Sprint's Motorola Q finally goes on sale

It looks like "around mid-January" is finally upon us, and those looking to grab a dark grey Motorola Q with that unmistakable yellow splash screen need not wait any longer, as Sprint is officially loosing its rendition of the smartphone to citizens everywhere. You've all had time to deliberate by now, considering you've seen all the sneak peeks and even read a hands-on review, so now the real question is how certain are you about locking yourself into a two-year agreement with a provider that won't carry that oh-so-anticipated iPhone? Regardless, Sprint's offering up its Q for $199.99 after all applicable rebates and in exchange for two years of your cellular soul, or you can buy it outright for $449.99 if you should so desire.


[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[ben @ Jan 14th 2007 12:44PM]

...And for triple the price you can get an iPhone!

I'm still having trouble justifying the iPhone's price tag, but I want it so bad :(

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 14th 2007 5:39PM]

Ifr you just want a generic phone, then yeah, ot's hard to justify, but in a feature-to-feature comparison the iPhone excels over the other smartphones.

As a point of comparison, it was only years ago that the iPod Photo (pre-video) cost $599 and the original iPod with 5GB HDD and monochrome display cost $499.

If you plan to wait, the iPhone will surely drop in price in the first year, once the early adopters get their fix.

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2007 1:01PM]

If only the iPhone were for Sprint.

::Sigh::

@Ben: might be one of those "you get what you pay for" scenarios. we'll see.

[Cupajo @ Jan 14th 2007 1:10PM]

"might be one of those "you get what you pay for" scenarios. we'll see."

Not with an apple product it isn't.

[Raz 4 life @ Jan 14th 2007 1:35PM]

Oh, man. If the iPhone worked on Sprint or even Verizon, there is no doubt in my mind I would buy one. But since I get pretty much 0% Cingular coverage in my STATE, I can't buy one. One of three things need to happen: Cingular expands their network up to the Peace Garden State, Apple announces a CDMA iPhone, or I move to Minneapolis... I'm hoping for one of the first two.

[JWHEELS @ Jan 14th 2007 4:51PM]

My hesitation is when will the BB 8800 or even a pearl be out for Sprint? RIM should become more focused on Sprint business users with the competition of the iphone.

[Jeff @ Jan 14th 2007 2:40PM]

dont be a hater.

:P

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 14th 2007 5:39PM]

What? Cingular covers all of New Jersey. DOn't forget that Cingular owns AT&T and--as of tomorrow)--will be named renamed AT&T.

Apple won't announce a CDMA phone. It's older tech and not adopted by the rest of the world. That means extra expense R&D expense for Apple while taking a step back on technology. So what's up with no 3G, well, that will be offered, but as of right now the coverage for 3G networks is quite low.

Apple is pretty much forcing Cingular to change their entire infrastructure; this will undoubtedly force all the other carriers to change too. And lets not forget that phone manufactures have gone back to the drawing board to compete with Apple. The iPhone may not be a good fit for everyone, but the extra competition is good for all consumers as we will get better phones and service as a result.

Here is map of New Jersey's coverage: http://cingular.com/coverageviewer/?_requestid=46719

[Aaron Rodriguez @ Jan 14th 2007 1:52PM]

the iphone sans 3g network is going to blow... that wont matter if its on sprint or verizon until they bring 3g to the iphone its not going to benefit from sprints/verizons hsi network.

[Philip @ Jan 14th 2007 1:54PM]

Jesus, now every cell phone will be compared to an Apple product. Please, can we leave out all the comments about Apple?

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 14th 2007 5:39PM]

It's common to compare to the latest technology available as it sets a new standard.

[fearless_yakov @ Jan 14th 2007 1:57PM]

Will Sprint offer the BlackJack, do we think?

I think I win dumbass of the year award for switching from Big C to Sprint because I was too impatient to get my hands on the Treo 700p. I switched because I felt Cingular was behind the curve on new technology; now SPRINT is the one lagging, AND they have a smaller coverage area. Brilliant foresight, me.

[Nick R @ Jan 14th 2007 2:58PM]

one phone to rule them all: iPhone

[Tyler @ Jan 14th 2007 3:13PM]

Looks flippen cool :P

[wtf @ Jan 14th 2007 3:57PM]

ha! it's got one of those old skool "keyboard" things.

