KARMA QA1 REVIEW

With a strong focus on social-networking junkies, Motorola’s Karma QA1 hits the markets today. This lower end smartphone slider allows users to jump between Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other popular websites with minimum effort.

With a very compact build, this 3G/quad-band GSM phone measures 3.5 by 2.5 inches and has a two-megapixel digital camera/camcorder with a hefty 8X digital zoom. The Motorola Karma QA1 also has a 2.5-inch QVGA display, GPS capability, and a rounded, sliding QWERTY keyboard.

The display is covered with a glass faceplate, rather than plastic, adding an element of sturdiness to the device, which weighs in at 5 ounces. The home screen sports the icons of different social-networking services and the keyboard is large enough for comfortable thumb typing, with the number pad on its left side.

The Motorola Karma QA1 also has a variety of multimedia features, including a built-in digital music player, relatively large speakers, streaming video support, and the AT&T turn-by-turn street navigation application (along with standard web browsing capabilities). Additionally, this mobile’s microSD slot support a storage capacity of 16GB.

Like a Blackberry, text messages on a Karma are stored in conversations. Also, the camera and camcorder can be used to upload content to social media services such as YouTube with a few keystrokes.

The Motorola Karma QA1 can be purchased today from AT&T Wireless at $79 after rebates on a 2-year plan contract.