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Verizon and Motorola announced the availability of the long-awaited Q smart phone on May 22.
The RAZR-thin, keyboard-equipped device will be sold starting May 31 on Verizons Web site for $199.99 (after discounts with a two-year contract and voice plan), and will appear in stores in June, the companies said.
First informally introduced last July, the Q has reappeared at nearly every press event or trade show since then, with its launch date floating vaguely around the first half of 2006.
At 11.5 millimeters thick, the device is certainly going to elicit comparisons to the RAZR—theres no getting around it.
Sporting a 320×240 screen and QWERTY keyboard, the Q runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphones.
Its the first device with a full keyboard to run the Smartphone version of Windows Mobile, which is for gadgets without touch-screens.
Between the form factor, the lack of a touch-screen, and the use of a scroll wheel to navigate, the Q echoes RIMs BlackBerry line of e-mail handhelds even more than it does other Windows Mobile gadgets.
The Q will connect to Verizons BroadbandAccess EvDO (Evolution Data Optimized) network and to Bluetooth headsets, but it doesnt have Wi-Fi.
The device will ship with Microsoft Office and PDF document readers, and three different options for getting your e-mail: Microsofts Pocket Outlook, Verizons Wireless Sync for personal push e-mail, and Good Technologys GoodLink system for corporate push e-mail.