David's Blog

This is a billboard for the Q near where I live. There is another equally large billboard barely visible on the far right. Motorola is doing quite a job advertising this phone.

I've had my Q for 3 weeks now. Overall, I like the phone. It is not perfect, but I like it and look forward to upgrading to future versions.

What I like:

• Slim - easily fits in my pants pocket
• Keyboard - makes entering information *MUCH* easier
• Internet Explorer - works pretty good with most web sites. My blog comes is drawn with a black background (should be white), makes some text completely unreadable. I thought it was IE, but I tried an older Opera browser for Windows Mobile and it had the same problem....need to look into how my website is formatted! I'll probably switch to the new Opera browser because it has more features (java script, tabbed browsing, full page view).
• Download Speed - The download speed makes web browsing easy...and addictive. You can surf *anywhere* with this phone.
• Windows Mobile 5.0 - This phone is a platform, just like Windows. I expect Windows Mobile to grow in popularity. There is quite a bit of software you can download for this phone. Plus, with Visual Studio 2005, you can build your own apps. I will probably do this at some point.
• Screen - 320x240 - nice sized screen for reading emails and browsing the web.

What I don't like:

• Reception - my old cingular cell phone had full strength in my apartment. The Q barely manages half strength signal and frequently drops to 25% or worse. I've had it drop calls in my apartment. I called Verizon about it and they said I am covered by 5 cell phone towers in my location (I live downtown). So either Verizon's cell towers suck, or this phone isn't that great at getting reception. I should note that almost everywhere else I go, I don't have problems with dropped calls...just at home. Go figure.
• Battery life - I had a few problems where I could not make it a full day without the phone running out of juice. I found that it was operator error....I was using the USB cable on my computer to charge the phone. Although it does charge the phone, it apparently does not do as good of a job as the dedicated charger. Since I've switched to the dedicated charger, I usually have at least half the battery left after one day of use. I don't have enough experience with the dedicated charger to say that I always can make it a full day without the phone running out of power. I ordered an extended battery for $20 from Verizon just in case I do run out of juice and I still need to use my phone.
• Vibrate - I believe there should be only one ring tone...vibrate, since I don't believe my phone alerts should annoy anybody but me. Since this phone receives phone calls AND email, I wish the phone had different vibrate patterns for different alerts: phone call, friend phone call, email, voice mail, etc.
• Inputting a Time - Setting a time (like an appointment time) is annoying. You have to hold the ALT button to access the numbers, even though a letter doesn't make any sense. I don't see why the phone can't be smart enough to know that you are entering the hours, so you must need to be in number mode (it does it when you type a phone number). Plus, you have to enter 2 digits to change the hour or minute...you can't just change 1. Also, it would be nice if I could just use the directional pad to move to the digit I want to change and then press up or down to modify the number...that would be the easiest. Not the end of the world, but it does get tedious.
• Alarm - When I set an alarm to wake me in the morning, that should trump everything. This phone says, I know you set an alarm, but I'm set to vibrate mode, so I won't make any sound when the alarm goes off. BAD!!! So if I *do* turn on sound for the alarm, I also get sound for every email that comes in...all night long....ugh! A new alarm clock with an alarm that sounds independent of the current sound profile may be my first app I write for the Q!!!
• No text editor - I guess I could send myself emails instead, but why not include pocket word like you do for Pocket PC's?
• No spell checker - would be nice to be able to spell check emails
• No external LEDs - It would be nice to be able to see if you have a message waiting or voice mail by looking at a flashing LED. No LED's with the Q...you have to turn on the screen to see what's up.
• No dedicated volume control - The side scroll wheel does double duty as a volume control and a scroll wheel. I've been browsing a web page when a loud alert played, I wanted to quickly bring the volume down, but the volume keys were now for scrolling...I had to switch to a different app that used the scroll wheel as a volume control!
• Outlook Notes not supported - I like to jot done important info using Outlook Notes (like yellow post it notes for your computer). I don't know why Outlook Notes are not supported by Windows Mobile...they should be.
• No support for copy/paste - Windows Mobile doesn't have the concept of the clipboard like Windows does. It would be helpful if it did!

This is a fun phone, and pretty cheap ($200 with 2 year commitment). For me, it is my pda, laptop, ipod, and cell phone. I love that I can access my email, task list, and contacts from my desktop, any web browser, and now my cell phone.

Posted on June 24, 2006 10:30 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)