UMTS Version of Motorola Q Announced

Hopefully laying to rest earlier rumors that there wouldn't be a GSM version of the Motorola Q, the company officially announced that a GSM/GPRS version with support for UMTS would be available later this year.

Initially, this Windows Mobile Smartphone will be available only as a CDMA device, and with today's announcement Motorola was clearly trying to allay some peoples' nervousness that there wouldn't be a model for Europeans.

Although just starting to catch on on the United States, there are over 50 million UMTS users in Europe.

Unfortunately, this new version of the Motorola Q won't hit the market in the near future. Its developer said it won't even be available for operator trials until near the end of this year.

Of course, the CDMA version isn't expected for another couple of months.

This announcement was made at the 3GSM conference, going on now in Barcelona.

More About the Motorola Q

Its maker claims that the Motorola Q will be "the world's thinnest, lightest QWERTY phone".

It will have a tablet design, with a 320-by-240-pixel screen above a backlit keyboard.

This will be one of the first devices to run Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone, and therefore will support the push email system Microsoft is developing.

The Motorola Q won't just be about email, though. It will be able to play music in a variety of formats and it will sport dual speakers.

In a slightly unusual move, it will have a 320-by-240-pixel (QVGA) that is in landscape mode by default.

A miniSD slot will offer additional Storage for music, as well as other types of files.

It will include a 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth short-range wireless networking.

Motorola hasn't given all the specifications on this device, but, according to a leaked description of this model, it will have 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of Flash ROM.

Related Links

• Brighthand's First Impressions of the Motorola Q