The Motorola Q vs. the Treo 650

By request, the new Motorola Q Smartphone side-by-side with the Treo 650. Click to see the rest of our hot smartphone-on-smartphone action.

Menage a trois?

A little bonus shot of the Q side-by-side with the BlackBerry 7100v.

[yo mama @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

that thing is monstrous! does moto really envision a lot of people lugging that wide load around? ;)

[Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

ill take the treo, please. i dont like the blackberry's keyboard and that q is looking stupider every time.

[Nobuyuki Idei @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

hello moto...

goodbye moto...

[Lectiod @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

who else beside me is tired of reading about a new phone on engadget every 12 minutes? we need more caption contests, those are great.

[Goodman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

also, i like that the treo keyboard lights up.

[Joe @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

where'd they get that mac os x theme for the phone app on the treo? that's darn cool!

[Adam @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

what gui program is that treo 650 running in the top picture?

[deadmonkey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

franklin? spanklin! i want one. now. from a corporate infrastructure perspective these are much easier and cheaper to support than the bb. sick of reading about new phones? move along to another blog.

[Sam @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#1: it's actually much, much thinner than the treo. i have a treo 650, and i would prefer the moto q form factor if only the screen were higher res.

#4: let's keep the phone gadgets on engadget and move the caption contests off to a caption contest blog.

[Homer J @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

this phone is a photoshop joke right?!?!

its wider and longer, and has a smaller screen? as far as thin, i notice my 650 in my pocket less than i did my kyocera se47 (which btw was not a bad phone) so width is not an issue.

moto as of late has been all flash and no substance. no way i am paying $400 for a nice looking phone agian - that ended with the v60.

nice try moto, but back to the drawing board. blackberry can breath a sigh of relief....

[Seth @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

no kidding, where can i get that os x theme?

[QP @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

the main issue with the treos is they suck! we've bought 5 different people treo 600's, 4 of them have had to be replaced, one of them had to be replaced twice. (our us company reports similar issues)

we have 1 treo 650 - it's also been in for repairs.

now treo+goodlink+exchange = connected goodness, but the treo's seem to break if you look at them funny. i wonder if any of these newer devices are advanced in the realm of qa - if they are and they can run goodlink, than sign me up!

[Kent Pribbernow @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#6 do a google search for "skinner". it's a skinning app for the treo phone screen. i'm running the same theme on my treo. i think it's called osx tiger.

[illwafer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

smartphones are very disappointing. you always find yourself wanting to touch the screen.

[Aaron Ardiri @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#13 - treo 650 has a touch screen.

[Frankenstein Black @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

moto, moto, moto. what are you doing? when it comes to mobile devices like this, real-estate utilization is key! suggestion: how about extending the screen size by moving the keypad down to all of that blank space below. and all of that space on the sides of the screen reminds me of a big old laptop with a 12in screen. now i know you folks have studied competing devices. notice how elegant the treo utilizes every inch of real-estate.

[philmeanslove @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

does the q's keyboard not have a backlight?! i find it hard to believe that moto would ditch it to save space.

[Jon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i'll take the treo for many reasons, not the least of which is its proven os --- windows mobile 5.0 is going to have countless bugs for its first year of release. ms products always have 'em. . . . .

[Sean Ingram @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

the skin is from skinner.

http://www.79bmedia.de/content/view/72/99/

try not to laugh to hard at the patriotic and cowboy themes. embarassing!

[yo mama @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#8 sam,

i didn't say that it was thicker, i said it was wider.

[Steve K @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

to all those poo-pooing the size of the q, a big poo-poo to you, too! it's not that bad. it's only slightly wider than the treo, but much sleeker and sexier!

i like the design of it and the thumbboard looks like it would be much more comfortable to type on than the treo, but, as some have mentioned, motorola could've taken advantage of surface area by increasing the screen, but alas has failed to do so. poo-poo!!!

[philmeanslove @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

the q has electro-luminescent keys so disregard my last post. anywho, i think the treo is probably more comfortable to use, touchscreen, better shape for holding, etc but i would consider it if it were cheaper.

[Michael L. Wilkerson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i don't know if i'm the only one interested in this or not, but i just want a phone that i can talk on, listen to others, and not drop calls! i don't care about a 1.3 res camera on my phone, my 4.5 digital camera does just fine for those moments when i need to take a picture. a wireless headset would be nice, but if it's like my daughter's, you hear everything going on in a 360� radius! just give me something to talk on!

[ET @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

that moto is already outdated. it's thin. that's all it's got going for it. the keys look very uncomfortable, the space below the keys is klunky looking, and the screen is dim and small. i thought my 650's screen was small, but damn.

nice first try moto, but to beat the treo you've gotta take that thing back to the drawing board. otherwise, depend only on moto fanboi's to buy that thing.

