MotoQ Update

Nothing big--but not sure yet, I have found the MotoQ has been giving me a couple problems. One with reception. With a regular phone you usually get good reception, also with the previous PDA I had I had excellent reception. Though on this MotoQ I've been noticing the reception is usually poor, very rarely I get more than 3 bars. It is usually at 0, 1, 2. I've also had several dropped called inside the building--where as with others I have never had one.

Finally, it happens randomly, I get a lot of, "excuse me , sir? I cant hear you." Or, "hello? Hello?!, hellloooo?!" while I am saying, "Hi!, Yes? Its me! Can you hear me?!" Then all of a sudden they hear me clear, wtf?! Not sure what this is about, gonna play with the sound configurations a bit.

MotoQ -- rocks

So yeah after deciding I hated the Audiovox xv6700 I moved to the Motorola Q CDMA Windows Mobile based smart phone. So far I like it. It has far less features and abilities than the xv6700, but many of them I did not use enough for me to miss them now. Eitherway, the MotoQ makes up for it with its easy of use, easy access to buttons and extremely ease of navigation! Yep, I can now be another addition to the "dangerous driver" category by using my phone while driving, woot!

The resolution is also higher and sharper which makes it very attractive. The slim look also is a cause for joy, where as the bulky fat 6700 made it look horrible.

The keys are well placed, along with the scrolling wheel on the side, very convenient. It can also be used for turning up or down the volume, and works great. It is very easy to get to know the key's functions and ALT options--these are all pluses!

Sound quality is great, even the quality of your ringer is clear. This of course was nothing new in the old phone, which too had good sound quality. It does come packed with a nice bundle of ringtones, and you can tell they tried to appeal to the trendy crowd with hip-hop/r&b type beats and tunes. They also included a couple rock clips, which sounded like a mixture of Static-X and maybe some Rob Zombie? Whatever.

Along with that, I do like some of the packed "themes" for your main menu, they have some nice ones.

The internet browser also works slightly better than the one from my old phone, I like it because it almost displays the page in near full size--but with the scroll wheel, its simple to navigate.

I don't like the battery cover. Its very very thin and very very cheap plastic, if you are not careful, it will break. Also, I dropped it once, not far up, but it fell on carpet and the battery flew out--shows how cheap the cover is.

Also, the casing itself could have been made of better plastic in my opinion--but whatever, its still a nice looking phone.

Of course it has a slot for MiniSD--though one small thing to complain about, the small plastic cover for the opening could have been designed easier to open, and maybe hard plastic rather than soft plastic which makes it much more difficult to get it open.

The speakphone feature in regards to volume works excellent, you can hear the person loud and clear and you can adjust the volume to your liking. Though one thing I did notice--was that I am told more than not, "excuse me sir? I can't hear you very well." It seems they are either deaf, or the phone loses amplification when used in speakerphone--because they can not hear me well unless i speak very closely and clearly into the small hole.

I do like the fact that you can actually turn the damn thing OFF! With the xv6700--you could not do so unless you took out the battery. You COULD tap the "power button" and it would turn off the screen along with the functions of the keys, but the phone was still on, (and no this is not just turning off the backlight, to do that you HOLD the power key).

Finally, one of the coolest features I like about this phone is that when the phone detects appointments or meetings in your calenders marked as "busy," you can set the phone to "Automatic Mode" and it will automatically silence itself during that time period marked in your schedule. Once the time is over, it turns itself back to "normal" mode. You can also edit the modes to your liking, for example--instead of it turning to Silent, you can set it to vibrate instead--whatever you wish.

The voice recognizer works ok. I dont use it much, but when I did, it was able to tell which contact I wanted--or at least a few contacts close to what I said :P.

Overall, I preferr this phone much more over the previous one, easy to use, stable and it looks sexy.

Oh wait--one problem that still seems to not have been fixed. I also saw it on the xv6700, so I think its more of a software specific problem rather than the phone itself. If you plan to use the "Wireless Sync" it seems to cause keys to lock up, malfunction or act sporadically--even dialing numbers at times! Once I uninstalled it, everything worked normal. Yes, the Wireless Sync was awesome, it works great, but after the first day of use and a few syncs, you begin to see problems, it seems more like a buggy Wireless Sync software--who knows. But other than that, the phone rocks.

PS. The speed of switching between menus or applications could be faster IMO. Its not a big deal really, but you do notice it lag every once in a while.

Also, the "memory leak" problem still exists, programs get left in memory causing you to repeatedly kill applications in the task manager (which you have to dig for).

Pocket PC -- PDA -- xv6700 -- Annoying

So anyway, yeah as I said before, I am managing the company's mobile phones, about 50 of them. For the most part there is not much to it except talking on the phone a lot with Verizon, Support or "ESN" changes. Since it is a corportate account, I dont have to worry too much about waiting on hold, the Verizon support usually pick up the line rather quickly.

I had some time to evaluate the Pocket PC XV6700 with the slideout keypad. I used it for about 2-3 months or so. For the most part it was a decent pocket pc, though my complaints grew quickly.

