Smartphone Challengers Fail to Displace the Treo 650

On a Mac, Palm Desktop is even more useless -- Mac OS X includes good address-book and calendar software, but Palm's software doesn't talk to those applications at all. Apple's free iSync software allows only limited synchronization to OS X's Address Book and iCal; Mark/Space's Missing Sync software works far better but costs $40.

Motorola's Q, unlike the 700p, isn't about to confused with any earlier models. It's just half an inch thick and weighs a tad over four ounces, with a color screen bigger than, though not as sharp as, the 700p's. It's the sleekest, lightest smartphone I've ever used; a Treo looks distinctly plump next to it.

Other smartphones also look pricey next to the Q: Verizon sells it for just $200 with a two-year contract, even if its required voice-and-data plans start at $80 a month.

The Q connects to Verizon's EV-DO data service and includes Bluetooth wireless for linking to nearby devices; Verizon says a software update later this year will allow the use of the Q as an external modem.

As a pocket-sized phone, Web browser, e-mail reader, camera, address book and calendar -- all the basic functions of a smartphone -- the Q worked quite well. (The Q's included, Windows-only ActiveSync software synchronizes it with Microsoft Outlook; if you don't own a copy, the ActiveSync CD includes Outlook 2002, not the current Outlook 2003.)

The Q's talk time on battery wasn't as long as the 700p's -- 3 hours and 41 minutes versus 4 hours and 12 minutes -- but was still perfectly acceptable.

For anything more than basic use, however, the Q ranks as a disappointment.

First, the Q's limited, phone-oriented edition of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5 operating system doesn't allow for touch-screen control. You can only operate this device with its keyboard (marred by a backspace key inexplicably exiled above the rest of the keys), a five-way controller below the screen and a jog-dial switch on the right. That bogs down your Web browsing, since you can't just tap the link you want and instead must tip-toe toward it by pressing buttons or flicking the jog dial.

Second, the Q ships without any way to jot down your own thoughts. There isn't even a notepad here, much less the miniaturized versions of Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint available on regular Windows Mobile devices. And because the Q can only run programs designed for the phone edition of Windows Mobile, you're going to have a hard time finding third-party replacements for those applications.

Motorola or Verizon could add a note-taking program with a software update. Ideally, that update would also silence this device's loud start-up theme and could lock its keys automatically after a set amount of idle time, instead of asking users to invoke the Q's key-lock function on their own.

That could very well happen -- the odds of it certainly seem better than the chances of Palm providing a meaningful improvement to its software.

In the meantime, there's still the proven, widely available Treo 650.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob@twp.com.