The Jay Leno chin is gone, the color is much, well, blacker, and it's a true global phone. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference
Photo gallery:Motorola Q9m
Whether you love it or hate it, the Motorola Q did a lot for putting smart phones on people's radar. Its sleek QWERTY form factor set off a trend with mobile manufacturers, spawning lookalikes such as the Samsung BlackJack and the T-Mobile Dash. In addition, it attracted users beyond the business set; in fact, Motorola says that about 90 percent of Q owners were first-time smart phone buyers, attracting a lot of the younger set as well. Yet, despite the popularity of its design, we know that the Q had its fair share of problems (just check out some of the user opinions), namely poor battery life and sluggish performance. Now, a little more than a year later, the company is hoping to right some of those wrongs with the Q's successor, the Motorola Q9m.
Available through Verizon Wireless, the Motorola Q9m has added some notable improvements, including an excellent full QWERTY keyboard, a sexy trim, and Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition. Motorola also decided to give the Q9m a heavy multimedia focus, given the Q's popularity with the younger crowd and consumers in general. The smart phone supports Verizon's V Cast Music Store for over-the-air song downloads and even has a dedicated multimedia home screen. However, it seems the company didn't do enough under the hood to keep up with all these capabilities. While call quality was great, general performance was quite sluggish. Such results may be OK for the casual user, but mobile professionals and power users should steer clear of this device. The Motorola Q9m is available online starting today and will be in stores on August 29 for $249.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts.
