Motorola Q9m Review

The Motorola Q9m is one of the latest SmartPhones to be released by Verizon Wireless, which replaces the original Q that was introduced last year. The Q9m features a newly designed QWERTY Keypad, 65K Color QVGA Landscape Display, Bluetooth, EVDO, Stereo Speakers, and MiniSD card slot. The software now features the Windows Mobile 6 operating system, which incorporates full HTML Internet Browser, E-Mail, Media Player 10, Wireless Sync, and Documents to Go. The Q9m is also the first SmartPhone to have two Home Screens (Standard and Multimedia), with the Multimedia screen allowing easy access to Music and Videos, Pictures, Camera, and VCast Music downloads. It is clear that the Q9m is targeted to the “young professional” that is looking for SmartPhone with added Multimedia capabilities.

The Retail Package includes the Q9m SmartPhone, 1170mAh Battery, Wall Charger, 128MB MicroSD card with MiniSD adapter, USB Data Cable, Active Sync CD, and VZ Access Manager CD.

The design of the Q9m is more streamlined and professional looking than the previous model, however the red striping around the perimeter is something it could do without. The construction is a combination of metal, glass, and plastic, which give the phone a very sturdy feel while in your hand. However, despite the phone only being 0.47” thick, it is quite noticeable and bulky when placed in your pants pocket. This however cannot be helped, since there is a lot of technology packed into one device.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Motorola Q9m	4.64" x 2.63" x 0.47"	118 x 67 x 11.9	4.76	135
Motorola Q	4.57" x 2.48" x 0.45"	116 x 63 x 11.5	4.06	115
RIM BlackBerry 8830	4.49" x 2.60" x 0.55"	114 x 66 x 14	4.60	130

1 - Q9m next to Jabra BT250 and Motorola S9; 2 - LG ENV, Motorola Q9m, Motorola V9m; 3 (from bottom to top) - Motorola Q9m, Motorola V9m, LG ENV

The Q9m features a standard 65K Color 320x240 Pixel QVGA Display in landscape orientation, which allows web sites to be shown with greater ease and less horizontal scrolling. The screen is an average 2.4” in size, which is only slightly larger than what most normal cell phones use. Images and Text are shown with good color representation and without jagged edges. Using the phone in direct sunlight can be problematic, as the display becomes much harder to see and reflects the surrounding light. There are no adjustments for setting the contrast or brightness levels manually; only a Smart Backlight option that will automatically adjust the brightness of the display, depending on how much light is picked up by the sensor. This is good in theory, but in practice we felt that the display was too dark when used indoors, thus causing us to turn the Smart Backlight to Off, which keeps the display set at the brightest level.

Since the display does not operate as a touchpad, you must reply on the 5-way Navigational D-Pad, which is easy to use thanks to its large size and good placement, or the use of the side scroll-wheel. The Left SoftKey is used to access the Start menu, in the same fashion as the Start button on a Windows PC, with the Right SoftKey providing access to the Contacts. The white backlit QWERTY keypad has been redesigned from the earlier Q model. The actual buttons on the keypad are smaller, but they now feature a more rounded design, which makes typing easier and less fatiguing. The keys have a greater tactile feel to them and provide good feedback when pressed. Overall, we found typing on the Q9m to be an enjoyable experience, more so than on the enV or the Blackberry 8830.


On the right edge of the phone there is a small scroll wheel and back button. The scroll wheel is used in similar fashion to the navigational pad, for making menu selections, yet we found its location more difficult to use. We are unsure as to why the Q9m still uses the scroll wheel, when the 3G GSM Q9h variant has replaced it with Up, Down, and Select buttons.


The left side of the phone features a MiniSD card slot, which can accept Mini-WiFi Access cards, MiniSD Memory cards, and MicroSD Memory cards up to 4GB in size (there is a Micro-to-MiniSD adapter included). Directly below that is the MiniUSB port, which is used for connecting the phone to your Computer for downloads and synchronization, as well as for charging the battery. We were glad to see that MiniUSB was used, since those cables are more readily available than the MicroUSB, which the Q9h uses. Located on the top edge is a 2.5mm headset jack that can be used with a standard wired headset or stereo earbuds.

