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Rogers shows Motorola Q9h, WM6 upgrade for HTC s621
Using and loving Windows Mobile isn't always sunshine and roses -- sometimes your favorite carrier doesn't carry the phone you're looking for, sometimes your manufacturer doesn't release the WM6 upgrade in a timely fashion, sometimes the next-gen platform arrives years later than you'd hoped. But every once in a while, all the stars align just right. This is just such a week for Rogers, which is starting to get real with the Motorola Q9h (though it's not for sale just yet) and has finally released a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for its own version of the HTC Excalibur, the s621. The only question, then, is just when can we get that Kaiser, Rogers?[Via Mobile In Canada and Smartphone Thoughts]Read - Motorola Q9hRead - HTC s621 Windows Mobile 6 upgrade
Motorola Q9h, HTC Kaiser in Rogers' near future?
Boy Genius Report is reporting (which makes sense, since it's the Boy Genius Report, after all) that Rogers is gearing up for some sort of huge Windows Mobile push. Of course, to push Windows Mobile, you need some hot hardware -- the Motorola Q9h and HTC Kaiser, to be exact. Promotional stuff has apparently been spotted bearing both devices, with the Q9h launching any minute now for $249.99 on a three-year agreement. No word on Kaiser pricing yet, but we'd imagine it would go for a touch more. How's that HSDPA rollout coming along, Rogers?
Updated look at AT&T's upcoming launches
We've just been tipped on a fresh roadmap for AT&T's fall launches, and goodness, there's a little something for everyone in here! Note that these are order dates, subject to change -- not necessarily in-store dates -- so your mileage may vary trying to grab these devices on the dates you see here. First up, LG rolls out the CG180 and CU515 "Chiwoo" on October 2. Nokia adds another color for the 6555 on October 11, red, which we think will suite it quite nicely. Speaking of new colors, Sony Ericsson brings a black version of the W580i on October 9. The Pantech Duo -- a device we suspect many folks are getting fired up over -- should hit on the same day. From Motorola, the Q9 Global becomes orderable just a few days from now, September 25, alongside the Tilt from HTC. UTStarcom outs the AMOI-sourced 5700 on October 9, giving folks a low cost (albeit non-3G) Windows Mobile option. RIM gets busy with the Curve 8310 on October 4, effectively sunsetting the original 8300 by adding GPS into the mix. On the data modem side, Sierra and Option will both be contributing HSUPA devices in October. Let's hear it for speedy uploads! Follow the break for the full roadmap.[Thanks, Superman]
Motorola Q Global makes surprise, unorderable cameo on AT&T site
Call it the q9, the Q9h, the Q9 global, whatever, but AT&T's apparently going by the "Q Global" moniker (properly capitalized, no less!) for Motorola's latest QWERTY smartphone when it goes on sale shortly. The carrier has thrown up a teaser site to help hold over the throngs of impatient masses who hoped the darned thing would've launched by now -- particular considering it was announced long before Verizon's version -- though no mention of an actual launch date is made in the verbiage. With any luck the October rumor will stick, but for now, a submission of your email address into some AT&T database will have to do.[Via phoneArena]
Tilt, Duo, Inferno, and Q9h to blow out AT&T's October?
These are all devices we know folks have been waiting for, so we're delighted to finally hear some whipsers that launch windows are being put in place. First up, the AT&T Tilt -- alias 8925, alias Kaiser -- is rumored to be priced at $299 on a two-year or $374 on a one-year agreement. The Pantech Duo, which Amazon jumped the gun on over the weekend, will be launching for $199 on a two-year, which makes the Amazon pricing a bargain already. The Nokia 6555 "Inferno" gets priced at $49.99 on contract -- a steal for a sharp lookin' 3G flip, we figure. Last but not least, the Motorola Q9 global finally materializes for a cool $299, putting it head to head with the Tilt. All four of these are supposedly scheduled for shipment to stores on October 1, making for a very interesting month. Everyone know which of the four they're choosing yet?[Thanks, Amy K.]
