Motorola RAZR MAXX V6

The good:

• Handles multimedia very well
• Thinner than the V3x
• Shows off Next G internet and video capabilities nicely

The bad:

• Performance issues
• Basic design has been around since 2004
• Need to buy a microSD card if you want to store a lot of songs

The bottomline:

It's a little unstable and the menu needs a revamp, but the MAXX offers an easy way to dive into Next G.

Design
Take a look at any phone from Motorola's RAZR line-up, from the original V3 to the garishly golden D&G model, and you'll see the basic design of the MAXX. More than two years since the RAZR form factor first appeared, Motorola is still clinging to the now iconic look, with just a few tweaks to the surfaces and specs.

The MAXX sees the addition of three touch-sensitive music keys beneath the external display that light up when pressed. The materialising keys are eerily similar to the song navigation keys that appear on the glassy black surface of the clamshell LG U830. Let's not cry copycat though -- LG's buttons are red while the MAXX's are electric blue. (If you take a look at Samsung's A701, you'll also see the same external button line-up, this time rendered in white.)

At 53mm by 104.5mm by 15.5mm and weighing 105g, the MAXX is thinner and lighter than Motorola's 3G V3x, but a few millimetres thicker than the original V3. The internal display is bright and built for Web browsing, with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

There's just one port on the MAXX: a mini USB jack that accepts an AC charger, USB cable or headset. Simplicity can be a virtue, but the single socket doesn't allow for multitasking while you're powering up. The microSD slot is also not accessible without opening the back cover -- it's hidden underneath the battery.

In comparing Moto's recent models with the phones released by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson, we can't help but observe that Motorola seems to be doing a bit of laurel-resting. While the original RAZR represented a smoking-hot shake-up of the mobile market, it was released over two years ago. It's fine to bask in the glow that a hugely successful product brings, but if Motorola is going to keep releasing phones that are near-identical in design, we'd like to at least see an interface overhaul -- those menu graphics are beginning to look pretty dated.

Features
As with the Samsung A701, many of the MAXX's noteworthy features come from the Telstra Next G network rather than the phone itself. Due to the higher downloads speeds possible on HSDPA, video has been given star billing, with Telstra offering news services and Foxtel on Next G handsets.

The music player can handle a variety of formats including MP3, WMA, WAV and AAC files, but you'll need to shell out for a microSD card if you want to build up a formidable playlist: the internal memory is 50MB.

A 2-megapixel camera above the external display and a VGA version on the inside of the clamshell hinge round out the photo- and video-capture facilities.

There is also support for the A2DP Bluetooth profile, meaning the phone is compatible with wireless stereo headphones.

Performance
Our MAXX suffered from a few inexplicable quirks -- occasionally it took the questionable initiative to turn itself off after being left alone for a few hours, and required a reboot. It also froze a couple of times during Web browsing.

The blue music navigation buttons that materialise on the phone's external surface look very smart, but can be a little slow to respond to touch. Because they are sections of the glossy shell, rather than actual buttons, it can be difficult to tell whether your touches have registered, meaning you may occasionally skip through more tracks than intended.

Given the music keys' sensitivity, you will also want to ensure that you lock the phone from accidental touches when listening to your tunes. This can be done by scrolling through the music menu using the up/down button on the left.

The MAXX handles multiple tasks well; if you are listening to a song while browsing the Web, and encounter online audio or video, the song will stop, then resume after you've had your Internet multimedia fix.

With the higher download speeds of HSDPA, cruising around the Web is a much smoother experience than you'll get via WAP. The Opera 8 browser is fine, but lacks the funky extra features (such as mini snapshots of full Web pages) found in Nokia's series 60 browser. Due to the text entry method, filling in forms online also takes longer than it would on a Sony Ericsson or Nokia phone.

We found the PC software (Motorola Phone Tools) easy to use for transferring multimedia to and from the phone and syncing information with Outlook.

If you're a fan of the RAZR form factor, and want to get a piece of the fast-mobile-downloads action, the MAXX will serve you better than the chunkier V3x. It did prove a little unstable during our testing though, and a quick survey of online opinions suggests we weren't alone in experiencing a performance issue or two. If you're more interested in the offerings of Telstra's Next G network, we'd suggest taking a look at the very similar-looking (but slightly less jazzy) Samsung A701.

Battery

• Talk time
• 4

• Standby time
• 330

Camera

• Camera resolution
• 2-megapixel

• Digital zoom
• 8 x

• Video capture
• Yes

Connectivity

• Networks
• GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900

• Wireless technology
• 3G, Bluetooth (A2DP)

• USB connectivity
• Yes

Display

• Main display: Screen resolution
• 240 x 320 pixels

• Main display: Number of colours
• 262k

• Secondary display: number of colours
• 65k

Entertainment

• Video player
• Yes

• Music player
• Yes

Functionality

• Supported audio file formats
• AAC, AAC+, AAC+ Enhanced, AMR NB, AMR WB, MP3, RA v9, WAV, WMA v9, XMF