[Brian @ Jan 14th 2007 4:08PM]

Signed onto a Sprint Employee referral end of 2006, and got unlimited data + good minute plan (for me at least) for 30 bucks and some change a month. Can cingular match $30 VOICE+ UNL. DATA? Maybe not. It's the monthlies that kill you...or just me...currently providers charge $20 IN ADDITION to your voiceplan for data. So for now Sprint is good for me w/my 700WX. If AT&T offers a great price data plan w/iphone, well then...it's www.cellswaper.com for me!!

[nojok3 @ Jan 14th 2007 4:11PM]

This may sound really dumb but does anyone know of a gadget that will let you browse the web via wi-fi for free that is not named the sony mylo and would be cheaper than the sony mylo?

[Raz 4 life @ Jan 14th 2007 7:58PM]

Thanks for the map, but the Peace Garden State is North Dakota ;) I see... Garden State is New Jersey. But if you'd like a laugh: http://tinyurl.com/ykbjlc

[argonnj @ Jan 21st 2007 4:57PM]

CDMA old tech? I guess you don't know very much about cell phone tech. GSM is the older tech. CDMA is far superior to it in voice quality and data speeds. The only advantage GSM has is it is used in most of the world. Other then that, CDMA is newer and better.

[Anand Marathe @ Jan 14th 2007 6:21PM]

All this iPhone love is really making me a little ill. It's an attractive phone but without 3G and a serious email synch application, let's be serious the phone is a gimmick-y toy. Let's end the iPhone discussions and comparisons (at least until it proves its worth), please??

[comrade @ Jan 14th 2007 7:25PM]

Looks very last century. Almost looks retro...

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 14th 2007 8:14PM]

HEHE I wondered why you put "peace" before garden state. Cingular does have poor coverage in ND. At least I learned something new today about geography. It's like 6th grade all over again. :-)

PS: Thanks for acting civil and not going off about how stupid I am for not knowing that factoid.

[Robert @ Jan 14th 2007 9:08PM]

Whomever commented that CDMA is "older tech" needs to go to school again. Its a different standard, thats all and in use in much of the world including Japan and Korea. In fact the 3G networks rolled out by Cingular and others is in fact "WCDMA", so in a sense its GSM is the older technology.

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 15th 2007 8:59AM]

CDMA and WCDMA are not the same thing. CDMA is a 2G solution whereas WCDMA is a 3G. Having "mostly" the same letters in the same order doesn't make them the same thing.

[mike @ Jan 14th 2007 10:53PM]

yeah this thing is retro... tiny screen, tactile buttons, no gyrosensors... woo man.. like a trip back in time.. sweet

[boe @ Jan 14th 2007 11:51PM]

I'd also prefer the blackjack to the Q. As for all the talk about the iPhone, it does make you wonder if it is just planned obsolence on the part of motorola, samsung and HTC or another reason why they don't have an all touch screen 11mm thin, decent battery life, 320x480 PPC phone that is all PPC not that gimped smartphone crap. I certainly blame part of it on Sprint for picking only a couple of pda phones and for not seeking out thinner units that are the full PPC phone such as the eten glofish or HTC artemis.

The iphone if nothing else has set a bar for MS phones to compete with 11mm - again 11mm for a full OS phone - no more 11mm "smartphones" that ride the short bus of the PPC phone world. Maybe they should be more realistic and call smartphones special or differently abled, or application challenged.

Wasn't MS supposed to do away with different capabilities with PPC 5 - smartphones and PPC phones were supposed to have all the same capabilities.

[Gamer90 @ Jan 15th 2007 1:40AM]

Leonard Nimrod your name suits you, GSM is older than CDMA, and CDMA will be more widely adopted as GSM phases out.

[Leonard Nimrod @ Jan 15th 2007 8:59AM]

Nimrod is the grandson of Noah. He was a great hunter. Hence, nimrod means "hunter".

[Beta Buzz @ Jan 25th 2007 1:27PM]

More Images posted here.
http://betabuzz.blogspot.com/2007/01/blog-post_2.html