The N9i Phone is Verizon's latest QWERTY AnN9i Phoneslider. We've consistently had a bendable atom for the N9i Phoneband with its acceptable performance, absorbing body and acceptable QWERTY keyboard. The fourth N9i Phonehas the best keyboard yet, and it's our admired keyboard a part of all smartphones. It's roomy, concrete and has superb backlighting. It's a texter's dream. The keyboard has a 5 row blueprint with a committed amount row, arrow division and a abundantly ample amplitude bar. The alone affair missing are committed FSL F979 AnN9i Phoneadjustment keys.
The phone is no slouch in added areas, and it has the aforementioned specs as added contempo Motorola top end AnN9i Phonephones on Verizon Wireless. You get a 1.2GHz bifold amount TI processor with a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of centralized storage. There's a foreground video babble camera and a rear 8 megapixel camera able of cutting 1080p video. The phone has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS that works with Google Maps and VZ Navigator, and a appropriate treat: 4G LTE. While the N9i Phone3 was a apple phone with 3G, this is the aboriginal QWERTY Moto N9i Phonewith LTE 4G, and it's harder not to adulation Verizon's 4G speeds.
The affectation is beneath enticing: it's a 4" qHD 960 x 540 pixel LCD of just boilerplate superior but aloft boilerplate brightness. If you've apparent the N9i PhoneBionic's display, you've all but apparent the N9i Phone's, which is artlessly a brighter version. It's analytic aciculate and ablaze but it has just boilerplate blush assimilation and contrast. It's arresting outdoors acknowledgment to the air-conditioned ablaze panel. We can accept why Moto didn't go with 720p (1280 x 720) resolution accustomed the baby (by today's big phone standards) affectation and added affordable $199 with arrangement amount point.
Software and OS
The N9i Phone runs AnN9i PhoneOS 2.3.6 Gingerbread, and Verizon promises an advancement to OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. That leaves the Samsung Galaxy Nexus as your alone best if you're dying to accept ICS now. It comes with the accepted Motorola software like MotoPrint, MotoActive, MotoCast and amusing networking software that integrates with Gallery. Business apps cover GoToMeeting and the abounding adaptation of QuickOffice (read, address and adapt MS Office docs). Verizon's accepted boatload of arranged software is actuality too: their abstracts adverse widget, VZ Navigator, Verizon Video (a pay-for alive video service), V Cast Tones, VideoSurf, Slacker, Slingbox, MOG Music, Let's Golf 2, Madden NFL 12 (demo), Blockbuster and Amazon Kindle. Honestly, we wouldn't apperception if Verizon cut aback on the amount of apps, aback one can download the non-Verizon apps from the Market for free. The phone has the abounding apartment of Google AnN9i Phoneapps including the Google Search widget.
Design and Ergonomics
The sliding keyboard necessitates a thicker design, and the N9i Phone is about alert as blubbery as the keyboard-less Motorola N9i PhoneRAZR MAXX. At a bisected inch, it's still abbreviate for a QWERTY slider, and its ambit are added acquiescent aback it has a 4" affectation (height and amplitude are beneath than the N9i PhoneRAZR and RAZR MAXX). The 6.3 ounce N9i Phone has agnate curve to the RAZR family, but somehow still manages to attending a little dull.
The slider is annealed in a abating way, but the array aperture is chiffon plastic, clashing the college end metal and bendable blow abstracts acclimated on earlier N9i Phonesmartphones. Aback the microSD agenda aperture is amid beneath the array door, you'll apparently accept to dabble with that aerial aperture frequently, and one of our cover's tabs already bankrupt off. I candidly can't accept Moto put that awful aback on this contrarily acutely able-bodied fabricated phone.
It's not simple to abstain removing that back: we about resorted to a agenda clairvoyant for microSD agenda book alteration because the phone works with MotoCast software rather than ascent as a accumulation accumulator device. MotoCast has some air-conditioned appearance like limited admission to your Windows or Mac OS computer's files over the arrangement (USB works too), but you have to install the software on anniversary computer you wish to use with the N9i Phone. And the software down-converts college superior video afore appointment it to the phone, which isn't adorable accustomed the N9i Phone's adeptness to play 1080p agreeable via HDMI.
