All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
Review: the UIQ 3-powered Motorola RIZR Z8
Published by Steve Litchfield at 13:06 UTC, June 25th 2007
In part 1 of a four part review, Rafe examines the new Motorola RIZR Z8 in detail, looking at the hardware, the overall form factor and the new non-touchscreen version of UIQ 3. What about that hinged keypad, and what about handling those on-screen 'softkeys'? The Motorola RIZR Z8, termed the ‘multimedia monster’ by Ed Zander (CEO of Motorola), is one of this year's stand out handsets. The Z8 is an intriguing mix of high style and high tech, marrying good, though not top end, specifications with a stand-out design.
Running on UIQ 3.1 on top of Symbian 9.2, it has a state of the art smartphone software platform and is the first ever non-touchscreen UIQ phone. However, this is only part of its appeal, since in its positioning and marketing the Z8 moves away from the traditional smartphone offering and instead attempts to create a compelling, consumer focused, multimedia experience, led by stellar video features.
News Discussion
stuclark
Excellent part 1 Rafe, looking forward to the other parts ;)
ares
I agree...UIQ3.X is looking really nice on a non-ts device :)
Bassey
It does look really nice, and it's probably the closest I've come to being tempted by a non-touchscreen device, but it looks like a big bugger. I mean, it's quite slim but, in terms of surface area, it's even bigger than the N95 and that is one big beast of a phone. I was thinking the Z8 would be similar in size to the other Motorola sliders.
Maybe when I see one in the flesh it won't look so big.
Maybe when I see one in the flesh it won't look so big.
Unregistered
I think it is the "Chin" at the bottom the slider that has such a big impact on it's length. Remove (or reduce it) that and I think you would knock upto 1/5 of the size of the phone off.
Rafe
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bassey
Maybe when I see one in the flesh it won't look so big.
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The issue for some people will be there isn't (yet) the same family of products as there is with S60 and SE's UIQ 3 phones so things like sat-nav, optimised bluetooth keyboard drivers, extra apps may take a while.
Guess Who
SE should have put UIQ3.1 on the P1 and W960 just because the new font. It's much better than that wimpy shite typeface in UIQ3.
stuclark
SE won't be using UIQ 3.1 this year (at least I highly doubt it)
krisse
What's interesting is that, as Rafe notes in the article, this isn't being marketed as a smartphone. Motorola are doing exactly what Nokia has done with S60 and marketed them as mainstream phones, not even using the word "smartphone" in case that sounds too niche.
It seems like Motorola wants to make UIQ as mainstream as S60 already is, which can only be a good thing for Symbian as a whole.
It seems like Motorola wants to make UIQ as mainstream as S60 already is, which can only be a good thing for Symbian as a whole.
fernando20
Wow! You have a Sendo X!
lol, but nice one from moto, although from what I saw, the menu structure still is kind of weird (what is that "hellomoto" thing in main menu? browser?), I hope it will be user configurable...
lol, but nice one from moto, although from what I saw, the menu structure still is kind of weird (what is that "hellomoto" thing in main menu? browser?), I hope it will be user configurable...
stuclark
The Sendo X was a great handset in it's time. It's was nice to see Rafe include it in this review ;-)
krisse
"what is that "hellomoto" thing in main menu? browser?"
From the icon, it looks like some kind of download service, perhaps free ringtones and wallpaper.
From the icon, it looks like some kind of download service, perhaps free ringtones and wallpaper.
Unregistered
Seems odd that my local Motorola Product Vice President said that this phone was "a dud" and would not be brought to the Asia/Asia-Pac market for that very reason.
They are instead going to bring the next iteration. And bring some variant called "Z9" to market in Australia for the Telstra 850mhz 3G platform.
They are instead going to bring the next iteration. And bring some variant called "Z9" to market in Australia for the Telstra 850mhz 3G platform.
ratza
Quite odd to have an UIQ without a touchsreen. In my opinion, UIQ means to have a touchscreen by definition.
mudstuff
Good review so far Rafe, this is the first Moto I have liked the look and spec of. I don't know about the N95 being called a beast - i'd like it to be a little bigger and heavier!
Unregistered
Hi, Great review very helpful, I had/have also given up on motorola completely until I heard about the Z8, Im particulary interested to know the general speed of switching between app's and using functions as earlier symbian smart phones (Including the Nokia N95) have "Once again" let me down as a sluggish function greedy smart phone.I hoping for faster crisper response on this new motorola os.
thanks
thanks
Unregistered
i got this phone on tuesday and took it back on thursday! battery life is poor and the software on the phone is the least intuitive software i have ever found. annoyed annoyed annoyed so i took it back and got a decent phone! shame really because i thought it was quite cool... until i owned one.
Unregistered
Nice review. Like the look of it, and am thinking of getting one. Does it have the 'auto answer after 2,5, .. seconds' when connected to b/tooth headset or car kit as per the V3 etc. Does it have the voice dial feature?
Unregistered
Great Review I received my Z8 2 days ago and im very very pleased with it.
Unregistered
about SE k850i, i think they'd better to use that wonderful softkey uiq interface instead of new s40ish something awful.. with its gorgeous 5mp camera this could be very nice. they missed vast number of applications. actually SE would shift all walkman and cybershot phones to that softkey uiq. at that time their hand will become more stronger than now in the competition with nokia s60. With the announcement of Z8 motorola shows they can see that:)
Unregistered
where does the charger plug in? Will it work in a Mecedes Benz Blue tooth UHI adapter -- a V3 one?
Unregistered
personally i hate this mobile for the fact that it is impossible to text with!!!!!
the key pad is horrid.....u end up with sore fingers trying to push the things they are ment to be touch sensitive... i think they lied lol!!!
if u are after the mobile for its features ie the movies then its amazin the pic quality is fab!!!!!! only thing that lets this mobile down is the size of the screen (hard to c the film) and the key pad
over all tho an ace mobile just not for sum1 thats texts alot
the key pad is horrid.....u end up with sore fingers trying to push the things they are ment to be touch sensitive... i think they lied lol!!!
if u are after the mobile for its features ie the movies then its amazin the pic quality is fab!!!!!! only thing that lets this mobile down is the size of the screen (hard to c the film) and the key pad
over all tho an ace mobile just not for sum1 thats texts alot
Unregistered
this phone looks amzing and everyonve thinks its cool the video quality is great a well as the clearness of the bourne identity on the phone. but i have had this phone less than a week and there are several problems if you cahrge the battery at the start of the day it will be flat by the end. also it crashes a lot and for some reason althought i have 56mb free on the phone and 129mb on the sd card when i try and play certain songs it displays an error - memory full or not ready etc. whats all that about personally there are too many faults liek this and it crashes to oftne not impressed
Unregistered
i have this phone and it is a really good phone you get £80 bluetooth headphones bundeld free, yes it does have a few tiny bugs but overall its a great phne amazing screen
Unregistered
khbgascx
VaRo
I´m looking for default themes from Z8. Do you have any of users? Pls, sent me them. ICQ or email. Thx! ;o)
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