Motorola day: Verizon gets Q9m, Sprint gets V9m
As expected, Verizon and Sprint have given Motorola a venue for its latest and greatest hardware today, releasing the Q9m Windows Mobile smartphone and RAZR 2 V9m flip respectively. Though the media centric Q9m's $350 price on a two-year contract ain't exactly pocket change, it's interesting to note that it whittles right down to a more manageable $250 after rebate -- a mere $20 more than you'll pay for an old school Q Black. Meanwhile, minions from the other side of the CDMA camp (yes, we mean Sprint) have prepped the V9m for launch today at the same $250 price point after rebate, making it the first of several US carriers committed to a RAZR 2 launch to actually get it out of the door. If everything goes the way we expect it to, both of these devices will land on the other carrier in the next few weeks, so the "grass is greener on the other side" effect should be kept to a bare minimum here.[Thanks, Dan and Boy Genius]Read - Verizon Motorola Q9mRead - Sprint Motorola V9m
Verizon's roadmap for remainder of '07 gets liberated
phoneArena scored a wealth -- nay, a veritable cornucopia of information detailing Verizon's releases for the rest of 2007, and we can say with some confidence that there's something in here for everyone. Starting with smartphones, SMT5800, XV6800, Samsung i760, and Motorola Q9m should hit in October, October, September, and August (yay, this month!) respectively. A second, business oriented variant of the Q9, dubbed the Q9c, will follow on in the fourth quarter. If Windows Mobile ain't your cup of tea, have a gander at the Palm Treo 755p and RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (pictured), both coming in November. There isn't much to say about the 755p that hasn't already been said, but the 8130 is indeed a Pearl of the "new" variety, upping the cam to 2 megapixels while adding A2DP and a 3.5mm jack. Turning to dumbphones, Verizon's got the full spread from low to high end. The Samsung U410, self-branded CDM-8630 and LG VX8350 all appear to be pretty simple flips coming some time this half of the year. The Motorola Z6c looks to be a MediaFLO-less version of the Z6tv slider; the former drops in November while the latter is nebulously scheduled for the second half. Finally, the fancy U700 and U900 flips from Samsung offer 2 and 3 megapixel cams, respectively, and will both be available before the year's out. Whew!
Motorola shows shots of the Q9m for Verizon
Just in case there was any doubt that Motorola's Q9m for Verizon was real, well, this should put it to rest. Moto dropped a handful of press shots of its CDMA-ified Q9 the other day, including this one of the Windows Mobile 6 Standard -- that's "Smartphone" in WM5 nomenclature, if you recall -- handset in some sort of protective case (at least, we hope that's what it is). Thinking back to the amount of time that elapsed between the RAZR MAXX Ve's press shot release and its eventual launch, we could still be in for a bit of a wait -- but at least it's real, yeah?
Motorolas, BlackBerrys, and Pantechs in the coming weeks for AT&T?
If it seems like there's been a lull in AT&T's 3G handset launch cadence, that may be about to change. Boy Genius has the Motorola Q9 and RAZR 2 V9 both coming out on August 24, making for one heck of a double whammy. The EDGE-only SMT5700 may finally rear its head on the 24th (wow, a triple whammy?) or the 28th of the month, while the BlackBerry 8820 should hit on the 13th or 14th. Finally, the Pantech C810 will allegedly follow on around September 9th. Not bad if it all holds up, eh?
Motorola Q9m in the wild
Well, it seems the Motorola Q9m has picked Verizon as its first CDMA home in the States and not Sprint as we had previously suggested -- though we aren't counting out this landing at Sprint yet. Our favorite early adopter The Boy Genius has gotten his mitts all over one of Motorola's newest and it is sporting Verizon livery (replete with lovely red accents) as proof of its new home. He seems pretty enthused about the keyboard on the Q9m and goes as far as calling it "fantastic" -- it adds a scroll wheel sorely missing from its GSM cousin and the rubberized back apparently really helps it stay planted in the hands. Of course, this ain't the final word on the handset previously known as "Nelson," but the moment we have the big picture on release date, pricing and all that other good stuff, we'll post it up here.
Motorola "Nelson," CDMA version of the Q9h?
Seeing how the original Q came to CDMA first, it'd only make sense that the updated version of the now-ubiquitous QWERTY smartphone -- currently announced only in GSM / HSDPA form as the Q9h -- would return to its roots. Morning Paper (the folks that brought us the Palm Gandolf) is reporting that the Motorola "Nelson" is getting prepped as we speak, offering up Windows Mobile 6, a 2 megapixel cam, miniSD expansion, Bluetooth, and EV-DO data in an "ultra thin" package. As you might recall, the Q9h originally got passed around as the "Norman," so "Nelson" would be a totally appropriate name for a CDMA counterpart. Sprint's getting passed around as a potential carrier for this one (seems logical enough to us) but we'll have to wait this one out for a little more detail before calling it a done deal.
