The Motorola Z9

The Boy Genius has done it again, this time by outing the new Motorola Z9 slider phone. Its styling looks very similar to the RAZR 2 -- mainly due to the large primary screen -- although since the model that the Boy Genius got his hands on has some very deep AT&T branding, we'd have to say the similarities end there. Beyond the design the Z9 features 3G, a 2 megapixel camera with flash (no word on whether it's a "real" flash), Motorola's Synergy OS, support for AT&T's Live Video Share, and a microSD card slot. We're sure we'll be hearing a lot more about this phone over the coming days: for now, head over to The Boy Genius Report to check out a gallery of shots of the phone.

[nano @ Jul 7th 2007 1:26PM]

Good god, that's hideous

[Tim @ Jul 7th 2007 2:20PM]

R.I.P. iPhone.

So last week, the iPhone came on the scene and critics lauded it as an innovative and incredible experience for the phone. It is beautiful in every way. Verizon, in a sad, pathetic move releases a press release that they will be open with all of their phones. Perhaps they were fearful they didn't have anything that measured up.

And all of the hype ends today, with the release of this aesthetic masterpiece. Mirroring the massive consumer success of the Microsoft Zune, which pleased all 3 of the people who bought one, Motorola has truly released a gem here.

R.I.P. iPhone. You were great while you lasted.

[Miles @ Jul 7th 2007 4:57PM]

iPhone beats the shit out of this.

[nikster @ Jul 8th 2007 5:45AM]

Maybe the phrase iPhone killer is already in itself a sarcastic statement, similar to iPod killer...

[xbit @ Jul 7th 2007 1:26PM]

I much prefer the Z8!

[Al @ Jul 7th 2007 2:13PM]

The banana phone?

[Jon @ Jul 7th 2007 3:25PM]

Played with a V8 recently. Great design, love the banana concept. Great UIQ interface.

[Aldyn @ Jul 7th 2007 1:41PM]

z8 looks 1000000x better, imo.

[Aldyn @ Jul 7th 2007 1:43PM]

ps:

in addition to being hideous, it also looks similar to the new vx8550 (chocolate 2)

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/showimage.php?m=Reviews.Images&f=name&id=16897

[Anton @ Jul 7th 2007 4:58PM]

@Aldyn

And of course, LG > Motorola

[Matt O @ Jul 7th 2007 1:42PM]

i think this is there bad attempt at copying the choclate, which i really dont like anyways. Either way they should have just updated the Rizr cause i really like that phone and with a better OS it would be as perfect as a slider could be.

[Ryhan @ Jul 7th 2007 3:48PM]

Most sliders "look like the chocolate" mind you. The chocolate is just another slider (albeit slightly better than the rest)that was well-advertised.

Clean interface, slightly awkward look (particularly because the finish seems to be matte, rather than being glossy, though matte makes it appear thinner and "scratch-resistant"), and probably "more economical" than an iphone!

MS Fanboys... Slightly boxy, and probably won't sell out...sound familiar?
Macfanboys... welcome to the world of tactile feedback where not a single annoying clicky sound lurks :)

[Austin @ Jul 7th 2007 1:43PM]

Yikes! Thats even ugly for a Moto!

[kurtschneider @ Jul 7th 2007 1:44PM]

anyone notice the "zune-like" appearance?? Maybe this is the mysterious zPhone™

[Maestro @ Jul 7th 2007 1:54PM]

Not with that AT&T symbol on it it isn't...

[Owen V @ Jul 7th 2007 2:03PM]

how can this run synergy without the menu button above the up button on the d-pad?

[CharlieX @ Jul 7th 2007 2:39PM]

The new color: steampunk oxide.

[Dave @ Jul 7th 2007 2:40PM]

eewwww!

[Anthony @ Jul 7th 2007 2:56PM]

The Z8 rocks! I especially love the UIQ OS used for it.

It's a pity that Motorola is releasing the Z9 with a proprietary, "Feature Phone" category OS and not a smartphone category OS like UIQ.

[Mr. B @ Jul 7th 2007 2:58PM]

SDHC support would be nice.

[drivefastbmw @ Jul 7th 2007 3:34PM]

Welcome back to the "Brick Phone" design esthetic... See what happens when you have an engineer design something instead of hiring an Industrial Designer.

[joe @ Jul 7th 2007 3:37PM]

That Moto is soooooo





U G L Y

[gerbick @ Jul 7th 2007 3:49PM]

I hope those aren't the final buttons.

[Dix @ Jul 8th 2007 1:45AM]

Seriously... those buttons are TINY. Why couldn't they make actual buttons instead of little metal nubs?

[chadow @ Jul 7th 2007 4:10PM]

If you stand on your head, squint, close one eye, and wear your grandfathers glasses...that thing looks exactly like an elusive burgundy Zune. For even more fun, one piece of masking tape (to make the screen appear smaller) and some white spray paint, is all you need and you'll think you are looking at a iPod.

Its great fun....really.

[Aldyn @ Jul 7th 2007 10:28PM]

if you stand on your head, squint, close one eye, and wear your grandfathers glasses... that thing looks exactly like an absolute piece of shit

D:

[chadow @ Jul 7th 2007 4:23PM]

I didn't even notice until I looked at my old Razr, that it was designed so much like it. If you were to cut the number area off the number pad and remove the folding part from a Razr....you have a Z9.

