First pics of Motorola's MOTO QA30 QWERTY slider

Sliders are typically known for offering the best of both worlds: the sophisticated, clean looks you want hiding the ugly, QWERTY keypad you need. Motorola's bucking that trend with the chunky MOTO QA30, looking rather utilitarian open or closed and featuring the sort of squat form-factor that didn't exactly woo us on the UTStarcom TXT8010. The 2.5-inch 320 x 240 screen is a bit on the small side, but an integrated 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth 2.0, plus support for up to 32GB microSD cards, should make this a reasonably good choice for anyone needing a texting-friendly handset that can serve up some tunes. No word on price or availability, but we'd guess "affordable" and "soon."

Update: Jed commented to let us know U.S. Cellular recently featured this phone in an ad, dubbed the HINT and listed as being available as December. So, now you know what "soon" equates to, at least.

[jonaswan1 @ Nov 24th 2008 10:24AM]

Why are low-end square phones becoming a trend? Does the market that buy low-end phones really like that stuff?

[)law( @ Nov 24th 2008 10:25AM]

Well at least it's not named after a 19 century warlord like the ming or Attila. I guess that is a step in the right direction

[liv @ Nov 24th 2008 3:21PM]

Sorry but someone needs to slap some historical sense into you:

Ming Dynasty ( 1368 to 1644)
Attila the Hun (406 - 453)

19th century? I.THINK.NOT!!

[bob sakamano @ Nov 24th 2008 10:26AM]

not so bad, but not so good

[Major4Play @ Nov 24th 2008 10:49AM]

Nasty small screen. Moto is cutting corners in design that will lead to it sinking without a trace, sad maybe they can make some nice Android phones next year. I really want an Android phone when my contract ends but the G1 doesn't cut it.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 24th 2008 12:09PM]

Exactly. I love sliders, but apparently Moto didn't get the memo about using the slider form factor to put in a big screen that dominates the top panel.

[asg84 @ Nov 24th 2008 10:55AM]

this phone looks like a fat short guy ........

btw display is 2.5 inches. average size, i mean for a display hehe

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 24th 2008 12:57PM]

A bad joke gone horribly wrong.

[iEye @ Nov 24th 2008 11:04AM]

Why? WHY? 2.5" touch screen?

There is a darn slide out QWERTY... the entire face should have been a touch screen...

This is not even funny anymore Moto.

I long for the day when a cellphone will be sold like a computer. You chose the OS, QWERTY or not, and all they give you is a big rectangular touch screen.

[Esat Dedezade @ Nov 24th 2008 11:19AM]

You...

You actually made a good point. There comes a point at which touch screen is simply there for thr sake of a bullet point of a feature list as opposed to being of any actual use.

As long as they do not force you in any way by means of the GUI for example to use the touch option then thats not really a problem.

[noyp @ Nov 24th 2008 9:03PM]

I would hate for all phones to be all touch screens. I like tactile buttons. Am I the only one left?

[M@rT!n @ Nov 24th 2008 12:26PM]

"Blahh", wasn't this company dissolving its 'phone business' ..


...ugh i hate their phones, when will they actually bring something that competes with HTC, Samsung, Apple etc. touch screen phones is the next step .. they need to step it up!

[jetsaredim @ Nov 24th 2008 11:09AM]

Reminds me of the Verizon/UTStarComm Blitz, except more boring. http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1563

[Cybergypsy @ Nov 24th 2008 11:11AM]

Yawn.........

[Ryan @ Nov 24th 2008 11:14AM]

Motorola, welcome to 2005.

[Steven M @ Nov 24th 2008 11:15AM]

wow...2 crap phones in a day...motorola has lost it....

[Jed @ Nov 24th 2008 11:22AM]

US Cellular already has this in their holiday catalog that came out a couple weeks ago...

http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/uscellular/index.aspx?pagename=circularlarge&fsid=&pagenumber=7&circularid=14244

[james @ Nov 24th 2008 11:42AM]

i keep seeing more and more phones able to handle 32gb cards but no cards. I think the tilt was even one of the first which is over a year old! where are the cards? Anyone?

[wodheila @ Nov 24th 2008 4:51PM]

In case toy weren't kidding.

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-P-SDHC32G4-FS-Secure-Digital-High-Capacity/dp/B0019K261G/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1227563360&sr=8-2

[mercurysunblast @ Nov 24th 2008 11:58AM]

Am I the only one who thinks this isn't SO bad? I mean, I wouldn't buy it myself...but I could see my younger brother or sister using this.

[Hey Ya @ Nov 24th 2008 12:17PM]

A lot of people who post here seem to think every phone needs to be a either a smartphone or a high end feature phone.

I'd bet they'll sell tons of these things. Lots of people just don't need high end features, but would like a QWERTY phone. Most people don't need, or want, tons of features on their cellphone.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 24th 2008 12:21PM]

Just give up Moto.. please.

[ajfarson @ Nov 24th 2008 1:10PM]

Moto was dying back when they had a phone that virtually every techie addict wanted... MPX300 which never was officially released. Whoever is driving the boat at Moto has the wrong map in front of them. They need fresh blood, and need to get with the program. I remember the days when Moto was blazing the trails in mobile tech... now they are just lounging in their own smelly mediocrity. So sad...

[Valicore @ Nov 24th 2008 1:33PM]

Motorola and Palm need to get together and pull a Thelma and Louise. Oh, and this is a butt ugly phone, no matter if it is low-end or high-end! Awful design, It also looks like it would be crappy for making calls on.

[Confidential @ Nov 24th 2008 2:06PM]

Sprint featured this with Moto in beginning of Q2 this year with an anticipated launch date of January 2009 under code name Raspberry. It was preliminary version running stripped down software, but it does seem like they were scooped by the Starcom handset.

[urbanminstrel @ Nov 24th 2008 2:40PM]

Yuck...
"Squares"-ville man.

[nanobis @ Nov 24th 2008 2:40PM]

This does not seem too bad. One would have to check this device out in person however before i could make my mind up about it. I have been After an new phone since mine has started to freeze. Only thing that would sawy me is that it is a Motorola.

[Charlie Calhoun @ Nov 24th 2008 3:52PM]

You'd think on these "first pics" they would put a carrier logo on it of a carrier that... has a future, right?

[Fernando @ Nov 24th 2008 4:28PM]

NEWSFLASH: 70% of the phones sold in the US are lowend pieces of crap, and by providing a lowend with a qwerty moto is actually improving the situation.

(also, 87.3% of all statistics are made up on the point, the point still stands though.)

[M@rT!n @ Nov 25th 2008 11:11AM]

yes but ever since the iphone came out, people are moving toward more and more touch screen phones.. i wont be surprise if t-mobile picks this up because their whole line is based on low end phones!!! >:X (current t-mobile user)

[George @ Nov 25th 2008 3:39AM]

I dig it. Enough to keep me happy if I'm not around wi-fi with my Ipod touch. plus it has 2.0 megapixel camera.

[tbfballfrk14 @ Nov 29th 2008 12:19AM]

does any one else like this phone besides me?! ever since the releas of the iPhone, everyone wants these highend "smartphones" the require 30 extra dollar plans to run. I personally am going to get this phone since it is capable of interenet access, but isnt required to run the phone like "smartphones". Who wouldnt want a phone that is capable of internet use, is easy to text on, and isnt going to burn a huge hole in your pocket?