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Samsung's new i320N in the wild
It turns out our paranoia hunch was correct last week when we thought we spotted an alternate version of Samsung's Q-killing i320. The re-designed GSM device rocks a different keyboard shape than the original, but boasts similar specs, including a 1.3-megapixel camera (with flash), QVGA screen, stereo speaker, Bluetooth and EDGE support. Still no info on pricing or availability on this Windows Mobile powered hotness, but we've got our fingers crossed that this makeover won't drive the price tag through the proverbial roof. With all these Q knocks (like TechFaith, for one) making it out though, we imagine competition in price is gonna be pretty stiff.
Did Samsung rework the I320?
Wondering what's the holdup on getting Samsung's Q-killing I320 into your QWERTY-loving hands? We like conspiracy theories just as much as the next guy, and Sammy is doing their best to feed our rumor mill today with these seemingly incongruent pictures of two SGH-I320s side by side. Yes, we're as concerned as you that the model's hands appear to be attached backwards, but stay on task, folks: the device on the left appears to be lacking highlighted numeric keys and a slightly different D-pad. The device on the right, by contrast, looks essentially like the one we've shown you before. Go ahead and tweak that thing until you're blue in the face, Samsung -- we're just happy to know you haven't scrapped it. Hopefully you'll come to the party in time to do battle with the Q and Excalibur, eh?[Via the::unwired]
Telus gets the Q
See now, that wasn't so bad, was it? Apparently Verizon's world exclusivity on the Q wasn't so worldly exclusive after all, as Telus is already showing stock after our suggestion a couple days ago that Canadians might need to wait a little while. Remember, folks: a pessimist is never disappointed. Now go, friends; get thee to a Telus store for thy Q.[Thanks, everyone]
Telus poised to get the Q
Our Canadian readers drooling over Verizon's recent release of the Motorola Q may not have much longer to wait. In fact, we can say with certainty that it's coming -- Telus' own site says so -- but naturally the term "coming soon" is open to interpretation. It's safe to say that Verizon's long arm of exclusivity on the Q extends into the Great White North, and while we don't know how long it runs, six months is a safe guess. In the mean time, we trust Telus customers can keep themselves occupied with the nifty retro Motorola M800 bag phones they appear to sell.
Q fans, good news: it'll cost $50 and have UMTS by 2007
For those Q fans in the audience, we've got some good news (especially if you haven't made the jump yet because that $200 price point is still a little high, or because you just can't bear the thought of switching to Verizon). Apparently Ron Garriques, Moto's Executive Vice President, Mobile Devices Business, told Bear Sterns that the Q's sales performance can be compared to the steep, successful initial launch of the RAZR, and that they not only hope to drop the price to $50 after carrier subsidy by the end of 2006, but they'll be launching a UMTS version when Verizon's exclusivity contract on the device ends (as we've been expecting). Yeah, that'd be the same UMTS version that it was supposed to be around from the get go. Still, we're assuming that exclusivity will last a good half year (quite literally a gadget lifetime to wait for us), after which time the UMTS Q will head to some mysterious, unknown network. Guess Ron wasn't too firm a believer in Moto's supposedly newly adopted announce-when-you-ship methodology, eh?
Let there be Q: day one at Motorola's Destination Q
When word got out that Motorola's "pop-up store" on Chicago's Magnificent Mile would be called "Destination Q," we all knew it would be focused on their newest pride and joy, the Q. Perhaps we didn't realize just how focused it would be.
