Motorola's Krave ZN4 acquired, photographed

Here on the right coast of the US of A, it's not quite October 14th. That factoid aside, someone has still managed to acquire one of Motorola's peculiar (in a good way) Krave ZN4s from Verizon a few days in advance of its official release date. The touchscreen-heavy flip phone looks mighty impressive in the enviable photos waiting in the read link, and early impressions from the lucky owner assert that call quality is "very good," texting on it is a breeze and the touch response in general is quite satisfactory. For those of you passing this off as a gimmick before, see if you're still feeling the same way after having a look at the in the wild shots.

[Via phoneArena]

[David @ Oct 12th 2008 1:07PM]

hmmmmm...

[brandon @ Oct 12th 2008 1:37PM]

I'd tap that.......

[Nate @ Oct 12th 2008 2:23PM]

Vcast.... Sigh.

[Alex KanG @ Oct 12th 2008 3:37PM]

looks pretty sick actaully..

[Samboini @ Oct 12th 2008 5:22PM]

"early impressions from the lucky owner assert that call quality is "very good""

I'm not being funny here, but in this day and age this should be a fucking given.

[danotoriousb @ Oct 12th 2008 1:07PM]

It doesnt look that bad really, if it works I could see this being pretty popular.

[Evan @ Oct 12th 2008 1:58PM]

My friend works at Verizon and has the demo... it is soo nice. I love that phone!!!

[Cardbored @ Oct 12th 2008 1:10PM]

yum.... Motorola with a healthy splattering of Verizon OS

[hexoDAT64 @ Oct 12th 2008 1:17PM]

Seriously people, shut up about the Verizon OS. Not all the phones have the exact same OS, and the ones that do, its not that bad. Sometimes I think people use this whole Verizon OS thing just to bitch

[danotoriousb @ Oct 12th 2008 1:23PM]

Well it does suck to have your phone pointlessly crippled by some probably overweight OS.

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 12th 2008 1:47PM]

Someone defending Verizon's OS?

Really?

[Shadow08 @ Oct 13th 2008 1:46AM]

Have you guys even used the Verizon OS on the newer phones? It's not what it used to be. I used to dislike it as well, but it's actually really good now.
After using LG and Motorola phones on other carriers, I actually PREFER the Verizon OS. Easier to navigate, more practical, menus are better, and it's actually good looking. Give it a try before bashing it.

[GadgetTamer @ Oct 12th 2008 4:58PM]

well, i have to say that the Verizon OS is fine. The menus are laid out in a logical way, and everything is found where it should be. Bluetooth is one of the first options on the settings menu, and you don't have to go through a bunch of trouble to turn your bluetooth on and off. the only thing i don't like about the verizon OS is that you can't send or recieve music with there phones... since they seem to be the only phone company that follows the law....

[KarlW @ Oct 12th 2008 4:16PM]

I hate the ridiculous amount of branding cellphone carriers try and shovel on to phones nowadays. What makes them think that their brands are so popular that I have any loyalty besides who is cheapest?

That's the good thing about smartphones. They're rarely full of branding. Occasionally somebody might put a logo on the case, but that's it. Hopefully they can resist the temptation to do so by Android being open-source.

[VZW_Subscriber @ Oct 12th 2008 7:22PM]

HexoDAT64, YES I totally agree! The new phones aren't even close to the old VZ UI. The Voyager and Dare have awesome UIs and they're pretty quick. The only thing about old VZ UI was the lag on Motorola's but LGs (even old ones) were perfect.

[VZW_Subscriber @ Oct 12th 2008 7:30PM]

And another thing is that everyone cries and cries about it all day long about no OBEX, well truthfully back even when I had it I used it a whole 2 times its really pointless and I think the majority of people that bitch about Verizon and Verizon UI are people on Sprint or AT&T and think that they have the best wireless carrier, whereas ATT is just plain arrogant and you can't even get anything from CS they just say its not their problem and well Sprint is just Sprint and is going down...I used to be a big GSM\ATT user, but I finally realized that this awesome, expensive, feature-packed phone isn't ANY GOOD if it can't preform the most basic function its supposed to, make and receive telephone calls. I switched to Verizon Wireless and NEVER had to worry about making or receiving those calls, Verizon always rings through, no more "oh I called and just got your VM" and IMHO, it really is The Network.

[telepheedian @ Oct 12th 2008 11:17PM]

A few things i couldn't stand about the older firmware:

VCAST splattered everywhere. Look, we get it. TV on your phone. Nobody cares.

