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Cricket's flagship touch-screen phone looks good, but performs poorly
Pros
- Good call quality
- Aesthetically pleasing
Cons
- Slow performance
- Poor web browser
- Proprietary headphone jack
The Motorola Evoke QA4 (*Est. $280, no contract) is the only touch-screen phone available from prepaid carrier Cricket Wireless, and most reviewers agree that this black-and-silver unit looks sleek and attractive. It's relatively small, measuring 4.25 inches by 2 inches by 0.7 inches, and it weighs 4.5 ounces. Unfortunately, smallness extends to the screen as well, which is just 2.8 inches and has a paltry 240-by-400-pixel resolution. Some reviewers find that the screen's touch interface is unresponsive, but others say it is quite smooth. The Motorola Evoke is also available on Alltel (*Est. $280), where it competes against touch-screen devices including the HTC Touch Pro (*Est. $230 with contract) and the Palm Treo Pro (*Est. $30 with contract).
The Evoke QA4 has a number of features designed to compete with Apple's iPhone 3GS (*Est. $200 and up with contract) and other touch-screen phones: a virtual QWERTY keyboard, a slide-out numeric keypad, GPS functionality, an accelerometer, stereo Bluetooth and a widget-based home screen. "However," says PCWorld.com's Ian Paul, "if Motorola really wants to compete with other smart phones, designs for the Evoke need to go further." He and other reviewers complain that the Evoke lacks Wi-Fi, for example, and CNET's Kent German notes the phone's overall "sluggish performance." PCMag's Sascha Segan and others are very critical of the poorly performing web browser, which Cricket charges an extra $15 per month to use. The lack of a standard headphone jack and extra monthly fees for data transfer are other strikes against the Evoke. The 2-megapixel camera is deemed merely average, and it doesn't have a mirror for vanity shots.
Nevertheless, critics concede that the Evoke QA4 makes very high-quality calls when running on Cricket's network (roaming results are mixed). Those who test battery life also find that it meets or exceeds Motorola's stated time of five and a half hours of continuous talk time.
There aren't many reviews of the Motorola Evoke QA4, and those we found cover Cricket's version only. The most in-depth reviews of the Motorola Evoke QA4 are at CNET and PCMag.com; neither review site is particularly enthusiastic about the phone, though both say it has its good points. We also found a number of blog posts from when the phone was announced at the CTIA tradeshow in April 2009, including two at PCWorld.com and one at MobileBurn.com. But these have not been followed up with substantive reviews since the phone has been released.
Our Sources
1. CNET
CNET's Kent German is lukewarm in his appraisal of the Motorola Evoke QA4, saying that "it doesn't evoke much." He says the Evoke looks nice, but its touch screen is too small and has a low resolution. German also reports difficulty getting used to the sluggish touch response and finds the web browser frustrating.
Review: Motorola Evoke QA4 (Cricket Wireless), Kent German, June 23, 2009
2. PCMag.com
Prolific reviewer Sascha Segan says the phone is a "good-looking black and silver lozenge" with excellent call quality on Cricket's network, but not quite as good when roaming on MetroPCS. Segan likes the camera, and says that the Evoke would be a good media phone if it didn't have a proprietary headphone jack.
Review: Motorola Evoke QA4 (Cricket Wireless), Sascha Segan, July 28, 2009
3. PC World
In this prerelease blog post for PCWorld.com, reviewer Ginny Mies goes into some of the features and specifications of the Motorola Evoke QA4. Mies finds the touch screen responsive. The aesthetics and build quality of the Evoke are also praised. However, Gies says the browser is not as good as one on a smartphone and finds the uncustomizable widgets limiting.
Review: Hands On: Motorola Evoke QA4, Ginny Mies, April 2, 2009
4. PC World
PCWorld.com's Ian Paul raves about a prerelease Motorola Evoke QA4, but there is little detail in this blog post. He says Motorola is trying to compete with the iPhone, but feels that some design features need to improve before that can happen. Specifically, Paul thinks that the slide-out keypad would be more useful as a full QWERTY keyboard, and he wonders why Wi-Fi connectivity has been left out.
Review: Motorola Evoke QA4: Best Touch-Screen From Motorola Yet, Ian Paul, March 31, 2009
MobileBurn.com's editor Michael Oryl takes a look at the preproduction unit of the Motorola Evoke QA4 for Alltel. However, his post only lists features and specifications, without any testing. A video from the 2009 CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas is included, but is a basic run-through, presumably by a Motorola spokesperson.
Review: Alltel Now Offering Motorola Evoke QA4, Michael Oryl, April 16, 2009
Blogger Micah Huffman takes a very brief look at Motorola's Evoke QA4. He says it fits in the hand well, has a responsive touch screen and good features. His biggest complaint is that the screen is too small (and, by extension, so is the virtual QWERTY keyboard). Huffman would also like to see a camera with a higher resolution than 2 megapixels.
Review: Motorola Evoke QA4 Review, Micah Huffman, May 17, 2009