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As we pointed out in our report about 3GSM communicators, there's a slew of vendors targeting RIM's BlackBerry handhelds and Palm's Treos from the hardware side, set to deliver their own variation on compact smartphones with QWERTY thumb-keyboards and other advanced features. It's not just Microsoft, Visto, Good and other push e-mail vendors making the market more competitive with their software.

One of the most eagerly-awaited of these communicator's has been Motorola's Q—a Pocket PC Phone with RAZR-like thinness and weight. To the disappointment of many, Verizon Wireless delayed shipping the CDMA smartphone - it was supposed to be available earlier this year - reportedly because Motorola needed time to improve the Q's keyboard/software integration.

The wait for the Q is about to end, however.

A promotional page on Motorola's Web site now says the Q will be Available April 2006. Whether that means in a week, 10 days, or a month from now, we don't know. What is clear, the device Motorola employees once - and still may - refer to as a 'RAZRberry' will finally have end-users thumb-typing away in the U.S. soon.

The Motorola Q measures 4.6 x 2.5 x 0.45 inches and should arrive with Microsoft's Dircect Push technology for push e-mail support with Microsoft Exchange. Like the Treo, the RAZR-thin Q supports the carrier's high-speed EV-DO network for average connection speeds of 400 to 700 kbps.

Motorola plans to follow the CDMA Q with a GSM edition, so operators in Europe and Asia—let alone customers of carriers like Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile in the United States (perhaps)—will eventually get their chance at the new smartphone.

Additional features of the Motorola Q include a 320 x 240-pixel screen, dual speakers, Bluetooth for personal area networking (connecting to headsets, printers) and a 1.3 megapixel camera with photo lighting for picture and video. There's a miniSD slot for storage expansion, 64 MB of RAM plus 128 MB of Flash ROM, as well as a 5-way navigation button and thumb wheel.

Verizon is also the exclusive provider, for now, of - perhaps - the hottest smartphone on the market in the U.S., Palm's Treo 700w. Like the Q, the Treo 700w is a Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC Phone.

We'll report more on pricing and availability for the Q as we learn more.