I managed to aquire a slightly used VOQ Professional Model A11 from a world traveling tech guru. The VOQ Professional comes in either the A11 which has 850/1800/1900 bands or the Euro A10 that comes in 900/1800/1900 bands. This phone has a fantastic radio stack. The reception with my ATT SIM yielded 4 bars with the VOQ in my home office. My MPX200 only gets 2 bars in the excact same location. For this review I am using a T-Mobile SIM. The reception is great on both the VOQ and MPX200 in this location with T-Mobile. Overall this is a nicely built phone with some powerfull features, including the unique flip open QWERTY keypad shown in the photo below. The phone operates on the Windows SmartPhone 2003 OS.
The main feature of the VOQ include:
Voq phone's 200 MHz Intel Xscale
Support for large amounts of storage (Voq phone has 48MB of ROM with over 20MB available for your software, music and images), Secure
Digital (SD) expansion cards and plenty of operating memory (Voq phone has 32MB RAM with 16MB available to you)
Support for bright, high resolution screen
A powerful operating system designed to support many applications at once (listen to music, take a call, view a video, update your calendar)
Support for QWERTY text input using the Voq thumbpad
Always-there work and personal e-mail – supporting your corporation’s existing VPN infrastructure, and accessing leading business e-mail servers
Java Virtual Machine supporting MIDP 2.0 from the Tao Group™
Multi Media Messaging Service (MMS) support using Jataayu™ jMMS software
Predictive Text entry from Zi Corporation™ - makes it easy to enter text when you only have one hand free
Voice Dialling Software from Advanced Recognition Technology (ART™) – lets you dial a number or a contact name just by saying a word.
Here is a look at the basic home screen. This one is titled VoqMail in the homescreen setting menu.
This screenshot shows some of the goodies that come standard on the phone like JMMS messaging and a few must haves I added like BetaPlayer.
I had to download and try a Java Game. This one is called Street Fighter. Simple but fun.
A big difference between the VOQ and the MPX200 is the VOQ's memory. I have loaded everything I had on the MPX200 onto this phone and it still has 8.46MBs available.
The MMS works great on this 2003 OS phone.
A unique feature is MyVoq. I am still learning how to use it but basically the phone has an extra key below the joy stick, yes a real joy stick, that opens MyVoq. It gives you a link to key features you want to access quickly.
Here using the slick Qwerty fold out keypad, I type the word Chris, MyVoq starts giving me options of what to do with Chris.
A unique feature is the VoqUpdate client. You execute the client and it scans the Voq home site for updates. It will automatically update over the air or give you instructions on what updates require a PC interface. AT&T would never need this feature:).
I am impressed with this phone so far. The great reception, massive memory, and the qwerty keypad make it a great business phone. The OS runs fine and has not crashed or caused any problems to date. I have not tested battery life yet, but it seems good.One downside is the fact that the USB connector does not act as a charger, you have to use a separate AC connector for charging. I will keep you posted as I learn more.