This phone looks sleek and classy to carry but it also has a few shortcomings or annoying features which work very strongly against it.
Specs:
For one, it is a little too large for a single palm. Often you’ll find yourself needing to multi-task with one hand using the phone while the other is handling something else simultaneously. And with the QMobile Noir, that becomes a bit of a hassle because the phone is prone to slipping out while typing (a message, or selecting options).
This means the phone is quite tricky to use while doing just about anything, be it driving, grocery shopping, taking your kids to the park. It is also prone to slipping out of hands when you’re not sitting or standing upright, even if you use both hands to hold and type. And this is not something that you can overcome easily or within a few days. While you get used to other phones with such problems within a few days, I find it’s taking very long to get used to handle this set.
The third thing that is potentially annoying is the options and settings. Even after so many days, a few settings and options that are easily approachable and optable in generally any given phone, are proving hard to find and/or implement.
Examples include removing a few options off home screen, disabling vibrations or notifications flashes of applications when not in immediate use or while viewing a video on full screen. These are minor glitches and I’m sure they can be managed but are not as easy to figure out and prove to be annoying bottlenecks when it comes to smooth usage.
Another thing that is an immediate turn off is the low durability of the charger unit. The charging plug is quite weak, almost brittle – I caught my finger very lightly in the charging cable and not only did the cable get easily unplugged from the phone, it also got dented from the top surface as if it was made of nothing more than aluminium.
In addition, the main charger body has weak plugs, they tend to bend toward each other with use – after very little use of a very similar charger, I started noticing this bending of the plugs which I conclude to be a result of simply being plugged in; when not charging, the charger was neatly stored, not roughly tossed around.
A related problem seems to be a non-durable charging port, something I feel is becoming increasingly common in the industry. The ports become loose with time, as a result of which the charger doesn’t connect properly, and the charging time increases. So far, I have not seen this problem with this phone, but only time will tell how long it will stay this way.
The set is also prone to “hanging” during usage. This occurred even when the phone memory in use is negligible and irrespective of the number of applications in use.
Turning the screen off and back on doesn’t always help. The camera quality is refreshingly good. Screen size is of appealingly balanced dimensions.
So far, the attractions seem to be fast battery charging and reasonably long battery life, but only time will tell how long these features last.