[Cazi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i like the clean look of the integrated antenna on the q.

[kerry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

#14:
windows smartphone doesn't do touchscreens, so i would imagine this moto device doesn't have one.

[MobilePaddy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i remember serveral months back when the mpx got cancelled that there was rumours that there will be a razr type mpx phone coming out. is this it? i presume not since it doesnt have the clamshell hinge. anyone hear anything on a follow up to the mpx?

[James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i am not saying the q is perfect, but the treo is crap.
sure the treo might work ok, but the form factor is lousy and you still look like a nerd carrying/using one of those things:)
blackberry generally has the right size, but with long fingers, the keyboard is not comfortable to use.
i use a sidekick ii. its not the greatest and t-mobile service generally sucks, but i use it for data only so its ok. i would never suggest using it as a phone. i would certainly swtich to something better if i found it, but for now the sidekick offers the most confortable typing.

[philmeanslove @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

have you (25) ever carried a treo 650 around? i dont think treonauts care what they look like as long as girls still want to put their phone numbers in it whenever they see it. the only issues with the treo are the stability, memory, etc. etc. problems that are being addressed, even by cingular finally. can i get an amen?

[Magneto Man @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

ok. let's look at this from a market penetration and market evolution perspective.

people with treo's today are what we might call "early adopters" of divices with advanced features. right? early adopters know they have something cool and are willing to pay a premium to get new devices and are also willing to go through extra hoops to make things work.

but the number of treo's sold to regular joe's (people who are waiting for the more consumer friendly and cheaper version -- is pretty small.

the q is for the regular joe. the critical factor is it runs a version of an operating system that millions and millions of regular joe people have used for years. that is why the q is kind of cool. for the regular joe, who is not an early adopter of sophisticated mobile devices. regular joe might like the expanded capabilities that early adopter treo people have had for a while already -- but now available via an interface that regular joe already feeels familar with.

what remains to be proven is that this motorola smartphone device works better than previous motorola smartphones -- which have kind of sucked. if it doesn't, then get yerself an htc or samsung device. :-)

[Jimmy C @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

is it me or is "q" just about the most impossible of search terms?

[Skeletor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

i'll stick with my motrola a780, because all three of the above phones are pieces of schlit.

[Lou Novak @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

here's one big difference between the 650 and q: i have a 650 in my hand. when we finally get a q on the streets, i'll gladly compare it to my 650 (or maybe 700 if i'm lucky). as to the ms mobile os being the same os as is used by millions of regular joes, i have to ask 'what are you smoking?'

[bobby @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

oy vey, could we stop the fanboy/hater comments?

1) the treo 650 has had quality assurance issues as far as i can gather. but people said the same about the 600 and i used it for 2 years straight with out a day off with no problems. so lets take those types of problems for what they are occasional not rampant.

2) the "sexiness" issue. this is personal preferance. the fact of the matter is on pure aesthetics and ergonomics nobody is ever going to be completly happy with one phone or the other. fact the q is wide and skinny, the treo is slimmer and fatter. depending on the size of your hands and pockets one might make more sense to you btu neither is so much smaller as to make it a clearly "better" product (ex: razr is a clearly better product than the old moto brick phones)

3) the feature set issue is one of trade offs. would i like to a touch screen? sure, but im not gunan die without it. do i believe win mob 5 will be bug free and run perfect out of box? no, could it still be a great operating system for intergration with my corporation's exchange server? absolutly (if you dont have exchange this doesnt matter to you, if u have blck berry servers, get a black berry, if your an independant operator get a treo there ar emillions of email programs for it.)

4) in the end i like the idea of a landscape sized screen but will reserve judgement on the brightness issue until i see it first hand. the keyboard is a total toss up each persons hands are different and u dont know till u try it. minisd is annoying (i have lots of sd), 1.3 megapixels is good. lets wait and see what highspeed this thing supports if i can get my evdo on this bad boy and quad band gsm so i can take it over seas it would be a winner.

all in all this is a fasion/smart phone that is gunan cost $500+ it is not for your average joe by any stretch of the imagination (windows or not) this is once again for early adopters, business people, and tech geeks like us. do not get it mixed up this is not aimed at somebody who cant progrm a damn vcr its for people who understand the trade offs and can decide for themselves.

//rant off

[Kent Pribbernow @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

agreed, magneto man. frankly i think direct comparisons with this device to the treo are flawed. "q" seems targeted at the mainstream smartphone, or blackberry segment.

and for those of you griping about the lack of a touch-screen...why the need? stylus (or should that be styli?) is a pda convention. this isn't a pda. and frankly wm 5 offers complete one-handed operation and navigation without any need for a stylus.

just adding a qwerty keyboard to windows mobile smartphone is a dramatic step in the right direction. i like what i see, but like everyone else...i need a review model in my hands before i can pass summary judgement. one thing is for certain; if this is a glimpse of things to come, 2006 is going to be a big year for windows mobile.

