Rating  - Great PDA but phone doesn't roam in the west
This review is for the AT&T Motorola Q9h (Global). (Why does Amazon.com include all the Motorola Q9* series phones in a single review when they are actually DIFFERENT phones????? They only look somewhat alike.)
I loved the phone, I loved the PDA, I had great fun with the GPS. Lot's of cheap 3rd party apps that really make a PDA phone into a powerhouse.
Unfortunately the phone I received AND it's 4 replacements always had a problem roaming. When ever I went from AT&T coverage to a roaming partner the phone would simply not connect to the service. Even if I just lost AT&T coverage for a few seconds.
Not only that, once it had lost service it would not come back even to AT&T service. I would have to place my SIM card in another phone in order to get the phone to come back into service. It would work if I used another SIM card but never again with my SIM card until I'd initialized it in another phone. (And yes, the SIM card was replaced just as many times as the phone.)
I live in California in the eastern Sierra Nevada and tech support would tell me I'm locked onto towers in South Dakota and North Carolina. SIM cards were replaced as often as the phone. Even replacing my SIM card with my wife's would duplicate the problem.
On a trip from California to Washington I was mostly without a phone because it would continually refuse to roam. I could find a place where AT&T service exists (and NO, AT&T does not provide the best coverage, in the areas I travel I find Verizon does).
It mostly sounded like an AT&T network problem. AT&T finally gave up and replaced my phone with a AT&T Tilt. Now this is the phone I should have gotten in the first place. I've never had the no-roaming or service network problem with it and I've had it 3 months now so maybe it is an incompatibility between the Motorola Q9h.
If you're in a major city where you can always have AT&T service and you don't travel then this is really a nice phone. Great call quality and the speaker phone is just really great.
Rating  - Great alternative to the BlackBerry
I got this about a month ago. For many years I've dreamed about carrying a mini computer in my pocket that would do most of what I needed it to do. Well, this Moto Q does everything and more. One of the goals I set out for was to have a phone that would play movies from a memory card, and this one does it well. I bought a 4GB Micro SD and it's now holding about six hours of my favorite black and white 50's sci fi movies! I can plug in a headset and watch a movie anywhere I am with my phone, on the plane I carry my movies and use a bluetooth headset.
The phone has fantastic reception and feels very solid. It learns your words and starts autocompleting what you usually type. It's easy to go online with Edge and view videos or read the news. I can access Outlook on my Q and it will still leave a copy of the email on the server for my main computer later. I've used Word to make notes and carry an Excel spreadsheet of data I refer to. I have a telephone list in .pdf that I can read anytime on the Q.
This thing is solid, no wonder the majority of government, emergency, and law enforcement agencies use Motorola. I'm very happy with this phone and no matter what anyone else says, it's a monster. Does everything and then some. As a matter of fact, I'm watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers on it while I'm typing this review right now!
Get it, you won't be disappointed!
Rating  - Close to smartphone nirvana
I got one of these in May, heard about the iPhone 3G coming and returned it within my 30 day buyer's remorse window to wait.
Thought a lot about it, did my homework, and ended up going back a few weeks ago and picking up another Q9h instead.
Reviews on this one are all over the place-- folks either seem to love it or hate it. I have had some issues on and off but on balance it's an exponential step up from my old Treo, and I really have come to love it (never thought I'd be saying that about a Motorola phone after some of the others I have had).
A couple of things I don't see mentioned a lot in other reviews that make a big difference for me are:
#1: the camera flash. Not that it's too useful for its intended purpose (low-light sensitivity on the built-in camera is not too great just like almost every other fixed-focus part on other phones), but that thing is GREAT as a little flashlight. I used to use the screen from my Treo as a little utility flashlight but the LED on the Q9h is about 5 times brighter and a bit more focused; about equal to one of those little keychain LED flashlights. It's easy to turn on and off, too, and it has saved my bacon a few times already. Sounds silly but you won't know how handy this is until you have one around all the time.
