Motorola Z10 First Impression Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design
|
Mark Brezinski Published on January 10, 2008 Comment on this |
|
|
|
|
Front
The front of the phone has a ton of features. At the top of the phone, to the right of the speaker, is a camera lens for self-portraits. Below this is the 2.2" display. The last part of the phone's face is the d-pad array. The d-pad itself is flanked by two soft buttons, a menu and back key, and the talk and end keys. Sliding the phone open reveals a standard 12-key array. The very bottom of the front has a mesh-like texture.
Left
The left side of the phone has the volume keys, a media control key for pausing music playback (the PR rep couldn't get it to work on a floor model, but we're guessing it will in the final version).
Top
The top of the phone doesn't have any interesting features.
Bottom
Neither does the bottom.
Right
The right side of the phone features a camera shortcut button and the Mini USB port, which is covered with a plastic panel.
Back
The back of the Z10 looks like the front of a dedicated digital camera. The 3.2-Megapixel lens is in the center, and the flash is above it. The part with the Motorola insignia is the battery cover.
Battery Out
Under the battery is a SIM card slot, which we didn't feel was interesting enough to merit powering down the phone for.
In the Box
There's no word yet on any pack-ins, as carriers haven't yet been chosen. Carriers have the main say in what goes in their branded packaging.
Handling
The phone handles like an average-sized cell phone. It has a good amount of heft and feels comfortable in hand. The button placement seems a bit awkward, however, as the volume keys, play/pause button, and camera shortcut are all located fairly low on the phone. You'll have to shift your grip, employ the use of a second hand, or perhaps even ask a specialist to help you hit these buttons.
Portability
Well, we can't say exactly how bit the phone is because Motorola's spec sheet appears to be wrong and some mischievous journalist stole all our rulers and tape measurs. The spec sheet claims the phone is 109x15.5 / 16.5mm, which is 4.29" high, 0.61" wide, and 0.65" deep. These measurements would make the phone nearly cylindrical, so we're assuming they mixed up the 5 and 1 and it's actually 2.03" wide, which is a much more reasonable number. Regardless of the actual measurements, the phone is about average size and weight (4.06 oz). You shouldn't have any problems lugging this handset around.
Aesthetics
The phone isn't the most attractive handset out there, but it isn't ugly by any means. It has about average attractiveness, but is skewed towards a less-professional look. No one is going to be repulsed to the point of nausea by this phone, but no one will be lovestruck by it either.
Durability
We snuck in a bit of a creak test and didn't hear any creaking. The phone is a slider, however, and moving parts means more wear and tear for the phone. The main screen is also exposed, and not made out of a scratch-resistant, bullet-proof, titanium polymer, so scratching is also a concern.
| Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