Interface:

The User Interface on the Q9m is laid out in similar fashion to the other Q SmartPhones, except for that fact that there are two home screens. The Standard home screen is what we have come to expect from a SmartPhone, simple and unobtrusive. There are a total of 6 Themes that you can choose from for the Standard home screen (Windows Simple, Windows Default, Large Font, Windows Basic, VZW Layout, and VZW Classic Layout), with each one having a different layout. Windows Simple is the cleanest theme with the least clutter on the screen. Windows Default adds shortcut icons to the top as well as appointment and message notifications. Large Font is the same as Windows Simple except the font size is larger. Windows Basic is similar to Windows Default, except it lacks the shortcut icons as the top. VZW Layout and VZW Classic are also very similar to the Windows Default. Between the 6 choices, the Windows Simple theme was our favorite since it had the cleanest desktop.


Pressing the “Change View” button on the bottom right of the keypad will change to the Multimedia home screen, which is what the “m” stands for in Q9m. The right side of the screen has shortcut buttons for Music & Video, Pictures, Camera, VCast Music, and Volume. After making your selection, you then move to the left side of the screen where you can select the specific file that you wish to access. For music, videos, and pictures, there are Rewind, Play/Pause, and FastForward buttons for added control. We found navigating through the Multimedia screen to be quite intuitive and user friendly, much more so than a standard Media Player.

Phonebook:

The Contacts list is laid out in similar fashion as to other Windows Mobile devices. Adding a person to the contacts list is a relative easy task, despite the plethora of information that can be entered (First Name, Last Name, Work Phone, Mobile Phone, Home Phone, Custom Ringtone, Picture, E-Mail, IM, Work 2, Home 2, Company Phone, Categories, Pager, Car Phone, Work Fax, Home Fax, Assistant Phone, Radio Phone, E-Mail 2, E-Mail 3, IM2, IM3, Web Page, File As, Company Name, Department, Job Title, Office Address, Home Address, Notes, Nickname, Birthday, Anniversary, Manager, Government ID, Account Name, Customer ID, Spouse, Children, and Assistant). It is amazing the amount of information that can be stored for each contact, which leaves little else that it doesn’t ask for, except maybe for the persons blood-type.

Once the information has been saved, you can bring up the contact list alphabetical by pressing the right soft key on the home screen. From there, you can either scroll through the list, or type the name to perform a search.



Pressing and holding the speakerphone key will activate the Voice Command system. From there, you can choose from Call, Send Text, Send SMS, Send Email, Lookup name, and Open application. This works the same way as with most modern phones, where you can say “Call Marie’s Cell” and the voice recognition software will dial the appropriate number. The Voice Command system can also be used in conjunction with a Bluetooth headset.

Organizer:

The Calendar provides a quick view of the current day, week, and month. Multiple appointments can be added for each day, including the Subject, Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time, Location, Reminder, and Occurrence. When a saved appointment time is reached, the phone will play the alarm and show the appointment information on the screen.

Messaging:

The Messaging screen is categorized into three sections, Text Messaging, MMS, and New E-Mail Account. Text Messaging is nothing new and works just like most other phones, by entering in the recipients cell number or E-Mail address and typing the message with the QWERTY keypad. MMS is almost identical, except it allows you to attach a picture, video, or audio file with the message. For normal E-Mail use, you begin by entering the E-Mail address in which you want to setup an account for. It will first try to automatically setup the account by gathering the POP/IMAP/SMTP information from the web. If it cannot find the required information, it will ask you to manually enter in the incoming Mail Server address (POP/IMAP), Username, Password, and Outgoing SMTP. Once the E-Mail account is properly setup, you can send and receive E-Mail just like you were on a standard computer. There are also options for the phone to automatically check your E-Mail accounts every few minutes. This way, the phone will notify you when a new E-Mail has been received.



Connectivity:

The Q9m is a Dual Band All-Digital Windows Mobile 6 SmartPhone that operates on the 800Mhz and 1900Mhz CDMA Verizon network. Non-Voice Data, such as Web and E-mail, are transmitted using the faster EVDO network, but it is limited to EVDO Rev 0 speeds. We would have rather seen EVDO Rev A incorporated into the Q9m, since Verizon’s network is now Rev A compliant, which would result in faster download speeds. The Q9m does not have built-in WiFi, but is capable of having a WiFi card installed into the MiniSD slot.

