Motorola ZINE Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Marianne Schultz Published on January 28, 2009 Comment on this |
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Dialing Speed (7.98)
To see how quickly numbers can be dialed on a phone, we time how long it takes to dial test numbers starting from the home screen in the unlocked state and ending when the Send key is pressed. Despite terrible Send and End buttons, which we'll talk about in the next section, the ZINE posted shortest time among our comparison phones in this test.
Dialing a call on the ZINE
Dialing should go quickly for you, though using a fingernail to improve your accuracy since there's nothing separating the number keys on the dial pad will be a necessity for most. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Send and End Buttons (1.5)
The Send and End buttons on the ZINE are some of the worst we've ever seen. Each is placed right next to 2 other buttons and there's no physical division between them. We frequently pressed the soft menu key accidentally during our time with the ZINE, despite the presence of tiny fingers in our office. The Send and End keys do have small raised bars on them, but so do the 2 other buttons right next to each of them - definitely not helpful. The only way to really find them by feel alone is to reference the side edges of the ZINE.
The ZINE's terrible Send and End buttons
Call Management (8.0)
The ZINE's call history is accessed through the Call Log menu item. Call history is shown in 5 tabs: all calls, dialed calls, answered calls, missed calls, and frequent calls. The default view mode is List format, which simply shows the phone number with no additional details. Selecting the Thumbnail View in the Settings menu changes the list in each tab to show the number and the time and the date of the call. Selecting an entry in either view shows a single screen with the photo assigned to contact, or just an icon if no photo is set, and the date and time of the call. The Options menu accessed via the left soft menu key offers the ability to save the contact to the phone book, delete it, hide it, and more.
All Calls in the call log
Call and data timers are easily accessible through the Options menu in the Call Log. Call Timers show the time of the last call, dialed, answered, data, all, and lifetime calls. Data Times shows the duration of the last 3 data sessions and the total time for all data sessions. Data Volumes shows the amount of data transferred during the last 3 sessions and a total data transferred number.
The call and data timers
During a call, the left soft menu key reveals options to go to the Main Menu, turn on the speakerphone, mute the call or put it on hold, and dial a new call to start a conference call. The right soft menu key is a shortcut to mute the call without needing to go through the Options menu. Though there's no option to record a call in the menus shown on the live call screen, you can navigate to the Main Menu, select the Fun & Apps option and go to the Voice Memo application and start recording. Voice memos created during a call will automatically be saved to the Conversations sub-folder in the Voice Notes media folder. It would be nice if there was a menu shortcut to this feature in the in-call menu, but we appreciate the fact that the ability to record a phone call exists to begin with on the ZINE.
Startup to Call (2.85)
For a non-smartphone, the ZINE took longer than expected in this test, averaging 35.04 seconds to go from completely off to the moment the Send key was pressed after dialing a test number. Usually, smartphones are the slow ones here, taking a long time to load their more complex operating systems and extensions. The ZINE earned the slowest time, and thus the lowest number of points, in this area relative to our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Ring Volume (8.55)
To test ring volume, we use a sound pressure meter to measure the loudness of a device at its highest volume setting. The ZINE rang at a healthy 85.5dB, but still comes out last among our comparison phones. If you're in a really loud environment often, you may miss calls on the ZINE.
Ringtones (8.0)
To test a phone's ringtone flexibility, we load test music files in MP3, AAC, and WMA formats and see if they can be used ringtones. The ZINE had no problems using these test files as ringtones, and you can even designate Voice Memos you record on the ZINE as ringtones as well. The only thing we didn't like was that music or voice memo ringtones you designate don't get added to the list of ringtones in the Ringtones list in the Multimedia menu - they are simply assigned as the ringtone, message tone, etc. in the current theme. You can view the ringtone you've assigned when viewing the theme, but the list of available ringtones doesn't change anywhere. On most phones, songs you assign as ringtones are shown in the ringtone list and it's a little irritating that this is not the case with the ZINE.
There's no way to edit ringtones on the ZINE so you can choose specifically which portion of a song or voice recording is used. You can purchase ringtones from T-Mobile and download them directly to your phone - we downloaded one from T-Mobile's Top 25 ringtone list at the price of $2.49.
Non-Audio Alerts (6.0)
Here, we look at a phone's vibrate mode and visual indicators for incoming calls. The ZINE's screen and keypad backlight turn on when there's an incoming call, but there's nothing overtly flashy that will get your attention unless it's in your field of view. The vibrate mode is pretty good and is easily noticed in a pocket or on a table.
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