Motorola ROKR Z8 Review
As we were using a prototype, we would not rate the phone and won’t test its performance, so this should be considered a Preview.
During the 3GSM 2007 Expo in Barcelona, Spain, Motorola announced a slew of new phones from different classes. Among the typically stylish for the brand models, we saw budget phones, mid-tiers and advanced smartphones with extended functionality. One thing that made an impression on us was that at the same time, the manufacturer displayed phones using Windows Mobile and targeted as enterprise smartphones, some using Linux-JAVA based OS for their core and the innovation, ROKR Z8 that uses Symbian OS. This was the step, showing that Motorola will not limit its efforts to only one system, but will try them all to see which one best suits its needs or to be more precise to use the strong sides of each system for a separate range of devices. Windows Mobile in the “working horses” phones, Linux-Java or Synergy OS in most phones and Symbian in the multimedia devices.
The interesting about this Symbian is that it is UIQ 3.1, but on a phone without touch-sensitive display. All other UIQ phones on the market have such display which is used for the navigation, but the Z8 doesn’t and so uses optimized version of the UIQ that has some similar things but also has changes, but more on that later.
Being part of the ROKR series, the Z8 is targeted to music fans and is designed to replace the music player most people of this group carry. But putting Symbian UIQ in it, Motorola are trying to place it as a multimedia device that handles equally well with music and videos. During the 3GSM show, every Motorola employee first showed us a video with 30fps when we asked about the Z8. We started wondering - will it be as good as they claim? We will find out soon …