Bell Mobility gearing up to launch Motorola Hint QA30

Wow, remember this thing? That somewhat promising QWERTY-based smartphone that was first introduced by Motorola last November? Anywho, said handset is finally getting set to partner with a carrier (at least that's the good word on the street), and it'll be Bell Mobility doing the honors in Canada. We're hearing that the Hint QA30 will be sold outright for $329.95 or as low as $129.95 on a 3-year contract, though we have to wonder what kind of demand will be out there given the phone's age.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2009 12:26PM]

I believe that Alltel already sells this phone

[BadWolfCubed Posted Mar 27th 2009 4:23PM]

Yep, and it's not a smartphone.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2009 1:17PM]

yes... alltel does have this phone.... also Cricket is launching it in April.

[Mills00013 Posted Mar 27th 2009 1:19PM]

Darren, do some research before you post stupid stories that you pull out of your ass. Alltel AND UsCellular sell this phone (although us cellular actually just discontinued it recently) and have carried it for a while. Not to mention you filed this under GSM handsets, of which bell sells only one: the blackberry world phone.

lrn2phonescoop n00b

Seriously, If i had a way to filter out your nonsensical posts from engadget, i would. I feel like i waste my time everytime I see a post with your name as the author.

LEAVE ENGADGET MOBILE TO THE EXPERTS LIKE CHRIS ZIEGLER AND PAUL MILLER.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 27th 2009 10:50PM]

You forget the Blackberry 8830 and the Samsung ACE, as well as the Motorola A860 in some places with stock. As for demand, its more Bells answer to Rogers getting the samsung qwerty slider, but both seem like pieces of crap that the public will prolly fall all over for anyway.

[Mills00013 Posted Mar 28th 2009 3:27PM]

8830 was the world phone. my point was that bell is a CDMA carrier, and this is a CDMA phone, neither of which were mentioned in the tagging and that, in fact, it was tagged the complete opposite with a radio technology that doesnt even remotely apply here. im suprised he didnt tag this with "LG" and "Samsung" and "IDEN" while he was at it.

the hint is actually a really great phone. there have been great reports from my customers about battery life and once you get over the weird keyboard, its an excellent, non smartphone device.

[Chrinik Posted Mar 27th 2009 1:53PM]

Yeah, please Darren this post is pretty ridiculous considering
I freaking own the thing FOR ALLTEL
And just B-T-W I don't know what "age" your talking about considering the phone's been out for less than 2 years and the specs are above average.
I didn't know A2DP, 2.0MP Cam w/video, EVDO w/tethering, high res screen, with Querty was "old" or maybe i'm just behind and don't own a Blackberry or iPhone like every other schmuck on earth, I'm sorry but some people don't have $100 a month to waste

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 28th 2009 2:57AM]

I have to ask as well, "given the phone's age"? What? This thing was official in Nov '08. I know the cell phone industry moves fast, but not quite that fast.

As for not knowing that this phone has been with a couple of carriers already, just sad.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 8:41AM]

I own the Motorola Hint and overall its a good phone.....Its not a smart phone although it can do all that a blackberry can do. some flaws is that it freezes up when your getting a text message and your doing something.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 8th 2009 5:41PM]

US Cellular finally is offering this phone again, as of a few days ago I believe. Darren, buddy, I would seriously take these people's comments into consideration. Please do better research before publishing an article that is meant to give factual details about a product that people are trusting to be correct.

Now, onto the phone...

From what i'm hearing online, quite a few people have problems with the phone shutting off randomly (as does my brother's rockr, also a moto slider). I'm curious as to how many other people see this issue and how many can confirm this happening.

Even though there are the negative aspects from the review, I also know that sometimes performance of a particular phone depends on the network. I'm on US Cellular's network (I live in rural North Eastern California). I know people who have the same phones on my network as well as Verizon and AllTell. The LG scoop was crap on US Cellular's network, but those who had it with Verizon had no problems with it. AllTell users hate the Hint, but it seems those who I've talked to on US Cellular have had no issues. Plus, those negative reviews about the phone shutting off all the time were AllTell users, and most of the possitive ones were from US Cellular.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this issue (phone shutting off randomly) and others as well that might come up. Please don't mention small key size. It's a phone with a QWERTY keyboard for land sakes, of course the keys are going to be small.