Bluetooth 2.0 will allow up to 20 parings and supports Hands Free, Personal Network, Stereo Headset, Keyboard Input, and PIM Synchronization.

Accessing the Internet is limited to the IE program that comes preloaded on the device. It does a better job of viewing web sites than a standard WAP browser, but still has formatting and page layout issues. A better choice would be if Opera was included on the Q9m as it is on the Q9h, but at this time it is not even available for downloading and cannot be installed. Loading most HTML web site can take upwards of 30 seconds while in an EVDO coverage area.

Camera:

Unlike the 2MP Camera that is featured on the Q9h, the Q9m is stricken with a lower quality 1.3MP Camera. The application take 3 seconds to load and will show a small viewfinder in the center of the display. Pressing the center button on the navigation pad will capture the image in under 1 second and will show it on the screen for reviewing. From there you can send the image via Bluetooth, send in a Message, Delete, and Save. The overall image quality of pictures taken outside is lacking, with poor color representation and soft edges. Low-Light and Flash pictures taken indoors appear to be blurry. The Auto White Balance also has problems adjusting to different types of light, so you must manually set the white balance. Menu options include Brightness, Resolution, Zoom, White Balance, and Flash. Videos can also be recorded, but are limited to 176x144 resolution. Even though this is a SmartPhone, there is nothing “smart” about the quality of pictures and videos that it is capable of capturing.



Multimedia:

Being that this is a Multimedia device, the Q9m is capable of playing back MP3 and WMA audio files, as well as videos, in either the Windows Media Player or while using the Multimedia Home Screen. Music stored on your miniSD card is listed by Album, Artist, and Genre. Once the song begins to play, the Multimedia Home Screen will show the cover art, along with the artist’s name and song title. The quality of music playback is quite impressive, thanks to the stereo speakers. It is unfortunate however that they are located on the back of the phone, and require you to flip the phone over to enjoy their true sound quality. For the best sound quality, it is recommended to connect a pair of Bluetooth Stereo headset, since the phone supports A2DP and AVRC profiles.



Software:

The Q9m only comes with 104MB of Internal Memory, which is divided equality between Device Storage and RAM Storage. Despite the low amount of internal memory, it is capable of accepting up to a 4GB miniSD card for additional storage, which would provide plenty of room for music, pictures, videos, documents, and applications.

Even though this is a Windows Mobile 6 device, Motorola decided to replace the standard Microsoft Office applications with “Documents To Go” applications. They allow you to access PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and ZIP files. This can be very useful when needing to access a file when you are not near a computer, or when downloading an E-Mail attachment. Despite their usefulness, they can be problematic when opening some files and are not as feature-rich as their PC counterpart. We found that some larger Excel files would not display properly, and certain PDF files would produce an error saying that some fonts were not supported. Most Word and PowerPoint documents were able to be shown without problems.

Performance:

The application performance of the Q9m is more sluggish than we would have liked. After loading several application into memory, you can begin to see just how slow things can get. Because of this, we recommend only having a limited amount of programs running at one time. We also noticed that some applications, such as the Media Player, would not “end”, even though we closed and exited the program. We would have to manually go into the Task Manager and “kill” the application.

The reception and sound quality is excellent for a SmartPhone and is equal to other “standard” phones; such has the Motorola Maxx and V9m. We were able to place and receive calls in good coverage areas, as well as when traveling into fringe areas. The incoming call quality through the earpiece is loud and lacks any distortion or interference. The Speakerphone quality is good and can get quite loud, however there is some noticeable distortion at higher volume levels. Outgoing quality is just as good and sounds very close to using a landline.

Motorola rates the included 1170mAh battery at 4Hr 30Min of Talk Time or 8 Days of Standby time on a full charge. Our Talk Time was a close 4 Hours, however our Standby Time was a more modest 5 Days.

Conclusion:

The Motorola Q9m is currently one of the best SmartPhones available by Verizon. It does everything that is expected of it, and then some. The Multimedia Home Screen is an added bonus that many users will enjoy. The Call Quality and Reception are top-notch, despite the Speakerphone sounding a little distorted at higher volumes. The QWERTY keypad is designed well and is easier to use than that of the enV or the pervious Q model, since the keys are closer together and require less thumb movement. We highly recommend the Q9m for anyone that is looking for a Windows Mobile SmartPhone with added Multimedia capabilities.