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Motorola Z8 RIZR review

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Unlike rivals Sony Ericsson and Nokia, Motorola has never seemed that taken with the whole Symbian Smartphone business, preferring to concentrate on one highly-styled product and rather lazily launch several lesser models based on its traits. But with the release of the new Motorola Z8 that period of complacency seems to have ended, as it represents a return to the forefront of mobile technology. It's not just the Symbian software either, as the Z8 incorporates just about every piece of mobile media you could want.

Mobile Media is a phrase which may strike fear into many a user, all gimmicky additions that one bores of after ten minutes. The Z8 however, has all the usual – improved – features, plus one or two party pieces that not only make it stand out from its competitors, but could become more than just a passing fancy.

A 512MB Micro SD card bundled with the phone contains the Matt Damon action movie The Bourne Identity (all of it too, not just 10 minutes) which can be displayed on the 2.2 inch, 16 million colour TFT screen. Thanks to a 30 frames per second speed, the video is perfectly watchable, if still a little small, and this feature should lend itself perfectly to passing the time on a long journey.

The next innovation is the Z8's slider design. Instead of simply elongating itself, a hinge in the rear section bends the phone into a banana shape as it's opened, curving the ear and mouth pieces into a more logical position. While on the surface this may seem nothing special, the whole movement and final shape makes the Z8 so comfortable and natural to hold, it amazes that no-one has done it since the Nokia 8110.

The Symbian software is a pleasant surprise too. The more technical readers will be interested to learn that the Z8 is the first to use the new Symbian 9.2 UIQ 3.1 version of the operating system, while the rest of us will be just pleased to know it is considerably faster, stable and user friendly than previous incarnations seen on other Smartphones. Applications include the Opera browser and email, a PDF viewer, an organiser, a 2MP camera with video and 90MB of onboard memory.

This being a Motorola, there are a few usability issues and anyone not familiar with the company's unique way of doing things, will have a frustrating initial few days as they get to grips with things like iTap instead of T9 predictive text input. Plus, there is only one game on the phone, which seems odd for something touted as a 'mobile media' device. And as good as the new Symbian seems to be, it's almost inevitable it will crash more often than its less exotic brethren.

Is this a vision of the future of mobile communications? Yes. Is the Z8 the future today? No. What it is though, is a relatively light, 115 grams, sensibly sized, 109x50x15mm, attractively designed Smartphone that will please both the user who delights in being at the cutting edge of mobile technology and anyone who simply wants the latest, flashiest phone to pull out of their pocket.