Motorola MOTO Q9m™

Call Quality

Call quality: Call quality on the Motorola Q9m was great. Callers often said we came through loud and clear, and they could rarely tell when we were using the speakerphone. However, we should note that after a call ended, we often had to switch off the speakerphone manually – it didn’t automatically turn off at the end of a call. For our part, we could also hear callers loud and clear, rarely using the side scroll wheel to adjust the volume.

Audio quality: Music playback on Motorola Q9m cell phone is decent, but we don’t recommend ditching your MP3 player in favor of this device. There were occasions when we found the audio quality to be tinny, but overall, music playback was acceptable through the cell phone’s speaker. However, we did need to use the side controls to increase volume often. Since the Q9m lacks an included headset, you’ll have to get a Bluetooth-enabled model if you want to listen to music through headphones.

Ease of Use

Menu/phone book: The Motorola Q9m offers a few different options for viewing the main screen. There’s the carrier’s version of the home screen, which looks like a glorified music player. Or you can choose either the old-school or latest version of Windows Mobile (we found the latter easiest on the eyes). If you select this version, the top line of the screen displays icons to the most recently used apps for easy access. Since the Motorola Q9m uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Edition 6, it’s no wonder the main interface looks so similar to your computer desktop; it works the same way too. While this OS is an improvement over Microsoft Windows Mobile Edition 5, the changes are far from revolutionary. Besides the faster delivery of e-mail (and relatively easy setup) and the inclusion of mobile versions of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, there’s not a whole lot extra going on here. The nice thing about having the actual applications is that you can view, create, edit, and send documents on the go, which makes working outside the office a better experience.

One of the reasons people opt for a smartphone is for its syncing capabilities, and we’re happy to report that you can sync your cell phone with more than just calendar appointments and contacts with the included ActiveSync software. Since the Motorola Q9m’s address book is essentially a mini version of Microsoft Outlook, the cell phone provides plenty of room to store actual addresses and other pertinent information, such as e-mail addresses, contact numbers, and details of calendar appointments. Astonishingly enough, it also offers spaces for more information than you may even have for a person. For example, there are slots for Government ID and Assistant information. Additionally, once you add calendar appointments to the cell phone, the time and relevant information will appear on the screen. However, you will likely have to spend a decent amount of time customizing the cell phone’s features to fit your needs. For example, the smartphone is automatically set up to not save copies of sent text messages.

Messaging: If you’re considering getting this cell phone, its e-mail capabilities should be a top reason. Since the Motorola Q9m uses Microsoft software, it handles mail from Microsoft Outlook extremely well, especially if your company has the appropriate Exchange Server (check with your IT department to find out if the Motorola Q9m will connect with work e-mail out of the box). If your company doesn’t use the correct server, you may have trouble making a connection.

The smartphone supports POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP protocols, among others, which means you can access just about any of your e-mail accounts. You can even set up multiple mailboxes, one for each account. If you want to send an IM from this cell phone, you’ll need to download the application since there aren’t any preloaded options. However, we should note that if you plan on leaving IM activated for most of the day, it will quickly drain the battery. As far as text messaging goes, it’s easy to type out messages on the mini-keyboard, and it usually does a good job predicting the words or phrases you’re about to type, which expedites things. Unfortunately, there aren’t any time stamps on messages. The bad news is that if you want to save sent messages, you’ll need to set that up separately.

Camera/video: The Motorola Q9m sports a 1.3-megapixel camera with a flash that could easily do double duty as a flashlight in a dark room. While there’s a translucent gray screen next to the lens where you can see a bit of yourself on the back of the smartphone, it doesn’t really work for framing and snapping self-portraits. As for picture quality, it's acceptable but far from fabulous. And while the phone's homemade videos aren't stellar, the shape and quality of the Motorola’s display makes playback quite enjoyable. Additionally, we should note that adjusting image settings isn’t exactly intuitive; however, you can adjust Mode, Brightness, Resolution, Zoom, and White Balance.

Music: As expected, the Motorola Q9m’s music player is closely tied to Microsoft; in fact, Windows Media Player is the default player. Thus, you can listen to MP3, Microsoft WMA, and Apple AAC files on the Q9m. If you want to use the included syncing cable to port songs from your computer to the smartphone, you’ll need to have Windows Media Player 10 or later to get it to work. Of course, you can always store songs on the included MiniSD card and insert it into the Motorola Q9m. About that MiniSD card, the version included with the Q9m is actually an adapter that comes with a more standard MicroSD card. Additionally, if you want to create playlists, you can’t do so on the cell phone. Instead, you need to prepare it in Windows Media Player on your computer, then sync it with the Motorola Q9m.

Connectivity/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi: You can do a lot with Bluetooth on this cell phone. Besides being able to connect easily to a Bluetooth headset (we found call quality was acceptable with the Motorola H500), you can use it to sync up info (such as contacts, music, pictures, video, ringtones, and calendar) between your Q9m and other compatible Bluetooth-enabled devices.

This smartphone offers a few other connectivity options. With an unlimited data plan and the included USB-to-mini-USB cable, you can use the Motorola Q9m as a wireless modem for your computer; you’ll just need to download the appropriate software from your carrier. If you prefer Wi-Fi, that’s an option as well via an optional WiFi MicroSD card; simply insert the card into your smartphone and you’ll be able to log onto nearby Wi-Fi networks to surf the wireless Web, as well as send and receive e-mail.

Design

Look and feel: There’s no denying that the Motorola Q9m is a good-looking smartphone, with its fire-engine-red sides, black rubberized back, and large, bright screen. It’s slim and it’s sleek. The bright display is downright beautiful and ideal for viewing videos (unfortunately, that activity tends to drain battery life); it's also viewable in most lighting situations. As noted, the Q9m sports a rubbery black backing similar to the Motorola Pebl's, so it won’t easily slide around on a table and is comfortable to hold in the hand. Admittedly, it is a little awkward to manipulate if you have smaller hands. Perhaps the best design feature is the inclusion of both a side scroll wheel and a four-way navi-key, which makes navigating the menu and the overall interface a lot easier. However, it's a bit quirky and not nearly as intuitive as we'd prefer.

Keypad: At first glance, the black keypad looks a bit cramped. We’re not saying that it isn’t; however, since the keys are curved, typing on the keyboard is acceptable, especially for those with smaller fingers. As noted above, the predictive text application is pretty good on the Motorola Q9m, so in reality, you’ll probably be typing about half a message or document. The only issue we really had trouble with is the numeric keypad; we misdialed quite a bit, and having to hold down the FN key to choose a number while typing a message was irksome. Perhaps this wouldn’t be such an issue if the FN key was located away from the number keys.

Battery Life

The Motorola Q9m's battery performance was not as robust as we would have preferred. If you’re using this cell phone more for calls than messaging and other work-centric features (such as automatically checking for e-mail hourly or more frequently), it should last about a day and a half before it needs to be recharged. However, if you want to use the more multimedia-rich applications such as the music player, the camera, or video playback, you’ll need to recharge daily. Additionally, you can use the included USB cable to charge the Motorola Q9m when it’s connected to your computer; however, there’s no guarantee the computer will be able to charge the smartphone (it varies, based on what the computer is doing).