Motorola's worldly Q9: "Napoleon" breaks cover for Verizon

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 3rd 2008 at 6:14PM

It looks like Motorola and Verizon are getting ready to take a third crack at the Q9 form factor, following up the Q9m and Q9c -- and this time around, there's a little something extra in store. On top of the EV-DO Rev. A radio, the so-called "Napoleon" (codename, of course) features GSM, because -- surprise, surprise -- businesspeople who use Windows Mobile devices tend to do just a bit of traveling. It looks like Moto has taken this opportunity to give the Q9 meme a little nip-tuck job, too, with a rounded body and a tastefully-applied ring of chrome around the top edge. They've even tossed in a fingerprint scanner for good measure, a tip o' the hat to the suits who'll undoubtedly populate the upper 90 percent of this sucker's client base. No word on a release date or price, but can we cautiously submit a thumbs-up for the design direction here?