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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent all around phone. Solid, easy to use, great sound quailty. And most important, shiny!"
Pros: Sound quality is excellent. Phone feels solid to hold, use and touch. Beautiful 2.4" screen. Great Bluetooth syncing. Easy to use. Slides smoothly and easily for a slider.
Cons: Fingerprint attracting. Battery Life is ify (but I was using the phone with video playback so it may hurt). Lousy Alarm and photo reviewing applications.
Summary: Received and began using 4/14/08
I have used many phones and this has to be one of my favorites, up there with the Sony Ericsson T616. Previous phones used: Samsung Sync (SGH-A707), Motorola RAZR V3, Sony Ericsson S710a, Sony Ericsson T616, Sony Ericsson T68i
Now on to what I like about this phone:
The sound quality is excellent. Wonderful either to the ear or on speakerphone. I hear no crackles or echoes like in my previous phones. Now I'm not sure why the Editor reported the sound on the speakerphone as "soft" unless close to the phone. I had the phone on a desk and stood a few feet away while talking to a co-worker and he came in loud and clear. He also seemed to hear me fine too, of course I'm sure in a noisy environment it would be a bit harder to hear or speak via speakerphone. The speaker seems rather large and the back plate has two little bumps raising the back of the phone up on a flat surface for sounds to go out.
I love the way the phone feels in my hand. It's solid not flimsy (the LG shine came off as such even thru it is a solid looking phone). When it slides out or pops back in, it doesn't feel like it will fall apart. It also slides easily and can be operated with the thumb. I really didn't like the little buttons ("silver bumps" in lieu of regular buttons) at first on the phone but after of week of using the phone it's really not bad. Once you are used to it it's not that hard to use and very tactile for me. I don't really care for the haptic feedback since when I press it all it does is just vibrate the phone. Now the only thing that is kind of annoying is that the section behind the charging port is kind of creaky. When I have the phone slid out and I brace my index finger on the right side of the camera behind the charging port and press buttons it creaks. Not sure if anything can be done about that because well the port is right there.
Now the screen, what is not to like about the large 2.4" screen with 262,144 colors. It's crisp and bright. Watching video on the screen is nice.
My Bluetooth headset, Jabra BT8010, synced up easily and smoothly. Music sounded clear and loud. Now when I was waiting on hold to call up AT&T the sound seemed a little fragmented but I'm unsure if that was the cell signal causing that or the headset connection. Straight music to headset was clear and crisp.
Out of the box the phone was easy to use and quick for setup. admittity I did have a RAZR before so I'm familiar with the interface, but even through it is very straight forward and everything is where I expect it. Menus moved smoothly so the interface was not slow (like my s710a).
The phone uses micro USB, now not as good as using a mini USB as I would like to consolidate my chargers (my car looks like a switch room with cat-5 running everywhere) but it comes with a Micro to mini USB adapter which is a pro. I tried using the packaged adapter on a mini USB charger I have with my Tom Tom and it did not seem to work and charge (and the brief time I got it to charge it turned the phone on when I had it off). I'll investigate it further but thought it was was odd. Cool minor thing is I can hook up the phone to a Pictbridge printer and print from it. Thru allowing it to do that requires navigating the phone's menu to change the connection type (Media Sync makes it appear as a hard drive, data connection for communication with Phone Tools, Memory card to make it a card reader and USB printing for Pictbridge).
Now on to what I dislike about the phone:
Well the above mentioned creaking behind the charging port.
Fingerprint magnet with all that metal and glass. I am worried about scratches on the glass but I always stick only some sort of protectors on my screens anyways. I kinda dislike that rubberized backing because I worry over time and use it'll rub off (especially on the two bumps on the back plate for the speaker I previously mentioned). My friends KRZR had this and she mistreats her phone and neither the glass or the "rubber" seemed to be worse for wear. If you are as picky about keeping your phone as new as me then I suggest investing in a case.
Now the first day after I charged it and with minimal use I had no loss of bars up to the third day. But I began using the phone the third day more and began playing around with putting video on the phone and it seemed to fade rather quickly. Now when I started playing full on videos (converted to the 3gp format) it seems to drain battery like crazy (1 day).
I also dislike support via Motorola's website and the book that was provided. I wanted to find more specifications on the phone along with details like type of video, applications supported and it's kinda bare from both. The manual seemed show more importance on how to use the multimedia features like Cellular Video, AT&T mobile music and such (guess it's the way it's gonna work, since these are probably huge money makers for AT&T and so they are more important than understanding how to use the phone).
Now the one thing that irritates me and which I loved about my Samsung Sync is the alarm feature. Like many people I know I use my phone for an alarm. The Z9's alarm app is no different than my RAZR, no planning for the week, weekends, different times, etc. It's turn on/turn off, what time and tone.
I also have a gripe on the photo viewing on the phone. It takes pretty decent pictures and has a nice (and extremely strong) flash but viewing photos is awful. You can't zoom or rotate.
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