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By Andrew Lim, CNET.co.uk
Aug 09, 2007

For years Motorola has produced handsets firmly based on its best seller, the RAZR V3. Fortunately, the Motorola Q 9h breaks away from the thin clamshell design we know a little too well and is a slim, BlackBerry-style device that features a full QWERTY keypad and Windows Mobile 6.

Editors' note: This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products or telcos in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design
Motorola is starting to break away from its clamshell roots and produce handsets that look and feel different. The Q 9h is a smart phone designed primarily for texting and emailing. Similar to BlackBerry handsets, the Q 9h is wide enough (67mm) to accomodate a large screen and full QWERTY keypad, but it's also only 11.8mm thin, which means it fits in your pocket and doesn't cause too much disruption.

The keypad is really well designed and we found it good for writing out long emails and text messages. Each key on the keypad is raised in the middle, making it easier to distinguish between them, and the keypad is curved, which matches the movement of your thumbs better than a straight one.

The color screen is relatively large and satisfactory for reading long documents and emails on.

The color screen is relatively large and satisfactory for reading long documents and emails on, but we think it could have been made wider still. Also, instead of a scroll wheel for scrolling through emails, Motorola has added a simple up, down and select button system on the top-right side, which some people might not like.

Features
The Motorola Q 9h runs on Windows Mobile 6 Standard, which among other things means it supports push email through Exchange Servers, in addition to letting you set up push email via a Windows Live Hotmail account. You now also have the option to access emails through a BlackBerry server, using RIM's Windows Mobile 6 application.

There's HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity for browsing and both Internet Explorer Mobile and Opera Mobile browsers are preinstalled. Unfortunately, there's no Wi-Fi, but Motorola claims this is to increase battery life. HSDPA can currently achieve speeds of up to 1.8Mbps in the UK and we found it worked well, making browsing the Web a fast and enjoyable process.

Email and processing features aside, Motorola has made sure this phone isn't just about business. The Q 9h also features Windows Media player that lets you watch online video and play MPEG4 and WMV video files among others, and supports a variety of music formats, including MP3 and AAC+.

You can listen to music using the proprietary headphones or use a pair of stereo-Bluetooth (A2DP) headphones. On the back of the Q 9h there's a 2-megapixel camera that takes acceptable pics for MMS messages and mementos, but don't expect to print out large, clear photos.

On the left side of the Q 9h there's a handy expandable microSD slot that supports up to a 2GB card, which will hold around 400 songs and plenty of shots from the built-in camera.

Other Q 9h features include light-sensing technology that optimises the screen's brightness depending on the ambient light, USB 2.0 connectivity for quick data transfer with your PC, and quadband connectivity, which means you can use it in any country that supports a GSM network.

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