Everything Motorola Q

Excellent Call Quality

Given Motorola's rich history with cellphone development, there are certainly expectations of great phone call quality when it comes to their line of Q smartphones. The Moto Q 9h certainly delivers on that promise, offering excellent phone quality for a smartphone. While some smartphones suffer from low-volume earpieces and speakerphones, the Moto Q 9h is quite the opposite. If you are in a busy environment, the Moto Q 9h has enough volume boost to clearly hear your caller. Conversely, callers on the other end of the call thought my voice had great sound quality and clarity.

Experiences With Moto Q 9h Bluetooth

Other critical phone features would be Bluetooth and the Moto Q 9h supports Bluetooth 2.0 and A2DP. I paired the Moto Q 9h with several headsets (Palm Ultralight headset, Jabra JX10), speakerphones (BlueAnt) and car systems (BMW) without issue. I primarily use a Bluetooth hands-free connection in my car,prior to it being totaled, but that's a story for another time. Once the Moto Q 9h was paired, the car instantly recognized the device upon entering the car. Never did I have to reinstate the connection. Part of this can certainly be attributed to the in-car Bluetooth, but this was not the case with the iPhone which at times would lose connectivity. Call clarity through Bluetooth was top notch. As mentioned, the Moto Q 9h supports A2DP, so it will work as a music player with headsets like the Motorokr S9 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones. For the purpose of this review, I did not test the Moto Q 9h with the S9 headphones. The Motorokr S9 review was conducted with a Sprint Moto Q. That being said, I'm pretty confident the results would be similar.

Windows Standard

For me personally, usability on any Windows Mobile Smartphone is a mixed bag. The OS inherently allows you to customize in so many ways, with and without the use of third party software. One of the more popular discussion topics in our forums are Moto Q hacks. This is in stark comparison to the Apple iPhone which uses a closed operating system. Out of the box, the Windows Mobile Smartphone OS can be confusing to new users. If the Moto Q 9h is your first smartphone, you'll probably have your fair share of head scratching when navigating through the device. To access the camera application using the OS, it takes 9 clicks. Not surprising AT&T's suite of apps are on the first page upon hitting the Start button. Thankfully, Motorola has made strides in improving access to these commonly used apps. The Moto Q 9h features hard keys for Calendar, Contacts, Music, Camera and Speakerphone. In addition, there are the soft buttons for Email/Messaging and Web Access. Once you figure out these handy shortcuts, you can avoid the clicks needed to access your apps.

Missing the Scroll Wheel

Gone is the scroll wheel that can be found on the Moto Q, Moto Q 9m and Moto Q 9c. In it's place are three hard buttons (up, action, down). I found the usability of the scroll wheel to be vastly easier to use than the new buttons and this is even more apparent during one-handed operation. Personally, I'd like to see Motorola go back to the scrollwheel.

GPS on the Q 9h

From a hardware perspective, the Moto Q 9h offers a few new features not found on the older series Moto Q smartphones. The Moto Q 9h comes standard with GPS. By accessing www.google.com/gmm on the included Opera browser, I was able to easily download and install GoogleMaps for Windows Mobile Standard. After launching Google Maps, selecting the right soft button (Menu) and then option 5 sent Google looking for the GPS satellites. Although inside, pointing the Moto Q 9h outside a window was all that I needed for GoogleMaps to show my location. You also get surrounding streets and can generate a satellite view. This can prove helpful if you find yourself lost and need to generate directions. While GoogleMaps will not generate "turn by turn" voice directions, it does offer a very cool "next -6" and "previous-4" for easily following the trip route. Best of all, GoogleMaps is free and works well with the included GPS on the Moto Q 9h.

If this doesn't suffice, there is a "shortcut" on the Moto Q 9h to download TeleNav GPS Navigator. There is a 30-day free trial with this software, but expect to add $9.95 per month for this service. Yearly, that equates to $119.40, so it almost makes sense to go with Garmin or TomTom. Still, if you'd like to cut down on the amount devices you carry, TeleNav Navigator GPS on the Moto Q 9h can certainly help you achieve this.

Camera Functions

The Moto Q 9h features a 2 megapixel camera complete with a flash. The Moto Q 9h camera boasts an impressive feature set for a smartphone:

• Mode: Allows for burst photography or timed shots.
• Brightness: Set adjust 7 levels of brightness.
• Resolution: Choose from 320x240 up to 1600x1200.
• Zoom: Includes 4 zoom levels up to 8x.
• White Balance: Choose from 7 white balance settings. Includes settings for night, sunlight or cloudy days.
• Full screen: Allows you to frame your shot using the full screen.

The camera also allows for has a mode that allows for video recording. All photos and videos are neatly managed appropriately enough in the Pictures and Videos app. In addition to displaying your pictures and videos, you can also select a Slide Show. The left soft button allows for easy sending via email or MMS, as it jets you into the Messaging section of the Q. There is also an option to set a photo as your homescreen background. Nifty and very easy to get acquainted with the multi-media portion of the Q 9h.