[Olaf @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

why does it take motorola until q1 to bring the q to market? it looks pretty finished to me. build it and i�ll buy it - actually 2, my wife wants one too.

[L'Emmerdeur @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

1. no touch screen? i use my treo 600 with one hand all the time, but it still has a touch screen for performing tasks like selecting text for copy/paste. this reminds me of apple's ipod shuttle "innovation", where they took out the screen and marketed it as a "feature".

2. smaller screen than a treo. instead, they use the space for... plastic cover? half the real estate on the front of that phone is blank space. the four-way and the call/end buttons look like crap.

3. no wifi? no 3g? welcome to 1997.

4. those with taste recognize that the treo is much more stylish. those without - this bud's for you!

switching to waiting for specs on the next treo in 3, 2, 1...

[Cullen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

right on, #35.
next phone i get will be 3g - wifi doesnt matter that much to me, as im buying a phone not a pda, but itd be nice. the treo is like a ... curvy woman :] its a beautiful piece of machinery, and it works as well as it looks. its thick, but it fits inyour pocket enough so that when you kneel, it wont bend it from the pressure of your pants, etc. its a very nice size, and feels sturdy in your hand.
ive never posted so much on one topic, but i jsut got fired and have way too much time on my hands.

[Steamboat Springs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

any thoughts on whether verizon will pick it up? within this decade?

[thomas l houtt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

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i want to bring you this attention that i want to place an order in yuor store if you are intrested kindly reply to me.
thanks and regards
thomas l houtt.

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

this is what moto essentially did:
take a treo, make it thinner but wider, waste some valuable front end real estate, substitute ms mobile for the palm os, and try to market it like some sort of breakthrough.

sorry, but i don't buy it and i think many others feel the same way. this device is already obsolete before it it launched; it's just playing catchup with the treo.

by the time this hits, it will be close to a launch date for a new treo.

all this phone has going for it is its thinness, which is just a gimmick.

i also agree with some of the other analysis here: look at the front and marvel at the amount of valuable real estate that moto has wasted and left unused. it's really quite pathetic for a company like moto. come on moto, you can do better.

make better use of the real estate, add in wifi and maybe even some form of 3g support, and then you might have some takers. until then, this is a pretty lame gimmicky device that will just cost alot. i was amused at someone's comment that this device is for the "average joe"...wait until the price is revealed, and we'll see how many "average joes" gobble this thing up.

[Magneto Man @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

cingular will no doubt follow a similar pricing strategy with the q as they did with the razr. start high, and in 12 months drop to around $199, without a plan.

this q thing is going to compete more with blackberries, not treos.

an upgrade to the q will need to include a few more bells and whistles before if competes with a treo.

in the meantime, i'm sticking to my smt5600. it gives me what i need for now, even without a keyboard.

treo-fans: check out the specs on the smt 5600 and see what you think. this phone is free with a 2-year contract.

[dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

l'emmerdeur, can you please point me to the treo that offers wifi or 3g access? or is that device so 1997 also? i prefer a touch screen too, and am disappointed this isn't going to be offered as a wm phone edition, instead of smart phone. but come on, try to keep your comparison consistent.

for those complaining about the free space on the q - i actually think the space below the keyboard is a good thing and make the keyboard much more ergonomic to use. hold a device with a thumboard in both hands and tell me where your thumbs naturally rest. i bet they point up at about a 45 degree angle from your hand, about where the keyboard on the q is. makes perfect sense to me.

[dqs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Two words: Battery life.

If Moto Q has battery longevity, I'll consider switching from my battery hogging 650. I need three chargers - home, car, office - to keep it alive. (I know, I could carry around one adapter, but if you forget it, you're doomed.)

Not holding my breathe though; I have yet to see a PDA/phone combo with a nice, bright screen that can go more than a day with constant use.

[yo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

You can bet your ass goodlink will run on these from day 1.

[Crazy Vincent @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

I want my MPx.

[Dean Norm @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Moto can't move the keyboard down any further, because that huge plastic piece at the bottom that looks like some kind of scoop from an old dodge is where the antenna is.

[kyle @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

I like being on the cutting edge and going backward is not for me. Although microsoft has its problems, they are not proprietary and therefore abundant software is always available and cheap. I wish my imate pda2k could be upgraded to windows mobile 5.0. As much as it cost, I've yet to see anything close.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:18AM]

Interestingly enough, all the Q's photos here display a drained BATTERY charge.