Motorola RIZR Z3

The RIZR marks the Motorola’s entry into the world of slider phones, dominated largely by Samsung at the moment. Sliders are nothing new, so what does the RIZR have, to make up for the long absence from this form factor?

Design
The phone is a bit thicker than the RAZR when kept side by side, but it’s a lot narrower, though not as narrow as the KRZR. The length is almost the same as the RAZR, just a wee bit longer.

The phone has very typical Motorola styling and it also appears just like a clamshell to many eyes. It applies RAZR-like styling to slider phones. Ever since I heard about this phone being called the RIZR, I’ve just been smiling at the aptness of the name.

It has a little ridge below the display to facilitate the slide process on the otherwise smooth phone. This ridge tends to accumulate dirt around itself very quickly and in a few weeks it’ll look like the dirtiest part of the phone. Also, the ridge is also placed a little too far away from the bottom of the phone, so its actually more convenient to use the navigation pad as a means of pushing the phone open. The slide action is smooth and spring-loaded – just give it a push in either direction and it’ll take it from there. Sometimes the phone tends to open itself while putting it in or taking it our of your trouser pocket.

The phone fits very nicely in the hand and is comfortable to hold up and talk. It feels a little heavier than the RAZR, but it’s still quite comfortable.

It has a soft, smooth, matte, rubber finish all over the phone, unlike the steely look of the RAZR and the glossy, glassy KRZR. This gives it a very sober look, compared to the slightly flashy KRZR.

Display
The display on the RIZR is a very common 176x220 resolution screen, which sounds a little low for a phone released this late, but you have to keep in mind the fact that the phone isn’t too expensive. The display size is also a little small – much smaller than the RAZR – so the low resolution is somewhat compensated for. Pictures look good on the display despite the low resolution. Even in sunlight, the display is readable and doesn’t look washed out.

User Interface
The Z3 has the standard Motorola P2K UI like the other Motorola phones. Some people like it, some people hate it. I got to grips with it with the KRZR, but somehow, I didn’t enjoy using the RIZR UI too much. Typing SMSes was extremely annoying with the iTap for some reason, and the UI is also a bit slow compared to the KRZR.