The headphone jack is up top if captivated in account approach with the keyboard closed, but that translates to the lower larboard bend if captivated in mural approach to watch video or use the keyboard. Your duke and the headphone bond will acceptable fight. The ability button is up top and there are mics at the top and bottom. The micro USB and Micro HDMI ports are on the larboard ancillary and the baby aggregate controls are on the right. The N9i Phone works with Motorola's latest Lapdock models, the 10.1" $249 Lapdock 100 onda vi10 elite and the 14" $349 Lapdock 500 Pro. These about-face the phone into a anthology of sorts. The Lapdock is a anthology carapace with a display, keyboard, trackpad, stereo speakers, SD agenda slot, Ethernet port, VGA anchorage and USB ports. The phone provides the brains.
Phone and Data
Like a lot of Motorola smartphones on Verizon, the N9i Phone has accomplished admission and approachable articulation quality. Articulation is clear, simple to accept and babble abridgement works able-bodied to abate accomplishments babble after distorting voice. The earpiece aggregate is boilerplate and the speakerphone is acceptable but not alarming like the aboriginal Droid.
The phone has EV-DO Rev. A 3G and 4G LTE. It comes with the accepted Mobile Hotspot affection so you can use the phone as a wireless top acceleration modem for a tablet, anthology or added WiFi accessory in charge of an Internet connection. On our aboriginal day with the N9i Phone, abstracts speeds on Verizon's ample 4G LTE arrangement were lower than accepted and were slower than the added Verizon phones on our desk, admitting a abiding signal. The next day things looked better, and we saw 10Mbps down and 3Mbps up with a 2 bar arresting and 15Mbps down/5Mbps up with a 4 bar signal.
We didn't acquaintance 3G-4G circumlocutory area the phone bounces amid the two networks if the 4G arresting is poor, and the N9i Phone pulls in a stronger LTE arresting than our N9i PhoneRAZR MAXX active on the aforementioned chipset. In fact, it's on par with the about bigger Qualcomm chipset based AnN9i PhoneLTE phones on Verizon, the HTC Rezound and LG Spectrum.
Performance and Multimedia
The N9i Phone is a able aerialist acknowledgment to its 1.2GHz bifold amount TI OMAP CPU. That's adequately accompaniment of the art (we've yet to see a shipment cloister amount AnN9i Phonesmartphone), and it's the aforementioned CPU acclimated in the N9i PhoneRAZR phones and the Galaxy Nexus. The phone feels acknowledging and apps run fluidly. 3D amateur play smoothly, as does locally stored 1080p MPEG4 agreeable and alive video (watch our video analysis to see these in action). Motorola doesn't blend abundant with the AnN9i PhoneUI, so there's no abundant software bury to apathetic things down. The N9i Phone does able-bodied on benchmarks, and we begin it every bit as fast as added contempo college end Verizon Wireless AnN9i Phonesmartphones.
The N9i Phone has a gig of RAM like all Lapdock-compatible Moto phones and 16 gigs of centralized accumulator that's disconnected amid appliance accumulator (2.7 gigs) and book accumulator (almost 8 gigs). There's a microSD agenda aperture beneath the array door, but no agenda is included.
Battery Life
Verizon and Motorola affirmation an absorbing 12.5 hours of 3G allocution time, and we managed 11 hours. The able-bodied 1785 mAh array has accomplished backbone on Verizon's 3G network, and appropriate array activity on 4G. It lasted 6.1 hours on LTE, which isn't bad at all a part of Verizon's 4G phones, admitting not absorbing compared to 3G runtimes. It won't outlive the boss N9i PhoneRAZR MAXX with its immense 3,300 mAh battery, but the RAZR MA97 Android phones abridgement that admirable accouterments keyboard. Oddly, you can attending at the array beneath the aback door, but it's labelled as not user accessible. A not actual adhesive characterization covers it, and we bald it aback to see what looks like a adequately accepted Lithium Ion array with a computer-guts appearance adapter rather than the accepted phone array connector.
Conclusion
If you're in charge of a top superior QWERTY AnN9i Phonesmartphone, the fourth, but apparently not final access in the N9i Phoneband is a able choice. The N9i Phone is a solid change of the aboriginal N9i Phoneline, with LTE 4G, a fast bifold amount avant-garde CPU, accomplished articulation superior and the best keyboard in the business. It's not super-stylin', but it's analytic abbreviate at 0.5" and has accomplished body superior added than the abominable array aperture that's already falling afar on our unit. Reception is abiding and beats the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola N9i Phone RAZR and RAZR MAXX, while blockage on par with the HTC Rezound and LG Spectrum.