Motorola Motorizr Mobile Phone

Motorola’s Rizr Z3 summer launch received heaps of attention but we’ve not seen or heard much about it since.  So we decided to see what the narrow slider design had on offer, and find out why it’s all gone very quiet. 

Design

Motorola has moved away from the clamshell by providing the Rizr Z3 with a sliding mechanism.  It’s a nice solid one too; it smoothly slides and sits in place without any unattractive clunks or clicks.  It is obvious that Motorola’s designers have worked long and hard on the phone’s proportions as when the phone is open it sits very comfortably in your hand for typing texts and calling.  The design is thinner than the Razr V3 by 3mm, at 16mm, and it weighs 115g.  The only downside of being thinner than the Razr is that the screen is smaller by 5mm both ways, measuring 30mm wide by 37mm tall.  The Rizr Z3 comes in black, blue and red, but we preferred the black by a mile.  With the Motorola’s signature rubbery keypad and a camera lens on the rear, this latest Motorola offering is gorgeous all-rounder and completely pocketable.

Motorola has supplied the Z3 with a load of features, some of which are completely necessary, and others which in our opinion are quirky gadgets.  We like the versatility of how the functions can be used, as most things can be done without the phone being open.  All the usual suspects can be found on the Z3, like a 3-megapixel camera with dedicated access key on the side.  When taking photos the phone is turned onto its side to make it feel like you are using a normal camera.  You can surf the net and check emails using the integrated email client software.  If you wanted to listen to music, the Z3 is compatible with AAC, AAC+, AAC+ enhanced, AMR NB and MP3 files too. MPEG4 files are also supported giving you the chance to watch short movies.  There’s no need to worry about storage space as the 16MB integrated internal memory can be expanded up to 2GB via the miniSD slot.  The Z3 lacks any type of headphone port, so you’ll have to turn on the Bluetooth feature and listen to music via a Bluetooth headset, watch out though as this will drain your battery after a while.  The usual gimmicky stuff that 2% of the population ever use is the web browser, calendar, calculator, alarm clock and Java games and applications.  The easily accessible speakerphone is handy for when you are out and about or in the car.  Motorola has given the Z3 the compatibility to support 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 dual bands.

The first point to mention is that we all thought the Z3 was a pleasure to use.  The comfortable design makes it a perfect companion of the avid texter, and could feature well in a speed-text competition (they do exist, honestly), especially with the great predictive text mode.  We did have a few reservations however.  Some of the lower buttons are slightly obstructed by the way the design bulges out at the bottom.  And our others are concerning the camera.  You see the problem is that the camera is uncovered and therefore open to scratches, and without flash or autofocus features to assist in your photo sessions, you could do without the hindrance of scratches impairing your snaps further.  Apart from those minor problems, the Rizr Z3 was fun and quick.  The iconic menu system was easily navigated using the designated keys, and the easy-to-use applications opened quickly.  We managed to get 5.5 days of battery life, and that was using all the applications and a Bluetooth headset.  Talk time did noticeably impair the battery life, when chatting for an hour the battery lasted for a day less on stand-by time. 

The only explanation we can come up with for the lack of hype over the Motorola Rizr Z3 is that others have come on the market pushing this one aside.  We liked the design, the performance, and all the applications, leaving us with a few minor complaints, which is a very good sign.  Motorola has done a good job of moving away from clamshell and into slide-mode by providing a smashing phone with lots of cool features.  Latest Coupon Codes.