Go to Windows 7 Insider GuideMotorola Zine ZN5 (T-Mobile)
Manufacturer: Motorola Part number: ZN5BLKMOTOROLA
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The Motorola ZN5 is the best camera phone we've seen so far. But it doesn't stop there, as it's a good phone, too.
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CNET editors' review
Motorola Zine ZN5 (T-Mobile) price range: $0.00 - $368.90
- Reviewed by: Kent German
- Reviewed on: 11/02/2008
- Released on: 11/03/2008
The good: The Motorola ZN5 offers a fantastic camera with a wide range of options and excellent photo quality. The plentiful feature set includes stereo Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the design is sleek and sturdy, and call quality is more than respectable.
The bad: The Motorola ZN5's memory card is located behind the battery cover. The menus can be pokey at times and the camera interface could use a refinement. Also, the ZN5 lacks video editing features and the photo uploading process had a couple of hiccups.
The bottom line: The Motorola ZN5 is the best camera phone we've seen so far. But it doesn't stop there, as it's a good phone, too.
Ever since the ZN5 was announced in June and then cleared the FCC the next month, we've been waiting with bated breath to get our hands on the fancy camera phone. Monday, November 3, it finally lands at T-Mobile. Designed in partnership with Kodak (yes, that Kodak), the ZN5 is hardly the first camera phone we've seen, but it's certainly stands at the top of the list. Camera options are top-notch, the photo quality is excellent, and the integrated Wi-Fi makes getting photos off the phone a breeze. Of course, it is a phone too; and on that front it succeeds by offering good call quality. Other features were generous and it's all wrapped up in a sleek and sturdy design. At times, the phone could be a little pokey, but the ZN5 is an appealing device that successfully blends "camera" and "phone." You can get it for $99 with service.
Design
On the outside, the ZN5 is an attractive device with a sleek profile and an understated style. Though you might think it's related to the Motorola Krave ZN4, the two devices couldn't be more different. While the ZN4 has a touch screen, the ZN5 has a standard candy-bar design with a full set of physical controls. The dark gray color scheme is nicely offset with a couple touches of purple. The handset feels great in the hand--both sturdy and comfortable without being excessively hefty (5.65 inches tall by 1.98 inches wide by 0.47 inch deep; weighing 4.02 ounces).
The gorgeous 2.4-inch display (320x240 pixels) takes up almost half of the phone's front. With support for 262,000 colors, graphics were sharp and colors were vibrant. Menus are straightforward, as the ZN5 has the same simple, but easy-to-use interface that we saw on the Motorola Rokr E8. You can change the brightness and the backlighting time. The text size is not adjustable, but it should be big enough for most users. The display is easier to see in direct light than on many other cell phones
The navigation toggle and central OK button are raised above the surface of the phone, which gives it a nice tactile feel, even if it is just a bit on the small side. In contrast, the remaining navigation controls--two soft keys, a photo gallery shortcut, a back button, and the Talk and End/power keys--are flush with the surface of the phone, but they have a spacious arrangement. Also, tiny silver bumps like those on the Rokr E8 assist in dialing by feel. The toggle doubles as a shortcut control to four user-defined features.
The keypad is spacious as well. We could dial and text quickly, and the bright backlighting should help in dim situations. The alphanumeric keys also have tiny silver bumps to give them some tactile definition. And the keypad holds another surprise: like the ModeShift keypad on the Rokr E8, the backlighting on the ZN5's keypad changes when you're in camera mode. When snapping photos, you can access the photo gallery via a control between the "5" and "6" keys. What's more, when you're browsing the photo gallery, other controls appear for deleting a photo, going back to the camera mode, or accessing the photo share feature. In both environments, it's a nice touch.
On the left side of the ZN5 are a volume rocker, a handset-locking switch, and a camera shutter key, which is purple. On the left spine, there are a 3.5mm headset jack (nice) and a micro USB port, which is used for both the USB cable and the charger. Turn the ZN5 over and you'll find the bright flash and the sliding camera lens cover. Opening the cover starts the camera automatically. There's no self-portrait mirror, which we'd complain about normally, but few standalone cameras have them either. Unfortunately, the ZN5's microSD-card slot is located in an inconvenient location--you must remove the battery cover and the battery to access it.
