Hands on with the Motorola Q

A couple of weeks ago I promised hands-on coverage of the Motorola Q, the hot new smart phone that everyone's raving about. Well, my first phone vanished somewhere in transit, but I've finally been able to spend some time with a replacement unit. Sorry for the delay.

I'm pleased to report that first impressions are completely on target.

First, there's the size: For a phone with this many features, the Q is ridiculously small, easily able to fit in a pants or shirt pocket without much trouble. But less has been written on how surprisingly light the Q also is. Compared to a Treo, it's light as a feather (a mere four ounces), and the Treo is hardly a brick.

Using the keyboard is not nearly as tough as I'd feared it would be. The folks at Moto obviously spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make such tiny keys usable. They did so by angling the keys on the left toward the left, and those on the right toward the right. It's a subtle change, but it does make it easier to hit the right button with your thumb, and I almost never missed a stroke in my testing.

The screen is excellent, and photos look very good, thanks to the 1.3-megapixel camera it includes. Shooting video with the Q is a bit trickier: Move much during your shot and you'll have a massive blur on your hands.

Like other reviewers, I wish the Q had integrated Wi-Fi, even if it meant adding another ounce to the weight of the unit. Connecting a phone to a computer is never easy, though at least the Q includes the USB cable you need to do it (unlike the Razr, for example).

So far, I love the Q. It's not outfitted for heavy business use (with minimal support for Office documents), but that's probably not the target market of the phone. If you're a jet-setter looking for a lighter way to get your email while still being able to make calls, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Q.