Moto Q 9m Reviews

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by ppcmd

Having gone back and reread the Gizmodo review I can say now say it was written by a 3rd grader. I have not found my current Q sluggish at all and I doubt MS or Moto would do something to slow it down on the Q9m (can't say Verizon wouldn't though).

I've found my original Q sluggish at times when typing things, and downloading a Web page often seems slower than I'd like. However, most of the time, it's not that bad.

Also, if the Q 9m has the same hardware as the Q, I could envision that WM 6 would be slower than WM 5 (for the same reason each version of Windows requires faster processors and more RAM). However, I've read that WM 6 actually seems slightly faster than WM 5.

I also doubt Verizon (or any carrier) would do anything to make the system slower. I can understand why they might cripple some features (even though I hate that), but what possible benefit would there be for them to slow the entire system down? (Well, unless they were going to sell a system speed-up kit, but I don't think they will. )

Maybe the author of that review was used to 624 MHz Pocket PCs and found the transition to be sluggish, but with no background information, who knows. Regardless, his unprofessional review is inexcusable. He should give the phone to his mommy or daddy and let them write a real review.

Steve

[garment69]

Ok, so I got the Q9M, used it for a day, de-activated it, then gave it another chance. I have used this thing every possible way and here are my final thoughts;

1) Keyboard-This has been said before, by me I might add, and it bears repeating. The keyboard is great. Best in class, hands down. Its bigger than the treo's, the previous champ, and the keys give great tactile feedback. On the minus side, for me anyway, the red numbers are very difficult to see unless in really good light. This was slightly annoying.
2) Memory-Not as bad as I first thought. The OS was tweaked to be more in line with the hacked previous Q's. Meaning that apps dont generally start shutting down until you are well below the 5 mg threshold. Using Windows media, surfing the internet, having IM+ open and doing emails didnt cause many problems, unlike my black Q which couldnt keep apps open at all. I do want to point out this thing has a serious memory leak. This I found asstounding as you would have thought this problem could have been corrected. Watching the memory manager you can actually see the memory disappear. You can run Oxios every 10 seconds and reclaim 500 to 1000 kb of Ram. My Treo 700wx doesnt do that, so why should the Q? It makes the available memory seem less than it should be.
3) Screen-Excellent screen, love it. Bright in direct sunlight it was always a joy to view. the Light detector also worked very well and I beleive it contributes significantly to the excellent battery life I enjoyed using the extended battery. The only complain would be sometimes it would take a while to adjust, but it always did so that is really not a big problem.
4) Battery life-Simply put, fantastic!!! My treo, with the 2400 mh extended battery lasts me until about 3 PM then its dead. Using the phone the same exact way, the Q9M lasted the entire day. What a joy to not have to worry about plugging in every hour to recharge. I dont know what Moto did, but they did this one right.
5) Lag-Reallly did not experience this to any serious degree. These devices are only carrying processors of around 300 mhz so lag will always occur not matter how you slice it. I would not not buy this becuase of lag.
6) WM6-Overall a very nice upgrade. There are still some perplexing omissions, like spell check or the ability to quickly shut down your device. Or the inability to respond to a MMS message with a Text message without closing MMS, finding the sender and then opeing up text messages to respond. But overall it was quick and intuitive and very familiar if you ever used WM5 Smartphone.
7) Bluetooth-Rock solid, which I knew it would be.
8) Accessories-I ordered the side holster from Verizon and I must warn people, be careful. It scratches the crap out of the bottom of the phone. It is hard plastic inside and out. Not well designed.

So after all of this I am sending the Q9M back to verizon (thank you 30 day trail peroid). Its not for anything the Q did wrong per se. I just want to wait for the Q9C. I find it mind blowing that verizon would release the same exact phone with different home screens three months apart. So Im going to hope the C is more like the H and then I will be first in line to get it. I will be the first one anyway becuase by that time I will really be itching to upgrade.

Hope this is helpfull.

[clxa38]

Originally Posted by garment69

Ok, so I got the Q9M, used it for a day, de-activated it, then gave it another chance. I have used this thing every possible way and here are my final thoughts;