Q 9h Every Bit As Rockin' As Q 9m

Although it's not billed as the "music" Q (we'll leave that to the Verizon Moto Q 9m), the Moto Q 9h is every bit as capable when it comes to mobile music. Within Windows Mobile Device Center, an option to add music allowed me to transfer music to the Moto Q 9h from Windows Media Player. Transfer 30 or so songs took a few minutes or so. Included with the Moto Q 9h was a 3.5mm audio adapter which I considered a very useful bonus. Like so many, I have more than a few of those "white headphones" floating around my home. The included adapter means you can use your favorite headphones for listening to music. Sound quality was exceptional, but volume was lacking. I appreciated the quality of audio, but felt the Moto Q 9h could benefit from a volume boost when it comes to music. This is in surprising contrast to the phone itself, which has great volume levels. The Moto Q 9h features a dedicated hard button allowing for quick access to music. While listening to music, I was able to check email, check my calendar and more. The net here is that you can be productive while rocking out to My Chemical Romance or your favorite band.

Impressive Software Bundle

The most impressive changes from its predecessors comes in the software department. The Moto Q 9h comes with Outlook Mobile. Setting up email accounts is easy enough and is a great performer for those with multiple email accounts. Using the 5-way navigator, you can switch between accounts by simply pressing left or right. Despite being a 3G device, I found myself in EDGE areas all too often. Accessing my email was slower than using the more accessible EvDO of Sprint and Verizon Wireless. For corporate users, the Moto Q 9h supports both Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. There is also an icon to "Get Good" for those who are looking for support of the GOOD Mobile Messaging service.

The Moto Q 9h supports both SMS and MMS. The quick address tip is somewhat cumbersome, requiring you press the "return key" and select a contact from the list. Ideally, it would be easier to type the name of your contact and have the device autofill the contact name. The Moto Q 9h does not support threaded text messaging that produces a "chat style" conversation from your messages, but thankfully there are third party apps such as Extreme Text to offer this feature.

Coming over from the Palm Treo is a familiar multi-client Instant Messaging application. IM supports AIM, Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger. Setup was a breeze and you can be concurrently logged in on all three clients.

As with previous releases, "Tasks" is lacking requiring something along the lines of Power Tasks (see review). Calculator offers basic functions and has neat new look to the app.

New to the Q 9h

One of the most significant applications included on the Moto Q 9h is Documents To Go. This includes:

• PDF To Go
• Sheet To Go (Excel)
• Slideshot To Go (PowerPoint)
• Word To Go
• Zip To Go

With the Documents To Go suite, you can create or read Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Despite not being a Microsoft product, Docs To Go excels at Office documents. Menus within the program also make it easy to email documents. The included PDF To Go and Zip To Go help provide mobile professionals with all the tools they need to access critical documents while on the go.

Multiple Browsers

Previous Moto Q smartphones shipped with Internet Explorer standard. The Moto Q 9h also includes IE, but the default browser is now Opera. The applications are vastly different in the way you access pages. Both pale in comparison to Safari on the iPhone, which has left most mobile browsers in the dust. While both performed well with the "mobile web", there are still a wealth of sites not optimized for mobile devices. As such, both IE and Opera tend to struggle with extensive download times and at times poor rendering. Opera outperformed IE and a welcome addition to the Q. In general, IE7 and improved web browsing cannot come quick enough to Windows Mobile.

Notes Not Really Notes

The Moto Q 9h features a program called Notes. It's actually the same thing as Voice Notes. Not only is this a bit confusing, but it's redundant. A true memo pad feature is missing on the Moto Q. Again, third party developers have filled the gap (see Smartphone Notes).

Personalize My Q

For most Q users, personalizing their device is a priority. Nestled in "My Stuff" is a new folder called Personalize My Q. There are several mini-apps that allow you to set everything from homescreen layout and background to the ringtones on your Q. There are a few good choices, but I'd recommend visiting the Q Home Screens and Wallpapers forum. There are a tremendous amount of homescreen customizations that not only affect the look, but also impact the usability of the device. "Personalize My Q" is certainly a step in the right direction, making it easy for new Q owners to personalize their device.

Packing More Than Just a Smartphone

Priced at $199 (after rebates with 2-year contract), the Moto Q 9h offers a nice combination of accessories and software. More and more manufacturers offer less in the way of accessories, but Motorola has taken the opposite approach. In particular, the inclusion of a spare extended battery w/ cover, 3.5mm audio adapter allowing for use of standard headphones and miniUSB charging adapter allowing for use of existing chargers, the company allows you to really get the most from your Moto Q 9h. I found the abondonment of the scrollwheel odd and certainly hope to see it return in future devices. The Moto Q 9h scores on style points, taking cues from the popular RAZR. The device is still a bit too wide for true one-handed use and the Q 9h can feel "heavy" when using the extended battery. The software bundle is a major upgrade from past devices. Docs To Go and the IM app are carryovers from the Palm Treo. Both are great applications and a welcome addition. In general, there are a few shortcomings as a result of Windows Mobile, notably the Tasks and lack of a true Notes program.