• Supported video file formats
• MPEG4, WMV v9 ,RV v9, H.263

• Video calls
• Yes

• Web browser
• Opera 8

General

• Phone type
• Fashion

• Form factor
• Clamshell

• Dimensions (W x D x H)
• 53 x 15.5 x 104.5 mm

• Weight
• 105 g

Memory

• Internal memory
• 50 MB

• Expansion slot
• MicroSD

By CNET Au

Moto Q8

Phone type	Quadband
Networks	GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
Connectivity options	EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth, USB
Weight w/battery	115 g
Battery type(s) supported	Rechargeable 1,170mAh battery
Max. talktime (in hours)	5 hours
Max. standby time (in hours)	240 hours
Additional functions	802.11b/g Wi-Fi supported via miniSDIO; Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (full Web browsing, document viewing and editing)

Moto Q9

By Andrew Lim
Aug 09, 2007

For years Motorola has produced handsets firmly based on its best seller, the RAZR V3. Fortunately, the Motorola Q 9 (previously known as the Motorola Q q9 and Q 9h or Q9h) breaks away from the thin clamshell design we know a little too well and is a slim, BlackBerry-style device that features a full QWERTY keypad and Windows Mobile 6.

Design
Motorola is starting to break away from its clamshell roots and produce handsets that look and feel different. The Q 9 is a smart phone designed primarily for texting and emailing. Similar to BlackBerry handsets, the Q 9 is wide enough (67mm) to accomodate a large screen and full QWERTY keypad, but it's also only 12mm thin, which means it fits in your pocket and doesn't cause too much disruption.

The keypad is really well designed and we found it good for writing out long emails and text messages. Each key on the keypad is raised in the middle, making it easier to distinguish between them, and the keypad is curved, which matches the movement of your thumbs better than a straight one.

The color screen is relatively large and satisfactory for reading long documents and emails on, but we think it could have been made wider still. Also, instead of a scroll wheel for scrolling through emails, Motorola has added a simple up, down and select button system on the top-right side, which some people might not like.

Features
The Motorola Q 9 runs on Windows Mobile 6 Standard, which among other things means it supports push email through Exchange Servers, in addition to letting you set up push email via a Windows Live Hotmail account. You now also have the option to access emails through a BlackBerry server, using RIM's Windows Mobile 6 application.

There's HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity for browsing and both Internet Explorer Mobile and Opera Mobile browsers are preinstalled. Unfortunately, there's no Wi-Fi, but Motorola claims this is to increase battery life. HSDPA can currently achieve speeds of up to 1.8Mbps in the UK and we found it worked well, making browsing the Web a fast and enjoyable process.

Email and processing features aside, Motorola has made sure this phone isn't just about business. The Q 9 also features Windows Media player that lets you watch online video and play MPEG4 and WMV video files among others, and supports a variety of music formats, including MP3 and AAC+.

You can listen to music using the proprietary headphones or use a pair of stereo-Bluetooth (A2DP) headphones. On the back of the Q 9 there's a 2-megapixel camera that takes acceptable pics for MMS messages and mementos, but don't expect to print out large, clear photos.

On the left side of the Q 9 there's a handy expandable microSD slot that supports up to a 2GB card, which will hold around 400 songs and plenty of shots from the built-in camera.

Other Q 9 features include light-sensing technology that optimises the screen's brightness depending on the ambient light, USB 2.0 connectivity for quick data transfer with your PC, and quadband connectivity, which means you can use it in any country that supports a GSM network.

Performance
Audio quality during calls was good and unlike many other smart phones didn't sound distorted or muffled. The speaker phone mode is loud and easy to access using a dedicated key on the keypad. The stereo Bluetooth works fine--we used a pair of Philips SHB6102 Bluetooth headphones without any problems.

The picture quality from the 2-megapixel camera was, as expected, not great and most pictures looked blurry when printed out at full size. Looking at pictures and videos on the Q 9's screen, however, was good and you can use Sling Media's SlingPlayer Mobile in conjunction with a Slingbox to watch your TV on it too.

There are two processors inside, which means there wasn't much lag while starting and using various applications at the same time. Relative to other smart phones running Windows Mobile, the Q 9 was quick to respond and seemed pretty smooth overall.

Battery life was acceptable, lasting for over a day without needing to recharge. Motorola quotes it at 260 minutes worth of talk time and 510 hours of standby.

Conclusion
There are loads of rivals out there--the BlackBerry 8800 has GPS, and the Samsung i600 and Palm Treo 750v also have QWERTY keypads, but the Q 9 beats them all on the strength of its keypad alone. It's one of the best we have ever used.

Add to that HSPDA connectivity and a decent-sized screen and you have a worthy rival to RIM and Palm's offerings. Our only niggles are the lack of a scroll wheel and Wi-Fi, but otherwise this is one of the best smart phones around.

Rating: 8 out of 10

The good: QWERTY keypad; HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity; dual processors.

The bad: No Wi-Fi; screen could be slightly wider.

The bottom line: The Q 9 has one of the best smart phone keypads we have used and the Windows Mobile 6 software moves along fairly speedily. It's definitely one of the better models out there at the moment.