Motorola’s Napoleon begins to trickle into the wild, still not headed for carrier shelves
Remember the Motorola Napoleon we hipped you to oh, maybe, 8 months ago? Well, the little bugger has started to hit the streets, prompting rumors and questions about its impending arrival on your local neighborhood carrier’s shelves. Sadly (or perhaps not-so-sadly depending on how you look at it), the Napoleon won’t be hitting the consumer channels any time soon. Moto has decided to make this one available only through exclusive government distribution channels, though the phone itself is running on Verizon’s network. No justification has been given for this rather odd move, but we can only imagine that the company was worried about cannibalizing its already spotty Q9 sales….or perhaps it has an even more impressive phone coming down the pipeline? Either way, we’re told the over zealous amongst us can probably find one of these suckers on eBay, so let us know if you decide to hunt one down.
resembles the blackberry bold…a little too much.
Damn, was just checking out the photo gallery from teh original post last year. Where in the name of O.J. Simpson can I get that OS for my Q9h, it’s f–in KILLER!!
I wont front, this phone does look good even with windows mobile.
/runs to check ebay/
There’s one on eBay that’s got your watermark on the picture. Is that yours?
@TRV$
Think I found one *bids before you do*
is it just me, or does that thing look alot like the bold?
It’s Bold mostly in the keyboard. But the Q9 keyboard is along the same lines as this phone, and it was out before the Bold.
@Matilda
It quite possible that someone is illegally using one or more of our photos, but BGR has never and will never sell anything on eBay.
I’ve crossed my fingers and snagged one from an eBay Power Seller with a 100% feedback rating. Will this use any of the accessories of a MotoQ9c? I’m thinking dock and belt clip thingy.
careful, i just did some reading on qforums, there are only a few hundred of these. If they are running firmware 3.1 or lower it is a junk prototype phone and will have issues. 3.2+ you are ok. Also batteries arent the same, so good luck with replacement batteries. Its a nice phone, wish they hadnt canceled it, and vz needs a nice winmo pda. Guess I’ll wait it out.
@BG
Is that because eBay dings the sellers for $$$ when they sell something?
There are still a few to be had (I have 2). Check out the Nap forum at everythingq.com. The H/W version to look for is 3.2 (or 3.2 b or 3.2 c). The firmware on these is either 1.30 or 1.31, both are solid and generally speaking the devices can be re-flashed.
This is without question the best phone I have ever had (going back to the pre smartphones: Casio e105, IPAQ 3630; & Samsung i600, i730, Moto Q, Q9c, Samsung Saga.
The specs include: battery: standard 1460 mAh, extended 2240 mAh; 128 RAM / 128 ROM; CDMA (EVDO Rev A); GSM; WiF; BT 2.0; aGPS; biometric finger print reader; 2 mp camera; cool custom homescreen; the width of the device is closer the the Q9C rather than the Q9H – meaning its a little more narrow.
its just you… This was out way before bold.
Im in the process of getting the money to buy one…Ive seen 1-2 for sale one on Craigslist and the other from the seller who im negotiating with.
The Verizon Saga would be the persfect handset if it had the square keys of the Napoleon. This handset is just too little too late. If you have ever played around with the optical mouse on a WM 6.1 Pro device, there is no substitute!
D.O.A.
And oh look – it’s already in a nice little coffin!
My guess is, by the time this comes out, epic fail yeah ?
FWIW: I received the phone from eBay seller “campodirect” in TN. At this time I am unable to activate the phone as the S/N is unknown to Verizon. Waiting word from eBay Seller.
lol, at the coffin comment. Moto needs to step up their game, they apparently got into this rut with the RaZr series of releasing the same phone 5790932 times. The RaZr folk moved onto the iPHone Moto, this strategy won’t work anymore.
I know it’s not getting release, but the one in my hand right now is looking mighty fine.
It’s a damn shame this one got the axe. As WinMo devices go, this one’s the cream of the crop. If you can get your hands on some good hardware, I highly recommend getting one of these bad boys.
Try this for activation.
http://www.everythingq.com/forum/moto-q-9n/activating-on-verizon-31042.html#post288939
I have owned many phones and I think this is by far the best (maybe, with the expection of the startac). If you can get one with the proper hardware and firmware, get it.
It is not the same size or shape as any other Q, so it will be tough to find accessories.