For every Q that happened to be defective I can show u six treo's with much worse problems. It might not be as customizable but its easy to use, straight forward and works. As far as BT...so much better than any treo, motorola voice dialing is far superior. Phone has not frozen unlike the treo's which would freeze with a text message. As more software becomes available allowing more customization i think that this phone will be perfect. I also use a blackberry as my work line so i know my PDA's. Being able to view attachments and the camera puts it above the blackberry. If you want a good pda go with either the Q or the Blackberry. The Q still has a better phone though

First off, this is a great phone for many reasons. Read the five-star reviews if you want a glowing perspective. I agree with aspects of all of them.

If you are coming from the Treo 600/650 series, however, which allows you pretty much complete control over the phone's behavior, has fairly strong vibration, AND is a decent PDA, this phone will frustrate you to no end.

Example: Let's say the only time you want this phone to make a (speaker-based) noise is when a call is coming in. Sorry - not possible.

If you have your phone set to make an audible ring, and you DON'T want it to give you an error beep (which is incredibly loud) when you make a trivial "mistake" in the complex user interface, you are out of luck. I tried turning EVERYTHING off but the ring in the "Normal" profile, and I still get the error beep. It's louder than the ring, by the way - and does not seem affected by any volume control.

The frustrating thing is that there are actually phone settings for turning off various alerts. E.g., "Warnings," "Questions," "Exclamations." All of these are set to off (you'd think an "error" would fall into one of those categories), and still I get thunderous error beeps. Note there is a vibrate-only mode (called Meeting) that doesn't beep for errors, but then you're stuck with its wimpy vibration. I can't feel the Q vibrate in any pocket. Maybe if I carry it between my teeth I'll be okay.

Note that you don't actually have to make an error to get an error beep. Example: Enter an address in the browser, and press the RETURN key instead of the "Go" soft key. Both navigate you appropriately, but hitting RETURN gives you an error beep. It's like your phone is saying to you, "You hit the wrong (yet completely intuitive and fully operational) key! BEEEEEP!!!"

Also, when you insert or remove the power cord: "BEEEEP!!!" Plus, in typical Microsoft style, you actually get a full-screen dialog when you pull out the cord. "Charging is complete!" it tells you, with a button to dismiss the message. "Um, yes - I KNOW it's complete. I just freaking got out of bed and unplugged it. But thanks for scaring the life out of me."

If a calendar is important to you (as it is for most PDA users - probably the sole reason to cary one), I'd steer way clear of this phone. The interface for accessing, viewing, and creating appointments is cumbersome at best. Also, it's missing key functionality: E.g: I get my hair cut every other week; my cleaning service comes every other week; There is no way to set a recurring appointment for every other week!

If you want a phone that's a real PDA, get the treo 650 or 700, even though it's heavier and fatter. I can only speak for the Palm OS version, which is excellent, usability-wise. After using this phone, I'm now nervous about the 700w - considering that phone and the Q both run on the same company's software.

Needless to say, I'm returning mine.

First smartphone ... I'm addicted. Had it a few weeks now and it has never crashed or even had a hiccup. There are a few very minor things I don't like, but those are problems with the Microsoft OS, not Motorola. My understanding is that there is a software update coming to solve most of my gripes. But like another reviewer said, I use it all the time. It looks fantastic and the screen is amazing.

MotoQ is a very good tool. The designers have optimized the features for people who need to be connected via voice, email, and web without carrying a briefcase full of stuff everywhere.

It's not a PC, so you will be disappointed if you intend to work extensively with a spreadsheet or other work applications. This device is also not for power PDA users that service data centers from their huge PDA's.

However, if you are on the road and want to be able to review an email, word, excel, power point, acrobat document, or quickly find information on a website from just about anywhere, this is an awesome tool. I decided to keep my MotoQ when I had to review a 4MB pdf file for work during a family outing. I was able to download the file and review it on the MotoQ. A 5 minute time out was so much better than any other options.

Something I found very delightful is the fact that I have constant access to the internet. Waiting in lines has become just a little bit more tolerable since I could surf the net instead of reading 6 month old magazines.

I was very concerned about a lack of touch screen, but within a day, the scroll & navigation keys won me over. It is very nice to be able to use only one hand.

So, why did I select the MotoQ over BlackBerry? The MotoQ is actually a very good phone with superior call quality. The bluetooth and speakerphone are the