Two Weeks With Sprint’s MOTO Q

The MOTO Q has been out for a little while, however, Sprint customers have only more recently been able to get their hands on one. The folks over at Sprint were kind enough to send us over one that I’ve been testing out for a couple of weeks. First, let me tell you that I haven’t used a Sprint phone in about 3 years. I live in a Cingular town. If you have a cell phone, you’re stuck with Cingular. I don’t live in a large metropolitan area, so phone providers aren’t exactly fighting for my money.

Having said that, I’m impressed with how far Sprint has come in my area. Three years ago I could barely get a signal, now I haven’t had a single dropped call, and websites load faster than on my Cingular 8125. I’ve been using my Cingular 8125 since it came out, so I’ll be using it for the basis of my comparison.

As I said, the call quality is great, and download speeds are fast, for a phone. I took a bandwidth test over at bandwidthplace.com and the results were very surprising. The Q rated at 324.5KBps while my 8125 had speeds of only 96.6KBps. Honestly, I never thought my 8125 was that slow, I figured it would score close to the same as the Q. But as I watched the status bar slowly creep across the screen, I knew it would not fair well.

Now this is the part where I would normally scrutinize over the details of the phone itself. However, the Q has been out for some time, and you’ve probably read numerous in-depth reviews. Since this phone is new to Sprint, I’m just going to go over the features that Sprint brings to the table.

The exclusive features include the Sprint Mobile Broadband, which is nothing short of fast. Granted, it’s still not desktop speed, but it’s getting close. I know people that only get about twice this speed on their basic DSL lines.

You also have access to the Sprint Powerdeck. Basically, this is a website that gives you quick access to updates, software, and even the latest news stories. You can also brows FAQ’s and how-to guides for you Q from here.

NFL Mobile may not do anyone much good now, but it was nice to get real-time scores and stats during the Superbowl. You can also get news, stats, standings, and just about anything else NFL that you’d want.

I’ve certainly been impressed by the exclusive content, and the speed of Sprint’s network, especially since their coverage of my area hasn’t always been the best. When the phone was shipped to me, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do an effective review because I wouldn’t get any signal. But now, I’m almost ready to make the switch from Cingular.