1) Keyboard-This has been said before, by me I might add, and it bears repeating. The keyboard is great. Best in class, hands down. Its bigger than the treo's, the previous champ, and the keys give great tactile feedback. On the minus side, for me anyway, the red numbers are very difficult to see unless in really good light. This was slightly annoying.
2) Memory-Not as bad as I first thought. The OS was tweaked to be more in line with the hacked previous Q's. Meaning that apps dont generally start shutting down until you are well below the 5 mg threshold. Using Windows media, surfing the internet, having IM+ open and doing emails didnt cause many problems, unlike my black Q which couldnt keep apps open at all. I do want to point out this thing has a serious memory leak. This I found asstounding as you would have thought this problem could have been corrected. Watching the memory manager you can actually see the memory disappear. You can run Oxios every 10 seconds and reclaim 500 to 1000 kb of Ram. My Treo 700wx doesnt do that, so why should the Q? It makes the available memory seem less than it should be.
3) Screen-Excellent screen, love it. Bright in direct sunlight it was always a joy to view. the Light detector also worked very well and I beleive it contributes significantly to the excellent battery life I enjoyed using the extended battery. The only complain would be sometimes it would take a while to adjust, but it always did so that is really not a big problem.
4) Battery life-Simply put, fantastic!!! My treo, with the 2400 mh extended battery lasts me until about 3 PM then its dead. Using the phone the same exact way, the Q9M lasted the entire day. What a joy to not have to worry about plugging in every hour to recharge. I dont know what Moto did, but they did this one right.
5) Lag-Reallly did not experience this to any serious degree. These devices are only carrying processors of around 300 mhz so lag will always occur not matter how you slice it. I would not not buy this becuase of lag.
6) WM6-Overall a very nice upgrade. There are still some perplexing omissions, like spell check or the ability to quickly shut down your device. Or the inability to respond to a MMS message with a Text message without closing MMS, finding the sender and then opeing up text messages to respond. But overall it was quick and intuitive and very familiar if you ever used WM5 Smartphone.
7) Bluetooth-Rock solid, which I knew it would be.
8) Accessories-I ordered the side holster from Verizon and I must warn people, be careful. It scratches the crap out of the bottom of the phone. It is hard plastic inside and out. Not well designed.

So after all of this I am sending the Q9M back to verizon (thank you 30 day trail peroid). Its not for anything the Q did wrong per se. I just want to wait for the Q9C. I find it mind blowing that verizon would release the same exact phone with different home screens three months apart. So Im going to hope the C is more like the H and then I will be first in line to get it. I will be the first one anyway becuase by that time I will really be itching to upgrade.

Hope this is helpfull.

what are the chances that the C and M are different tho? I've heard both have very similar hardware (basically the same) with differences only in software.

[garment69]

Originally Posted by clxa38

what are the chances that the C and M are different tho? I've heard both have very similar hardware (basically the same) with differences only in software.

Ive heard the same thing, but I have also heard that the C will be the same as the H, just the CDMA version. Either way, I prefer the blue highlights on the keyboard. But like I said, it would bizzare for VZW to release the exact same phone with the only difference being a multimedia interface and a button on the keyboard change. Then again, VZW has their collective heads of their as@#$% so they may try and pull that off.

[pgreenbe305]

On the M, you can already change the homescreen to be "normal," or excuse me, not media centric, so why waste the time and effort just to change colors of lights, casing accents, and/ or the homescreen alone (which you can already switch off). I bought my VZW Black Q a few months ago, and really enjoy it. I'd like the newer, later, and greater, but I also like having the IR port (it's just another way to get data from oldschool PDA users), and WM6 had many exchange server upgrades, which I don't need since I have IMAP4 accounts for my business.

I truly belive the C will have to have more than the aforementioned different- seriously!

[Pony99CA]

Adam at pocketnow.com has been blogging about the Q 9m. He seems to really like it.

Steve

[moto_pro_1900]

Those bozos at the tech rags do the worst reviews. They get the device and have it for a week and are expected to give a complete review? Please...

I have had my Q9m for about 2 weeks now, and although I am no exoert...OK I am an expert, the Q9m is way faster than the Q, Windows Mobile 6 is much more feature rich, switching between the business home screen and music home screen is easy, and the MP3s sound way better on the Q9m. The thing is very stylish and I think alot closer to how future devices (like the pads on Star Trek...yes I'm a Trekkie) will look. The battery time is much longer. I used to have to charge my battery in the middle of the day until I got the extended capacity battery. I only have the slim battery now and I have corporate email pinging my Q all day long and the battery lasts all day, sometimes with 2 bars left when I turn it off at night. The only dissappointing thing about the whole Q9m package is the pathetic soft sleeve case it comes with. That thing just stayed in the box. I use my existing Sena case and it works great.

[Pony99CA]

Here's a link to the Engadget Mobile Q 9m Hands-On. They call it a "worthy successor" to the original Q.

Steve

[micahmatthew]

Looks,
This thing is gorgeous.
You will definitely catch a few eyes with it.
Red accents, nice screen, very tech savvy and stylish look.

The Keyboard,
It's simply amazing.
Definitely worth a 10/10, I've used the EnV,
multiple Treo's, and many other phones with keyboards,
and I love this keyboard more then any of those.
The keys are... textured, your fingers will not slip.
They extrude from the phone in JUST the right way,
Texting is amazing with this keyboard, and quick.

The Screen,
It's a beaut.
65k colors, 2.5 inches, 240x320 resolution.
enough said, it's pretty darn nice.