Branding different types of messages. TXT and PIX and VID are stupid names, at the very least, drop the stupid capitalization. I want to take a picture, not take and send PIX.

Putting all the apps under the "get it now" menu. Confusing, and generally designed to rack up accidental data charges.

Ugly arial font. Windows 3.1 doesn't belong on a modern device.

No way to transfer pictures without paying. The lack of OBEX is a real problem here, especially since sending an MMS takes a long time and has a tendency to scale down the pic.

Ugly, boxy, red, ui widgets. This goes along with the arial font, it just looks horrendous.

Slow performance on non-LG phones. I realize that motorola phones have crappy internals, but it really is ridiculous how slow they are. OTOH, the LGs are handled very nicely, I applaud them on creating a responsive interface on them.

Now, i have messed with the newer version of the chocolate slider, and i must say, I'm impressed. They've come a long way since the early days. But it's still missing some key functionality in parts, some things that are still best fixed by flashing back to factory firmware.

[Shadow08 @ Oct 23rd 2008 2:32PM]

All of those problems have been fixed. Have you used the UI on the enV2, Voyager, or Dare?
-No more Arial font.
-Vcast is barely anywhere anymore.
-Verizon calls it Picture, Video, and TXT Messages now. (Yes, still TXT. Oh well.)
-It's no longer "Get It Now." It's more appropriately called "Media Center."
-You can change the fonts on the Voyager. On the enV2, you can change the themes, which can change the font.

-What are you talking about no transferring pictures? To my surprise after getting my enV2, they've pretty much opened everything on the phone. You can send photos to a computer or printer, it has object push and file transfer, and phonebook transfers. There's really nothing to complain about anymore.

-The default UI isn't even red anymore. You get many themes to choose from, and I must say they're nicer than most phones out there. And I'm talking about real themes here, each one is a complete overhaul. No more changing the background color and calling it a "theme." I don't even think other phones' firmware can do a complete overhaul like this.
You can even customize how you want the main menu to appear (Grid, List, or Classic).

-Motorola actually fixed a lot of the lag problems on their newest phones, and are actually making a nice UI instead of sticking to the barebones one.

You obviously haven't used one of the newer Verizon phones. Much to my surprise, I am more than pleased and I actually prefer it to the default firmware on Motorola, LG, and Sony Ericsson phones for AT&T.

[telepheedian @ Oct 14th 2008 10:50AM]

If you read my post correctly, you would have seen that I was addressing the complaints of the older versions, and I said that most of the issues have been fixed in newer releases.

[Tom @ Oct 12th 2008 1:10PM]

And I thought the G1 was ugly....

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 12th 2008 5:46PM]

And look! The G1 is selling regardless of your opinion.

Looks like you're not as important as you thought.

[Alex @ Oct 12th 2008 6:30PM]

@Jon Nelson. yea and nobody cares about what you said either.. this is a comment section... let the man have his words out.. chill out Android defender

[Luigi @ Oct 12th 2008 1:13PM]

Looks too PDA'ish IMO.
Can't see it being too popular honestly.

[Zach @ Oct 12th 2008 2:52PM]

I'm not ganna lie, it does look pretty awesome. I've been longing for a phone with somewhat useless capabilities, just because they are cool. My heart did sink when i saw all the red of the verizon OS. I have a razor from them, and i hate all the red and the clunky operating system that it is. I'll have to interact with a real one or see some vids before I buy...

[feffrey @ Oct 12th 2008 1:39PM]

SWEET!
It is a lot like their older Ming that was release only in China, except the Ming ran a linux OS, and was GSM.
While I wish this was GSM, I might be tempted to buy this. (I am a sucker for flip phones)

[Alex @ Oct 12th 2008 6:33PM]

I have the Ming for a couple of years now.. i think its a good phone other than the keyboards for SMS or note entry.. its just too small where i can just pick it up and type something.. i have to either use my finger nails or stylus to type.. which kinda bit a bit of a pain

[Connor @ Oct 12th 2008 1:52PM]

Verizon? Oh, never mind.

[Adderz @ Oct 12th 2008 1:55PM]

Not a fan of the big plastic covering. Youd look like a complete ass holding that to take a call.

Otherwise its not bad.

Reminds me of their old a920, a1000 a1010 handsets...

[HalfJoey @ Oct 12th 2008 1:55PM]

I actually like the look of it. I would be nice if you could touch the screen through the plastic flat.

I'm on Verizon and im still not sure i would get this phone though. Touch Pro, please.

