14 DAY TRIAL // Last time we saw the RIZR Z8, we only had a single leaked image to comment on. Now, Motorola has officially released it on the market and boy oh boy, was I wrong in my appreciations! I have a thing to defend myself with though: I said the specs weren't the ones that will appear on paper when the handset will get launched and now I'm glad I did.
The Z8 doesn't run on the Linux and Java based platforms as I thought it would. It is all packed up with Symbian flavor (I know you didn't expect that because Symbian is Nokia's OS of choice), it comes with 3.6 Mbps HSPDA data transfer technology, a 2.2 inch 16 million colors QVGA TFT LCD screen capable to display video clips of up to 30 fps, 90 MB of internal memory, a microSD memory expansion card slot that will let you increase the phone's storage space with up to 4 GB of memory, and integrated multimedia player, Bluetooth connectivity with A2DP and AVRCP stereo profiles and a 2 megapixel digital camera with 8x zoom, lumi LED light, a dedicated side key and capable of recording videos in MPEG4 and 3GP formats.
But the spec sheet is not the only thing that will attract buyers. This phone sports an unusual "banana style" design, a design which gave it the title of the world's first kick slider handset (whatever that may imply).
If you are expecting for me to explain how the "banana sliding" thing works, I will try to do that but I'm not sure you'll get the idea because this is one the weirdest things on the mobile market at the moment: when you slide the keypad beneath the display down the handset will pretty much take the form of a banana as you see in the attached picture.
At that moment, the device seems to be almost impossible to get into its original form. But, trust me, you're wrong! Even if physically it may seem impossible, Motorola's designers have thought of that and have made the part of the body containing the keypad from a ruberish material. That is the reason why the backside of this device looks like a banana only when the slider is open.
If you've understood those explanations and you liked what I've told you so far about the MOTORIZR Z8, I guess you can skip the trip to the local Motorola representative and prepare your money because this handset will be launched in the first half of 2007. Pricing and availability aren't yet known but we'll keep you posted so be sure to check back.