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Motorola Z 8 has arrived! |
Bambino
Joined: Sep 17, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Clow Kingdom
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Review please  | |
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SP1
Joined: Nov 05, 2006
Posts: 71
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Give him a chance. Some of us have jobs to go to.
This message was posted from a T39 |
floatlite
Joined: Jan 23, 2002
Posts: 486
From: Glasgow
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Ok, Ok, here is the review of the Motorola Z8.
Above: The Motorola Z8 Boxed up.
The Motorola Z8 RIZR.
This one of Motorola's first attempts at a Multimedia 'smartphone' based on the Symbian UIQ operating system, utilising Symbian 9.2, UIQ 3.1, one of, if not the first commercially available handset to use this updated OS.
Above: The magical opening box.
Although the phone is using the symbian OS, which is generally used by companies for smartphones, the Moto Z8 is not a true smartphones the common manner of defination, Motorola designating the Z8 as multimedia powerhouse.
We'll come back to these claims later in the review...
Packaging.
Motorola may be many things, but they are always worth a punt, that they'll come out with some cool ass packaging, and again they have not disappointed with the Z8. Oragami style packaging, opening on multiple directions, and having a cool 3D 'animated' opening phone on the top of the box. (See above picture)
So whats in the box?
As with many of Motorola phones, the Z8 has been generously endowed with accessories.... they are,
Above: The contents spill forth....
1. Motorola Z8 Handset
2. Mains Charger
3. Wired Stereo headset, with inline remote
4. MotoROKR S9 Bluetooth headset
5. The Bourne Identity Movie on Micro SD 512MB card
6. USB Data Cable
7. Battery
8. Spare Battery compartment cover
9. Instruction Manual
The Device, is it really meant to bend like that?
Well, it bends, thats a novelty, never seen a phone do that before...As you open the Z8, by sliding the screen upwards, you notice the phone curving, a strange, but somewhat pleasing experience. The slide is both smooth, and well designed, having some weight, but not being to snappy, it opens cleanly and precisely.
The screen is excellent, no awesome, 240x320, 2.2 inch screen, a TFT and 16M colour unit, and although it does not seem to be overly speced compared to others in the market, it somehow seems to look better, not quite sure why, but stick the movie supplied on the microSD in and play it, and you'll see why.
Battery.
Supplied battery is a Motorola Li Ion 1030 mAh unit, and provided the handset with reasonable juice, allowing 360 hrs standby and 4 hours talktime. Over the first 4 charge cycles, I have seemed to get around these figures.
UI.
Well, it should be familiar to me, as I have Sony Ericsson M600, P990 and various other Symbian UIQ phones, but the 'unique' thing about this handset is the lack of touchscreen, the primary interface generally used with this UI.
Initially it all seems a bit strange, but after some playing about, the familiarily all returns, most of the menu's are in the same place, and soon, you get into the swing of the UI just like the SE version.
Icons are bright and clear, and easily understood, and the hieracy of the menus is straight forward and easy to navigate (is this a Motorola I am talking about?, I must be dreaming)
............part 2 to follow shortly
David
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Dogmann
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: London England
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Hi David,
Nice to see part one looking forward to part 2, IMHO the reason the screen is so good is down to two things firstly despite what some would claim a 16m colour screen does indeed make a difference as you have noted and secondly this device is also using the OMAP 2420 CHIP running @330mhz and also the Power VR MBX graphics chip which is why it can both record and play Video @VGA 30fps and IMO it really does make a huge difference as you have already noted compared to your other devices. This is the same setup as found in the N93, N93i, N95 and E90 and why these devices also give a superior result.
Marc
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[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-24 00:04 ] |
umerhayat
Joined: Feb 27, 2005
Posts: 285
From: Pakistan
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Thanks David. Hope you post part two soon
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Mr Miyagi
Joined: Mar 28, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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thank you, cant wait for part 2. |
Daedalus85
Joined: Apr 23, 2007
Posts: > 500
From: Suffolk, UK
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I've had a play with one the ones we got in the other day, and first impressions are.....
....it's awful :/
This is, I'm afraid to say, most likely the nail in Motorolas coffin.
It's:
-Overpriced
-Menu is incredily un-user friendly
-Underpowered
-Underspecced
Overall, not impressed. Oh, and the keys aren't particularly easy to get on with, the sloped design of the whole phone makes it hard to texts and the keypad is too flat and glossy, your fingers slide right over it.
Serious let down me thinks.
But remember boys and girls, it's ONLY an opinion 
My opinions on this forum are that of my own and not of the company I work for. |
Daedalus85
Joined: Apr 23, 2007
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From: Suffolk, UK
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oh, and also, it doesn't record at VGA, only QVGA.
My opinions on this forum are that of my own and not of the company I work for. |
Mr Miyagi
Joined: Mar 28, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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I just don't like the green lime colour line bit  |
fatreg
Joined: Jul 26, 2003
Posts: > 500
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the lime green makes me totally fall in love with it..
but then again we all know I like different phones!
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Mr Miyagi
Joined: Mar 28, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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On 2007-07-24 21:59:09, fatreg wrote:
the lime green makes me totally fall in love with it..
but then again we all know I like different phones!
take it your fav colour is green lol.
the green apparently glows in the dark. |
fatreg
Joined: Jul 26, 2003
Posts: > 500
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On 2007-07-24 22:00:52, Mr Miyagi wrote:
On 2007-07-24 21:59:09, fatreg wrote:
the lime green makes me totally fall in love with it..
but then again we all know I like different phones!
take it your fav colour is green lol.
the green apparently glows in the dark.
miles off!
pink is my fave colour...
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Dogmann
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: London England
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@Daedalus85
Interested to hear you say you feel it is under powered as it using the fastest chip currently used in any Symbian device. When you say you feel it underpowered do you mean it is slow to react in navigation or actually using apps? Also most of the right ups i have seen it claims 30fps video both playback and recording and as i know the chip set supports VGA i am surprised this would of been down graded as that just makes no sense.
Marc
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[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-24 21:38 ] |
Mr Miyagi
Joined: Mar 28, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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the start up time for this phone is pretty fast though, i think its like 5 seconds. |
Daedalus85
Joined: Apr 23, 2007
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From: Suffolk, UK
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It's quick, and I'll give it that, it's very nippy. And the video play back is most certainly between 25 and 30 FPS, but the recording most certainly isn't. I'll take a photo of the video options screen to back this up tommorrow if you like.
As for underpowered, I don't mean the processor (although, to it's credit, it's the fastest smartphone I know of), I mean the overall spec. For a phone thats only free for £50/month you get a shoddy 2MP non-autofocus camera, a tiny LED flash, the loudspeaker and MP3 playback is awful, something I did not expect from Motorola. Plus the design of the buttons really lets it down.
This is the kind of phone that should be far far cheaper for what your paying.
For the same cost you can have an N95, or a K810i, or a P990i etc, etc.
My opinions on this forum are that of my own and not of the company I work for. | |
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Posted: 2007-07-19 16:14