Early review round-up of the Motorola Q9
We know you like to hear the good stuff first when it comes to reviews -- in this case of the Motorola Q9 -- so we'll start there: the Q9's keyboard is probably the best advocate for "good," with reviewers from CNET, Phonescoop, and Trusted Reviews all digging its tactility (even if we didn't). The only site to test battery life was CNET, which discovered an acceptable and now pretty much standard "lasts all day without recharge" ability. The main negative aspect of the phone is its chunkiness, which we noticed in our hands-on. Unfortunately that's something you'll have to deal with, along with the lack of WiFi, a slightly small screen, and yet another style of USB port (this time it's micro-USB). Other quirks include a default install of the Opera web browser over Pocket Internet Explorer (to each their own we suppose), an eschewing of MobileOffice in favour of DocumentsToGo, and a strange flash that blinks at random in viewfinder mode. It seems as if Moto made an attempt at the basics and got somewhere, but let themselves down in the details. As always, it's up to you whether you can put yourself above them.[Thanks, Thomas]Read - CNETRead - Phone ScoopRead - Trusted Reviews
Hands-on with a Motorola Q9 in the wild
Well lookey lookey, the cellphone fairy dropped us off an unbranded Motorola Q9 to fool around with. Cut to the chase: we're not going to lie: the fact that it's larger than the Q is somewhat unacceptable in our eyes -- we really don't care that it has HSDPA, 3G is no longer an excuse for a big ass phone. Also unfortunate: no more scroll wheel, you're now stuck with the usual up/down rocker buttons. The keyboard, which looks especially tactile, isn't really all that fantastic, and kind of reminded us of a grid of slick, round hard-candies. Basically, we're not super stoked for the Q9, but hey, it ain't over until it's out, and this thing hasn't shown any signs of US release in the near future, so maybe they'll have time to work out some kinks.%Gallery-2745%
Vodafone Italy first to get Motorola Q9h?
Will Italians be the first to wrap their eager paws around Motorola's latest lust machine? The Q9h has made what appears to be its first official bow on a carrier site, showing up with Vodafone's Italian outpost (so much for the European exclusivity theory for 3, we guess). No word on an exact release date, but the number being thrown around for the sticker is €499 (about $680), which we think (read: hope) is an unsubsidized price. Vodafone branding -- quite a throwback to the original Norman prototype, eh?[Via the::unwired]
Motorola Q9h to christen 3's X-Series on Windows Mobile?
Hutchison 3's flagship "X-Series" platform of data-enabled goodies is missing a pretty critical piece of the puzzle -- Windows Mobile support -- but it now looks like the carrier plans to add it with a bang. Despite seeing a Vodafone-branded unit some time ago, MoDaCo reports that 3 is positioning itself to pick up a period of exclusivity on the upcoming Motorola Q9h (exclusivity which we assume will be limited to the UK, or perhaps Europe) to launch Windows Mobile support for X-Series. Of course, once 3 has bothered to gather all the apps necessary to take X-Series to the Microsoft camp, it only stands to reason that the Q9h will become just the first in a line of Windows Mobile phones to rock it, so if you're on 3 and the Q9h isn't quite your cup of tea (we can't blame you), sit tight.
Motorola Q q9 coming to AT&T?
Is this depiction of the redundantly-named Moto Q q9 in AT&T livery utterly Photoshoppable? Yes; but is the idea of the q9 coming to AT&T completely believable, too? Yeah, we'd say so. This hot little image, while grainy, clearly shows that stylized new-style "globe" logo we've been seeing as of late on its rear and bottom -- and with support for 3.6Mbps HSDPA data, GPS navigation, Windows Mobile 6, and Opera out of the box, we're just fine with this turning out to be legit. The tipster tells us that it won't be called the Q when it comes to the US' largest GSM network, though whether it retains the "q9" branding remains to be seen -- as does a release date. We suppose we can bide our time with an Amoi-sourced SMT5700 while we wait.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Motorola's new Qs: Q gsm and Q q9
Nokia's got their E61i, and Motorola's got their Q. Not just any ol' Q though, today they've the new Q, two of them actually: the MOTO Q q9 (pictured left) and MOTO Q gsm (on right). The 11.8-mm thin q9 brings quad-band EDGE and HSDPA to this Windows Mobile 6 device for accessing all your PlaysForSure media over the air or stored in either the side-loading microSD card or 256MB of on-board memory. It also brings a USB 2.0 jack and 320 x 240 pixel display which automatically adjusts for indoor and outdoor lighting conditions. The q9 is capable of capturing video at 30fps off it's integrated 2 megapixel camera with LED light. It also brings plenty of multimedia power to the table with A2DP stereo Bluetooth audio and support for all the audio and video formats associated with the latest edition of WinMo. The MOTO Q gsm then is just what you expect: quad-band GSM and EDGE on a WinMo 6 OS. It brings a slightly different design including a thumb-wheel for navigation. The Q q9 is expected by Q2 with the quad-band Q gsm on the way in the second half of 2007.Update: It turns out the device on the left is the q9 -- the more advanced of Motorola's GSM-radioed Qs, while the one on the right is the more pedestrian Q gsm. Makes sense to us, considering the q9's redone (sexier?) cosmetics. Our apologies for the confusion! Motorola's new Qs: Q gsm and Q q9