Features
The ZN5 is all about photography, so we'll start there. Kodak had a hand in the inner camera workings, though both Moto and Kodak declined to state specifics. As we said earlier, the camera starts automatically when you open the ZN5's lens cover. You can shoot photos in four resolutions, from 5 megapixels down to 1.2 megapixels. As you'd expect, editing options are more than plentiful. The camera offers an autotimer, a low light setting, three focus settings (auto, landscape, and macro), five white balance settings (daylight, cloudy, tungsten, auto, and fluorescent), a multishot mode, and six shutter sounds, plus a silent option. The flash is full Xenon, so it's quite effective under almost all conditions. It has four settings: on, red-eye reduction, auto, or off. Our only complaint was that the "auto" setting appeared to be rather sensitive. It fired even when we were indoors under strong lighting, which caused our subjects to be washed out. We recommend you play around with it when shooting.
Though many camera phones--and many standalone cameras for the matter--suffer from a noticeable shutter lag, the ZN5 has a click-to-capture duration of .02 seconds. The camera is always in auto mode, so you can't set the aperture or shutter speed manually. But depending on the lighting conditions, the camera will choose an aperture of f/2.8 to f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/60 to 1/1,000 seconds. The ZN5's focal length is 5.56mm.
Taking pictures is an enjoyable and intuitive experience. The menus are easy to use, with one small exception--while the pop-up menus work only in landscape mode, the detailed submenus work only in portrait mode. It would be better if they had the same orientation. On the upside, the camera's controls are comfortably placed.
We're big fans of the nifty panorama mode. After you take the first shot for your three-shot panorama, the phone will vibrate until you move it to the correct position for the next shot. Once you're there, the camera will snap the next image automatically. Also, a border will direct you as you pan. Just keep in mind that you must move from left to right. It's definitely easy to use and similar to the panorama mode on the Samsung Innov8.
When finished with your shots you can choose from a number of editing options. You can crop, resize and rotate photos, choose one of six color tones, produce a mirrored image, add a tag, adjust the brightness and contrast, and alter the sharpness or blur. In the Add Elements menu you can add a graphic, a timestamp, and one of seven image borders. Furthermore, Kodak's Perfect Touch is integrated on the phone. It will detect and reduce red eye, reduce shadows, add richer detail, and make colors more vibrant. You even can change the default naming convention.
The video camera takes clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. To our surprise, editing options are nonexistent, but you can select a video length. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 10 seconds, but you can shoot for longer in normal mode. The ZN5 offers a healthy 128MB of user-accessible shared memory, but we recommend using a memory card just the same. The phone comes with a 1GB card in the box, but it can accommodate cards up to 4GB.
Photo quality on the ZN5 was the best we've seen on a camera phone (so far). Colors were bright and natural, and objects were sharp. There also was no blurriness or image noise, except in very dimly lit environments. As mentioned earlier, the flash is a bit sensitive so it is easy to get photos that are blown out. But even so, this is one camera phone with fantastic image quality. Videos weren't quite as sharp, but they were better than on most camera phones.
Motorola and Kodak make it very easy to get photos off the phone. As for the old-fashioned methods, you can transfer them to a PC or photo printer using a USB cable, a memory card, and Bluetooth, or you can send them in a multimedia message. When we connected the ZN5 to a PC it recognized our phone instantly and we moved our shots over without a hitch. A copy of the Moto Tools PC syncing software comes in the box, but to don't need to install it to sync the phone. You also can upload shots to a blog and save them to your online T-Mobile album.
The Kodak partnership also opens a new way to manage your photos through a wireless connection to the Kodak Photo Gallery online service (formerly Ofoto). Then you can share photos with friends, use the Gallery's simple editing tools, and order prints for home delivery. The integrated Wi-Fi will provide the fastest connection, but you also can use T-Mobile's GPRS cellular network.
We set up a connection using an existing Photo Gallery account. You can access your existing account or even create a new one right on the phone, so there's no need to visit the Web site first. We uploaded photos using Wi-Fi and GPRS. Interestingly, a Wi-Fi upload isn't significantly quicker than over GPRS, but you won't be subject to any additional data fees from T-Mobile. In either case, however, the photos appeared right in our online Photo Gallery account in a folder. It was a simple process, even if we had a few gripes. First off, when using GPRS, we experienced a couple connection errors that prevented our photos from being uploaded. We didn't have such problems over Wi-Fi, so we recommend sticking with that. Secondly, you can't designate the online folder in which you'd like to drop your shots. Granted, it's not a huge deal, but you will have to do some organizing on the online end. All photos taken in a particular month, even if they're uploaded at different times, will drop into a folder designed "mobile" and that month's name. On the upside, however, the "simple share" feature will default to whichever upload method you prefer, whether it is Bluetooth, the T-Mobile album or the Kodak Photo Gallery.
