Thursday, April 8, 2004
Hands-On With The Voq Professional
Posted by Mike Temporale in "HARDWARE" @ 07:00 AM
Late last week I had a chance to sit down with Sierra's new Voq Professional Smartphone. Unfortunately time did not permit me to play with every aspect of the phone. However, I was still able to gather a wealth of information about the Voq. Please keep in mind the phone I played with was an early beta. The ROM had been upgraded a couple of times, and other physical changes like the improved keypad and screen where not on this model.
Figure 1: The Voq Professional - sorry the picture is a little fuzzy.
At first glance the phone looks massive, but when you place it beside a Tanager it doesn't look so bad. I was told that the final version will be a little shorter and as others have reported, the keypad will be shaped a little different. The Voq is surprisingly lightweight considering its larger footprint.
Figure 2: The Voq Professional along side my Tanager.
The Unique Factor: A Hinge and Keyboard
The keyboard's hinge is solid and sturdy. It snaps shut, so there is no way this is going to pop open when you're handling the phone. It also snaps into place when you open it. I never once worried about the keyboard folding up on me while I typed on the phone. When the keyboard is open, the front number pad is deactivated to prevent accidental pushing of one of the buttons. I found the keyboard buttons had a nice solid feel to them. In fact, the only issue I with they keyboard was the height of the hinge. If you have ever used a thumb-board, you will find that there are times when you have both of your thumbs on one side of the board.
For example, the word YOU has all three letters on the right side of the board. You can enter the letters using only your right thumb, or you can use your left thumb for the letters Y and U, and your right thumb for the O. The problem is the hinge is so tall that you can't just drag your thumb to the other side of the board. You have to stop and lift it up and over the hinge. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's enough to throw me for a loop when using the device. I'm sure, however, that after using the keyboard for any length of time you wouldn't even notice this anymore. Just be prepared to spend some time getting used to the keyboard layout.
Figure 3: The Voq Professional along side my Tanager.
Another physical difference on the phone it the extra Voq button, located between the Home and Back buttons. This button launches Voq's pre-installed software. The joystick on the Voq is much better than the one on my Tanager. It is very firm, and clicks when you push down on it. In my opinion, this is how all joysticks should be, providing the right amount of firmness and feedback for your actions. From what I was told, the battery life on the device is very good, however I have no numbers to share with you on this.
The phone ships with the full Java client installed. This means that Java applications written for the Nokia series 60 phones will actually run on this device. I'm not sure this is something I would want to do myself; but hey, if Java is you cup of tea then this would be a cool feature for you. When you flip open the keyboard, a special finder application runs. It will search the phone for references to what you are typing. For instance, if you flip open the keyboard and start typing Smartphone, items that contain Smartphone will be displayed. You can then easily scroll down to your "www.SmartphoneThoughts.com" IE favourite and click to select it. On a regular device you would have to go into the Start menu, run IE and then select www.SmartphoneThoughts.com from the favourites menu. This application will search history, contacts, favourites, and notes to find a match. I was not able to play with the Always-on / Push email feature of the phone. Unfortunately it requires a VPN into your corporate network. Normally that would not be a problem, as I would simply build a network just to play with that feature. However the short amount of time I had with the phone did not permit for such fun to be had.
Figure 1: The Voq Professional - sorry the picture is a little fuzzy.
At first glance the phone looks massive, but when you place it beside a Tanager it doesn't look so bad. I was told that the final version will be a little shorter and as others have reported, the keypad will be shaped a little different. The Voq is surprisingly lightweight considering its larger footprint.
Figure 2: The Voq Professional along side my Tanager.
The Unique Factor: A Hinge and Keyboard
The keyboard's hinge is solid and sturdy. It snaps shut, so there is no way this is going to pop open when you're handling the phone. It also snaps into place when you open it. I never once worried about the keyboard folding up on me while I typed on the phone. When the keyboard is open, the front number pad is deactivated to prevent accidental pushing of one of the buttons. I found the keyboard buttons had a nice solid feel to them. In fact, the only issue I with they keyboard was the height of the hinge. If you have ever used a thumb-board, you will find that there are times when you have both of your thumbs on one side of the board.
For example, the word YOU has all three letters on the right side of the board. You can enter the letters using only your right thumb, or you can use your left thumb for the letters Y and U, and your right thumb for the O. The problem is the hinge is so tall that you can't just drag your thumb to the other side of the board. You have to stop and lift it up and over the hinge. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's enough to throw me for a loop when using the device. I'm sure, however, that after using the keyboard for any length of time you wouldn't even notice this anymore. Just be prepared to spend some time getting used to the keyboard layout.
Figure 3: The Voq Professional along side my Tanager.
Another physical difference on the phone it the extra Voq button, located between the Home and Back buttons. This button launches Voq's pre-installed software. The joystick on the Voq is much better than the one on my Tanager. It is very firm, and clicks when you push down on it. In my opinion, this is how all joysticks should be, providing the right amount of firmness and feedback for your actions. From what I was told, the battery life on the device is very good, however I have no numbers to share with you on this.
The phone ships with the full Java client installed. This means that Java applications written for the Nokia series 60 phones will actually run on this device. I'm not sure this is something I would want to do myself; but hey, if Java is you cup of tea then this would be a cool feature for you. When you flip open the keyboard, a special finder application runs. It will search the phone for references to what you are typing. For instance, if you flip open the keyboard and start typing Smartphone, items that contain Smartphone will be displayed. You can then easily scroll down to your "www.SmartphoneThoughts.com" IE favourite and click to select it. On a regular device you would have to go into the Start menu, run IE and then select www.SmartphoneThoughts.com from the favourites menu. This application will search history, contacts, favourites, and notes to find a match. I was not able to play with the Always-on / Push email feature of the phone. Unfortunately it requires a VPN into your corporate network. Normally that would not be a problem, as I would simply build a network just to play with that feature. However the short amount of time I had with the phone did not permit for such fun to be had.
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