[Andy Shannon @ Jul 7th 2007 5:11PM]

Come on people, lets not get crazy, no one should even consider comparing this phone to a smartphone?? iPhone is not just a phone like this thing is, lets focus on comparing it to other phones.

[Constable Odo @ Jul 7th 2007 5:47PM]

This definitely is not a smartphone. This is a stupidphone. Motorola should just get out of the cellphone business. This company does not have a clue. Nokia should just buy them out, but Motorola has nothing worth buying. Poor designs, conservative hardware, lousy software, poor management. The original one-trick pony company. And this phone is so ugly. It really does look like a reddish brick. Hack this phone. Hack it to pieces.

[Stephen @ Jul 7th 2007 6:32PM]

Constable,

Why would Motorola get out of the cellphone business? Motorola is on a bad wave after all of the endless streams of RAZRs (and people still bought up), but they've always been an innovative company. That and Nokia doesn't have enough money to buy out Motorola.

Having seen the RAZR 2 up close and used it, I think with the RAZR2, Z8 and Z9, Motorola's going to go on an upswing.

[kpfeif @ Jul 7th 2007 9:50PM]

Motorola has very little to offer and won't have anything for years.

Why? They've let go the majority of their creative and inventive people. The design center in Champaign-Urbana? All employees have been laid off as of last week. This is where their Linux smartphones were being designed. Everything that Motorola had in the works is gone - all of the engineers, designers, etc. - all gone. They have nothing in the pipeline - nothing. Their China design center? They've never produced anything.

So, Motorola can thank their CFO and the marketing people who went from selling the biggest celling phone of all time - the RAZR - to now having no product to sell.

[Brian @ Jul 8th 2007 1:37AM]

wait, you people are saying motorola should go out of business... and yet, how many people are carrying around razrs? motorola has sold over 100 million razrs (yes, thats not a typo, 100 million). name any other cell phone that has sold 100 million units. there isnt anything. just look around you and see how many people are using razrs. you all expect every phone to be like the next razr, well its not going to happen. there is only so many new things you can do with a phone. and when was the last time nokia built a phone that didnt look like a piece of shit? the only reason they can build their phones so cheap is that they glue them together, they arent meant to last for more than a year or two, and none of them are the least bit attractive. and i dont understand how you can make comments based just on one picture. we dont even know what it looks like when its opened, dont even know what the OS looks like, we dont know anything, and youre just assuming that its crap or something. and you say motorola has no phones to sell? what about the Q? or the rizr? or the krzr? you cant honestly tell me that motorola phones dont look nice when you actually hold them in your hand.

[bw @ Jul 8th 2007 3:48AM]

You're an idiot, some Nokia phone just recently broke 200 million. And I don't think the razr even broke 100 million, it broke 50 mil a year ago.

[xbit @ Jul 8th 2007 5:32AM]

Yup, the Nokia 1100 has sold 200 million units so far. They've got several other models that have sold 100+ million, such as the 3310.

[densone @ Jul 8th 2007 3:55AM]

I am not going to be a fanboy of anything here, but I must say Motorola has nothing to offer to the cellphone market. They haven't had anything cool since the Startac. I pimped that phone so hard.. :)

We all know the RAZR was a total piece of shit, but it was sexy at the time. I have taken a look at their new OS and honestly still feel the same way. I feel like their Chief Software Architect is Corky Thatcher. Anyway. Moto Sucks.

[Brian F. @ Jul 8th 2007 8:42AM]

Looks more like the LG Chocosuck to me. Wack, regardless.

[ogami_ito @ Jul 8th 2007 8:45AM]

A couple of things here...

I will use this (my own) definition of a smartphone:

a) able to add native software programs (not just Java)
b) able add software which can access hardware funtionality, such as file system and phone-centric functions, thus making the phone more "computer-like"
c) PC syncronyzation an utility functions (this is currently found in most phones though)
d) More text editing and file manipulation capability than is common to "regular phones"

According to this,this Moto phone, as well as the Z8 are smartphones. As well as most of the Nokia N and E series (Symbian OS) phones and a few Sony Erricsons. The new Razr2 V8 MIGHT be a smartphone (it uses a Linux OS) IF Motorola opens up the plateform SDK.

The iPhone, according to this definition, is not a smartphone. It is a beautiful, sturdy, slick media playing phone which also has the ability to access websites with WiFi networks (but cannot use 3rd party software on those WiFi networks).

They are two different things. Comparing the iPhone to everything else is silly because the user expectations and phone potential uses are different.

As far as phones go, I find the Motorola look and feel to be very good. And Motorola makes better clam-shell / flip phones than Nokia. Build quality is great. I think Nokia's non-smartphone user interface is much better than Motorola's. But anyway, they are both good companies, which come out with quite a few good products, and sometimes not so good products.

[tim @ Aug 5th 2007 1:19PM]

There is a z9 for sale on ebay. they are calling it a v8 slider. I have just one thing to say about that this is a copy of lg,s phone.. moto brought the slim phone to market and the whole industry coppied it, its now the standered. So moto has a slider based on the razr2 and they have coppied lg? I think not.