Motorola Q9c (Verizon Wireless)

First announced at CTIA 2008 (but available at Sprint since November), the Motorola Q9c is finally available at Verizon Wireless. Unlike the previously released Motorola Q9m, the Q9c ditches some of the multimedia goodness, namely V Cast support, in favor of integrated GPS to provide a more useful tool to road warriors. In addition, the Windows Mobile 6 smartphone offers EV-DO support, Bluetooth, and solid messaging and productivity apps to keep the mobile professional satisfied. It's not perfect, of course. The device can get bogged down at times, and you'll have to deal with some of the usual Windows Mobile headache. However, the Motorola Q9c is a nice alternative if you don't want a BlackBerry, and you can't beat its affordable price tag of $129.99 with a two-year contract and after discounts.

Design
Physically, the Motorola Q9c doesn't differ too much from the Motorola Q9m. It carries the same footprint at 4.6 inches high by 2.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch deep and 4.7 ounces, so it's certainly not the sleekest or sexiest smartphone on the market. The device also retains the same 2.4-inch, 65,000-color TFT nontouch display with a 320x240 pixel resolution. However, you do lose the Q9m's dedicated multimedia menu and red edges, which are replaced by Verizon's default Home page and a silver border. The number keys are also highlighted in blue instead of red.

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Aside from these minor variations, the navigation buttons, full QWERTY keyboard, and other controls are the same as the other Q9c models. To learn more about the Motorola Q9c's design, please check our review of the Motorola Q9c for Sprint.

Verizon Wireless packages the Motorola Q9c with an AC adapter, a USB cable, two software CDs, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ring tones, and help page.

Features
While the Motorola Q9m has more of a multimedia focus, the Motorola Q9c is aimed for the road warrior with its integrated GPS, various wireless options, and productivity apps. The smartphone runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (no Windows Mobile 6.1 yet) with the enhanced personal information management tools outlined in our review of WM6. It also ships with Microsoft's Direct Push technology, so you get real-time e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization with your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts via Exchange Server. There's support for other e-mail solutions, as well, including Good Mobile Messaging and Verizon's Wireless Sync. There is, of course, continued support for POP3 and IMAP accounts.

As for productivity apps, the Q9c goes the way of the Motorola Q9h and ships with Dataviz's Documents to Go instead the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite for viewing and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. This isn't a bad thing since the Dataviz suite gives you the ability to create these files, too. As a Windows Mobile device, the default Web browser is Internet Explorer Mobile. Other tools include a calendar, a task list, a voice recorder, a memo pad, a conversion tool, and task and memory managers. You can, of course, add other applications; check out CNET Download.com for some suggestions. There's about 51MB of user-accessible storage, but the miniSD expansion slot can accept up to 8GB cards, so you should be good.

Mobile professionals on the go will also be happy to see the integrated GPS. With the addition of a location-based service or mapping software, you can turn the Moto Q9c into a handheld navigation device complete with color maps, driving directions, local search, and more. The Q9c does support Verizon VZ Navigator, which provides the above services in addition to traffic data. However, be aware that this is an add-on service and costs $9.99 per month or $2.99 for 24-hour access.

Voice features on the Motorola Q9c include a duplex speakerphone, voice dialing and commands, smart dialing, three-way calling, and text and multimedia messaging. The Q9c's phone book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry can hold multiple phone numbers and e-mail addresses, addresses for home and work, a job title, and more. For caller-ID purposes, you can assign a contact to a category or pair it with any of 22 polyphonic ringtones or a photo. Other wireless options on the Q9c include Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS. The Bluetooth can be used with mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, hands-free kits, file sharing, and dial-up networking. If you want to use the Q9c as a wireless modem for your laptop, you will need to subscribe to a BroadbandAccess Connect plan, which start at $15 per month.

The Moto Q9c is also an EV-DO handset, which means you can get data speeds of around 300Kbps to 600Kbps with the potential to hit up to 2.4Mbps. Unlike the Moto Q9m, however, the Q9c doesn't support Verizon's V Cast music and video services.

Though you don't get the V Cast multimedia services, you do get other avenues for enjoying music and video. The onboard Windows Media Player 10 Mobile offers support for a number of multimedia file formats, including AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-4, and WMV. There is an Audio Enhancement utility found under Start > Accessories where you can tweak the sound settings for the phone speaker as well as for your headset. If you have TV shows recorded on your Windows Media Center PC, you can transfer them to your device for on-the-go viewing. Alternatively, you can stream your home's TV programming right to your device with a Slingbox and SlingPlayer Mobile.

The Motorola Q9c is also equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, flash, and up to 6x zoom. For still images, you have your choice of three shooting modes and five resolutions. There are brightness and white balance settings that you can adjust to get the best picture. The options are a bit more limited in video mode, but there are only three quality settings, and brightness and white balance controls, as well.

Picture quality was sub-par. There was a bit of graininess to the images, and colors were washed out. Unfortunately, video quality was fairly poor as it produced a very pixilated picture.

Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) Motorola Q9c in San Francisco using Verizon Wireless service and call quality was great. We enjoyed crisp audio with very little to no distortion during conversations with friends and while using an airline's voice-automated response system. On the other end, callers had very little complaints, though they could hear an occasional echo. Speakerphone quality was also good with plenty of volume. We were able to successfully pair the Moto Q9c with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active headphones.

We experienced some general performance delays during our test period. The Q9c could get a bit bogged down when we had numerous applications running at the same time, particularly the multimedia functions, so we'd have to go the Task Manager and close out of some programs. As for multimedia performance, despite the dual speakers, we were a bit disappointed by the quality of music playback. There was a slight hollowness to the sound, though there was plenty of volume. Watching videos was fine in short spurts. Audio and picture always matched up, but as expected, there was some pixilation. We are currently waiting for Verizon to activate VZ Navigator on our review unit to test the GPS capabilities.

The Motorola Q9c's 1,170mAh lithium ion battery has a rated talk time battery life of 4.5 hours and up to 8 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, we were able to get 6 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. According to FCC radiation tests, the Moto Q9c has a digital SAR rating of 1.3 watts per kilogram.