#2. All the nice quick launch keys along the bottom combined with 10 speed-dial contact/application launch keys means this phone is one of the easiest Windows Mobile devices to interact with out there (especially with the 6.1 update, which improves the home screen DRAMATICALLY in terms of its functionality, especially if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty with some configuration). I am including the touchscreen devices in that comparison as they all require a stylus somewhere sometime (except for the iPhone and maybe a couple of the higher end HTC devices right now) and I just can't stand using one of those things. Once you get used to the layout of the launcher keys and the navigation shortcuts in the menus you'll be able to breeze through it to get to whatever you want.
#3. The software. There are some seriously cool and functional Windows Mobile apps out there and a thriving, helpful community of people developing for the platform and (slowly) making it more friendly to use (it's already highly functional, it just needs... polish). Just the other day I discovered Kinoma Play which is one dazzling media player for WinMo devices. It's so refined and pretty with fancy menu transitions and a slick interface it makes me not pang so much when I see somebody tickling their lovely iPhone, and when I go to write a text message or email I remember why I ultimately didn't choose one of those handsets, as the Q's keyboard really is stellar. Sometimes I can be sitting at my desk and I'll choose to go over and sit in an armchair or in the conference room or something to tap out even a lengthy email just because the keyboard on this device is such a pleasure to use (especially coming from the old 680, whose small, slick keys were the bane of my existence).
Other strong suits that get mentioned a lot that I also want to emphasize are the earpiece and speaker volume (super loud and good sound, especially the speaker. I use it to listen to music while I wash dishes or something and it's not too bad of an experience), good call quality and RF reception, respectable battery life for a 3G smartphone (I can get 2-3 days on a charge, but only my work hours are spent in a 3G area each day), nice design, durable and solid-feeling.
Cons are mostly related to Windows mobile and especially Active Sync. I have had several issues getting my calendar to sync properly but I think that is due in part to some of my usage habits (or bad luck, probably a bit of both).
Also should mention that the GPS chip is nice but won't be replacing your dedicated navigation device anytime soon as I tried that on a trip to Indiana and it screwed me pretty bad a couple of times. Fine in a pinch but I wouldn't try to take a road trip without an atlas or something.
If you get one of these make sure it has Windows Mobile 6.1 on it. If it doesn't, go to Motorola's site and get it updated before you do anything else-- the update will reset your phone and erase all your data so you should just go ahead and get it out of the way first.
All in all highly recommended and I'm pretty hard to please and very critical of my devices. There's still an old phone of mine way out in a field somewhere near my backyard... Ironically it was a Moto! Don't think this one's gonna go out that way though...
Rating - Very Satisfied
I'm not going to go into too much detail. I just wanted to share with others who may be looking into this phone.
The only negative thing I can say about this phone has nothing to do with the phone itself technically. I was more accustomed to the full blown Windows Mobile 6 PPC version from my previous phone which had a lot more built in functionality. So going to this phone was a step down for me personally.
Other than that, this phone was a great compromise for me between functionality and size. The call/sound quality is amazingly clear and loud, same with the speakerphone. As for the OS and stability it has yet to lock up on me once. It feels solid and well built when I handle it. The battery life is another thing of note. With moderate use I've gone 2-3 days without charging. If I use frequently throughout the day at work then I usually need to charge it every 1-2 days. The screen is clear and bright with an option mode to have it automatically adjust depending on the lighting you're in, I like it so far.
As for purchasing through Amazon, I was an existing AT&T customer but I was NO LONGER under contract. I was able to buy this phone (at Amazon's advertised price) and keep my existing number with no issues whatsoever. Once I got my phone and charged it, I called AT&T and had them transfer me from my old SIM to the one that was included with this phone. Though I probably could have just stuck my old SIM into this phone.
Rating - Not all its cracked up to be
After a few months of having this phone, I am sad to say i will send it to its grave. Its heart was in the right place, but it grow up to be a Edward Scissor hands. It takes 4 clicks just to get to the text message screen visiable. then try to navigate between folders, and open new messages. It just takes far to many clicks to navigate any menu. Since the phone has a wide body, I often have to uses two hands to avoid juggling it in one hand to click all the buttons i need too. the software installed is almost useless, you have to pay for additional programs to make the phone easy to use.
I do admit I have a special place in my heart for Sony Ericsson phones. I have tried other companies phone and none have the picture quality, the inherently friendly and simple useful application, great user interface, and beauty.
Go to the Product Information page
Customer Reviews for Motorola,Q9,723755936614,B000UWGN7C, |