WM6 and Software,
O.k. everyone is of course mentioning...The sluggishness.
It is a little bit sluggish, AT TIMES.
Unless you are a heavy business user,
it will not really effect you though.
Sometimes programs start slow, switching interfaces is a lag, changing home screen etc.
WM6, is very nifty though.
Probably contributes to the lag, considering the Q9m uses the same processor as the Q gen 1. But has a beefier OS.
The Doc's To Go are very awesome, sharing files with your computer is easy. Calendar and Windows Media work flawlessly.
Contacts can lag sometimes, but the system behind your contacts is great with this phone, letter and word searches while you are in the contacts etc. make it easy to find who you are looking for. Considering you have 60, 70, or many more contacts like I do it is helpful.

Camera,
1.3 megapixels of decent phone camera action.
It's not too shabby if you just need shots of whatever.
I mean if you really need to take nice pictures...
GET A CAMERA.
This is decent for a camera phone, zoom, edit, options etc. are useful and fun, can store plenty of photos, especially with an SD card.
Loading them to your computer is as easy as plugging it in and updating ActiveSync after installing the software.
Decent camera for the phone!

Battery,
The battery is decent in my eyes.
Compared to a tiny phone like a Razr, it isn't so hot.
But compared to other smart phones it isn't that awful.
You can charge it in about an hour or less.
And it will last you all day.
Not too shabby unless you are away from a charger for more then a day?
If that's the case get the extended battery, charge both, bring them both.
And pick up the car charger etc.
I've gotten close to 5 hours AFTER the battery said that it was low and I should charge it, which makes you feel nice.

The breakdown,
I've been using this phone for a week now and by far texting is what I do most. I have to keep in touch with friends etc. So that is the best part of the phone for me! The keyboard makes it easy. My reception is usually decent, I live near LA in southern California, sometimes it's not good, but that all depends on your location so I didn't rate that per se. The speakerphone on this thing is a beast, love to use it while chatting and on the computer etc. makes this phone even easier to use. Overall, I love this phone, it has been working fine so far and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a good phone, that can play music, rocks at txting, takes good pictures, and can view and save files.

[phazelag]

Here is my review.

This is my first smartphone, but I have had several palm pilots, Sony clie's, and pocket PC's. I picked this phone based everyone in my family and work using Verizon. I am not a blackberry fan due to the background noise that comes with them. I wont talk to my Blackberry friends if they are not alone in quiet room or on Bluetooth. I just tell them I have to go.

I paid $50 more than I would have for a plain Q and I got a nicer keyboard and can edit Excel and Word. Overall I give it a high 8 out of 10. The keyboard is the best I have used. The screen is gorgeous! The controls are logical and easy. I know this phone is suppose to be music oriented, but I think it’s a great business/work phone too. With the mobile 6 getting my email setup took 10 seconds for each account including the AOL account. The guy who wrote that nasty review must have been an idiot. The document management is pretty easy and my Excel and Word files opened nicely and are easily edited. It does not seem sluggish to me at all and has not locked up.

I am still in shock getting used to the battery life. I have lowered my expectations, after spending time on this site and others. I have found that Bluetooth, just sucks the power dry. The tips in the manual for saving power do work, but I find that turning off the Bluetooth has the biggest impact. It would be cool to have a shortcut to turn it off and on. I also use task manager to kill all my unused programs. But talking 2 hours on Bluetooth while I am driving does cut the fully charged battery in half. It says in the manual that you cannot overcharge your battery. I am guessing there is some sort of charge management. But I would like to know if it would be safe to keep it plugged in while driving. That is when I use the bluetooth the most. But talking and charging kills most phones batteries.

I am using a cover on it call Invisible Shield. My friend had on put one on his ipod a few years ago and it still looks like new. It’s hard to imagine how good they are from the web site. But basically I don’t like having my items fattened up by a bulky case, or have my access to the controls limited. This is clear protective coating that is virtually indestructible and you can’t even tell it’s on there after a day of the bubbles and imperfections working their way out. I was worried it would make the matted black look weird, but it actually looks great not it looks like a black ipod with a keyboard. I had mine installed at a shopping mall booth. shieldzone.com.

Lastly, I just have few comments that have been talked about. This phone meets my needs greatly. But I only gave it an 8 due to the GPS being locked and not being useable with Google maps, and when comparing to an Iphone the mobile web is week and archaic. It is not much better than the info I got on my palm 6 years ago. Movie times, Restaurants, Etc. I am using opera for the browser and it’s marginally better the IE, but that’s it. I am not worried since I have wireless broadband card on my work laptop. But if I wanted the Internet, I would be on AT&T with an Iphone. The cost for unlimited with verizon is way too high, but the mobile web in my opinion is so pathetic, that it doesn’t even matter to me, other than I like my email. And you have to pay an additional $15 over the $45.95 for unlimited data to use it as a wireless card tethered to your laptop. Verizon has me by the you know what’s! So unless they come out with something amazing, I will bite the bullet and switch next time.

One last thing. Currently the phone does vcast music only and verizon apps. But it does not do Vcast video, or VZ navigator. Some reps think it does since it does Vcast music, but they are incorrect. I heard rumors about more coming, but not at this point.