My first intention to use the Pocket PC for was its abilitiy to VPN. I saw it as an opportunity to use Terminal Services to connect to my server and fix small problems. Well here were some things I did not know before hand which I later found from using the feature.

• Terminal Services on the server must be set to a lower encryption setting, at least "medium." (this kinda sucks, otherwise it will not work from the PDA)
• Dialup sucks--it is slow.
• Many tedious steps in order to just make a vpn! For example, you had to first set the name and password for the connection. Sure you could save that information on the settings (but who wants to do that?) And even if you DO save your VPN credentials on the device, it conflicts with the regular internet dialup connection credentials, so then it pops up with another login prompt to supply the correct credentials. For some reason when you just want to use the internet on the device, it will begin connecting but it will attempt to use your VPN credentials. Its rather annoying!

Also, as I began to use it more, I found it difficult to dial numbers. Its no problem (and to be expected with a pda that uses a stylus) that you must use the stylus or just get good and using precision with your fingers to dial numbers or choose options! That was probably the most annoying thing, navigation! If you needed a specific option, it was quicker using the stylus BUT it was a pain, pulling the stupid thing out and using it. Whats worse is when you are driving, its much more difficult to dial a number quickly, it really forces you to focus more on the PDA than on the road. Of course we are not supposed to be dialing and driving at the same time anway but for a busy professional--who has time to stop and pull over to dial a number? A busy person that uses his phone a lot would want a phone with an easily accessible keypad.

Another thing I found that could use improvement is that fact that it holds in storage all applications, programs and tools you use on the device in memory, allowing these to become a sort of a memory leak (even though technically it is not since it is designed that way.) It is designed that way so that the next time you open the specific application or service, it opens quickly. Though it does more harm than good in my professional opinion. Why? Well since it allows programs to clog up the memory it causes the devices to become slow! Also, it does the same to websites you visit, the next time you click on internet explorer (just say a few days later) the same page is open from the last time, talk about a lack of privacy LOL. What is worse, during that time it keeps the connection alive (dialup). If you have a data plan you wont get charged for it until you actually use kbs but still, who wants the connection kept alive for hours?!

As for the cool looking key pad that slides out, I found it useless for the most part. If you are a guy like me that needs to get things done quickly and effeciently, the keypad is useless. For one, you have to slide it out. For two, you have to wait for the PDA to switch views, a few seconds to (landscape). Then you type. It is much quicker if you just pull out the stylus and start using the transcriber or the mini-keyboard on the screen. I prefer the transcriber though.

Yes, there is more. Adjusting the volume is annoying! While you are in a call and you cant hear the person, you first move is to turn up the volume. You do so and it makes a light beeping noise--actually they sound like *tink-tink-tink-tink!* Even seconds after you've let go of the button to turn it up, it continues to tink! Like it qued many tinks LOL! If you have it you know what I mean, it is ANNOYING!!!

One final thing that was annoying. On a Palm TREO 650 for example, if you send/recieve pix or videos, it works great and over the air. On the Pocket PC xv6700 with Windows Mobile 5.0, it seemed to work slightly different. AFTER hitting SEND (pic or vid) it would automatically first connect you (or attempt to if you are using a VPN, remember, credential issue), to the internet. If successful, then it would send it, it would notify you it was sent. Then on the recepients phone, (let us assume he TOO has the same phone), it would automatically dial his dialup and connect his internet connection without the person's permission. Then it would finally begin downloading the file.

So we have two main problems here. Cost and security. Cost if you dont have a data plan with unlimited data access, you will get charged PER KILO BYTE! It gets expensive quickly. There is no way around this, if you want to send pix or receive them and you do this alot, GET A DATA PLAN (about 40 bucks more a month.) Otherwise you will be spending too much money.

Now security, if anyone wanted your device connected to the internet, they would just have to send you a pic or video via email (anonymously) and get you online. Then if they knew your IP they could easily find a way to exploint your crappy phone. Sweet huh?! What is WORSE is that remember how I said it will STAY connected until you reset the phone? And who wants to reset the phone after ever internet use?! So yeah that sucks.

Its like, "oh you're not online!? Let me get you online!"

Now things that didn't annoy me much. Bubble popper was cool. Also, the Transcriber was awesome! It worked great, and if you played a little with it, it would eventually get to know your sloppy arse handwriting that it would get so good at transcribing your crap-slap-happy handwriting into text that it would speed up many of your text msgs or notes.

Yes taking notes was a breeze too, i used it a few times, (i wish i had more notes to take, it was fun to use.)

The convenient button for audio recording worked well too and at a very good quality. This is useful when you want to breach privacy and record people without them noticing! :-O

The camera was ok, it took decent pictures, it did have a cool panorama feature, which I never used--go figure.

Overall this device is "ok" and probably more popular among the teenage groups since it "looks cool." For a professional, I do not recommend it at all, I manage 5 of them, they all complain for various reasons, some are willing to go back to a normal cell phone.