[JDizzle @ Oct 22nd 2008 1:14PM]

Actually you can touch the screen with the flip closed. It's pretty sweet and def unique

[chris @ Oct 12th 2008 3:08PM]

I'm due for a new phone soon. This however, will not be it.

[Samboini @ Oct 12th 2008 5:26PM]

Thanks for that useless insight. My girlfriend is due on her period this week incase you wanted to know.

[jabber @ Oct 12th 2008 6:36PM]

You gonna earn your red wings, samboini?

[chris @ Oct 12th 2008 7:01PM]

Thanks for your information too. It has changed my life.

[Peter @ Oct 12th 2008 1:56PM]

Why does everyone hate on Verizon? I have a Verizon phone and its fine. Of course the OS is going to be crippled, how many open source phones in the US do you know of that aren't called G1? The only problem with Verizon is how locked down the ringtones are, but everything else is fine

[Robert Andrews @ Oct 12th 2008 2:04PM]

I think the negative comments to the Verizon OS are legitimate, at least with phones that are released across multiple carriers and they might showcase a new OS from that manufacturer but Verizon loads theirs. On that note however, I have Verizon and I have a 8330 Curve, which has full OS in tact except the crippled GPS. The Bluetooth has full OBEX, and i can use MP3 ringtones. I would love to have a nice verizon touchscreen phone, but with a better os, so i'll probably go with the storm.

[liv @ Oct 12th 2008 2:01PM]

Not to be a Grammar Nazi but did you mean to say " It looks mighty impressive" instead of "might impressive"... just saying.. I'm not a native English speaker so I might be wrong :)

That aside, I don't know what to say about this phone... I certainly thinks it looks cool but... Motorola has a pretty bad stigmata attached to its brand. We'll wait and see.

[wyatt @ Oct 12th 2008 3:57PM]

not to be a vocab nazi
but did you mean to say "stigma"
or are you saying motorola's got crucifixion marks?

[liv @ Oct 12th 2008 4:03PM]

since stigmata is the plural for stigma and they mean the same freaking thing I think what you should have said is

"not to be a grammar nazi but did you mean to say "

And that expression is exactly what I wanted to say... If you're gonna be a vocabulary nazi at least research... as for my mistake... I apologize. something about the fact that I'm not English...

[liv @ Oct 12th 2008 4:05PM]

damn engadget comment system... what I wanted to say was:

"not to be a grammar nazi but did you mean to say 'Motorola has some pretty bad stigmata attached to its brand'"
...

[atheos @ Oct 12th 2008 2:12PM]

So Motorola is already digging their Krave, huh?

[Nomi @ Oct 12th 2008 2:26PM]

So how does the speaker on the plastic part work? I don't see wires running to it....?

[brandon @ Oct 12th 2008 3:17PM]

Motorola voodoo.......

If I'm not mistaken, it operates similar to a touchscreen, using many very thin wires that are not visible running across the entire face of the plastic

[fonfanatix @ Oct 12th 2008 5:02PM]

That's not a speaker there is nothing in there except the logo. That's where most of your money goes the logo. The plastic is useless so when you answer the call you keep the cover close. Then when you make a call make sure the cover overlaps your head so you look like funny having a plastic horn.

[MJ @ Oct 12th 2008 5:18PM]

Actually, if it is anything like the ming, then yes the round moto logo on the flip is the earpiece AND the speaker. In the ming there were very thin contacts (just looked like a line) running up the flip to each side of the logo.

One thing Moto do well on their handsets is small details like that.

[Patriks7 @ Oct 12th 2008 2:36PM]

Following Motorola's naming scheme, I would've expected this to be the KRV or something..

[KilgoreTrout @ Oct 12th 2008 4:08PM]

Following Motorola's logic in phone naming this should have been called the "CRP" or maybe the "KRP", but then some guy in marketing advised them that it never pays being too honest with the clients and we got the "KRAve"

[Media Monkey @ Oct 19th 2008 1:41PM]

I don't really like the look of it

Way too chunky

[Eddie W @ Oct 12th 2008 3:47PM]

I don't get it. It's nice to have a case built in to protect the touch screen, but it just doesn't look right to me, and I'd rather have physical keys. More importantly, after my last crippled Verizon phone, I don't want another one. Regardless of which phone I go with my carrier will not be Verizon (they work horribly in my area). I'm waiting to get my hands on a G1 before making the decision.

[jason @ Oct 12th 2008 4:09PM]

imagine holding that up to take a call with that stupid plastic cover in your way..

also, you couldnt hold it sideways very easily either