The slide show option will flash your photos in succession right on the phone's display. It's not as cool as the slide show tool on the Sony Ericsson C902, but it does the job. You can designate how long you'd like each photo to appear. You also can show off your photos on a TV, monitor, or projector using the included audiovisual cables. That's a nice touch.
Now, it's time for the boring stuff. The ZN5's phone book has room in each contact for five phone numbers, a nickname, three street addresses, a birthday (with a zodiac sign), an assistant's name, a manager's name, a company and job title, spouse and children names, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts). You can save callers to groups, pair them with a photo and one of 50 polyphonic ringtones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a speakerphone, a calculator, a calendar, a world clock, a task list, and a notepad. On the higher end, the ZN5 offers a file manager, full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, USB mass storage, PC syncing, a voice recorder, instant messaging, and Web-based POP3 e-mail.
For music, the ZN5 has a generic Moto media player for WMA and MP3 files. Features are slim beyond playlists and shuffle modes. The player is compatible with Windows Media Player 11, so you can drag tunes to the phone from a PC using a USB cable.
You can personalize the ZN5 with a selection of screen savers, themes, wallpapers, and alert tones. You can download more options, and additional ringtones from T-Mobile's t-zones service using the full HTML browser. The ZN5 comes with the demo versions of two games--Midnight Pool 3D and Tetris--you'll have to buy the full versions for extended play.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) Motorola ZN5 world phone in San Francisco using T-Mobile service. We were pleased to find that the ZN5 does more than take good pictures; it also excels at its primary job. Call quality was very satisfactory overall. The audio was clear, the signal was free of static and interference, and the audio was loud. The ZN5 uses Moto's CrystalTalk technology, which helped to account for the great audio.
Callers said we sounded great on their end. They also commented on the voice clarity, even when we were calling form a noisy location. Some of our friends couldn't even tell we were using a cell phone. Speakerphone calls were quite good--the volume was loud and the audio was only slightly muffled. Automated-calling systems could understand us. Bluetooth headset calls were decent as well.
There were times where the menu interface could be just a bit pokey, particularly in the camera menus. It's not a huge problem, but it was noticeable.
The ZN5 has a rated battery life of up to 9.5 hours talk time and up to 22.87 days standby time. Actual battery life will vary depending on how you use the phone. For example, heavy camera use will drain more power than just making calls. For talk times though, our tests showed a talk time of 5 hours and 11 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the ZN5 has a digital SAR rating of 1.59 watts per kilogram, which is quite high.
User reviews
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It's a nice camera with a phone and MP3 player built in
by ryman2222 on November 19, 2008
Pros: AMAZING camera (for a phone), good MP3 player, sexy design, awesome screen, good call quality, WIFI and picture sharing, standard headphone jack
Cons: A bit bulky, not a lot of customization options, can't use the phone when its charging, difficult keypad for texting
Summary: I LOVE that I can ditch my camera and MP3 player. I've been waiting 8 years to do this. Finally there's a phone that can do all three ...
Summary: I LOVE that I can ditch my camera and MP3 player. I've been waiting 8 years to do this. Finally there's a phone that can do all three things well. Believe me, I've been searching, and at the time of this review this is the ONLY phone that can. I was lured in by the new Samsung Behold because it had a 5 megapixel camera. Well, if your subject is standing completely still, the pictures are beautiful. But it took 5 seconds to get a shot out of it and if your subject moved (or you did) in that time your shot is worthless. That and it didn't have a real headphone jack. So I returned it. The Motorola is the only cameraphone with true camera optics and sensors, so you can rail off clear shots one after another faster than most digital cameras. Its really great to have a good camera with me at all times. The MP3 player works and sounds good and the phone looks good doing all these things. My main complaint is although the keypad looks cool, the numbers are not separated at all, and you only have a little jewel on the top of each number so texting is rather difficult. If you're more of texter than a photographer or music listener, this phone will disappoint. But if you're looking for a REAL camera and a REAL headphone jack, there is no better phone on the market.
Just as a correction to my review: I stated that you can't use the phone while it's charging. This is incorrect. You can. For some reason I thought I tried and couldn't but I must've been on crack or something because you can.
Updated on Nov 24, 2008
Updated on Dec 18, 2008UPDATE: So I've had the phone for a couple months and I still really like it. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
The camera is great. Its not an SLR obviously, so don't expect perfection. But to me, a casual shooter, its perfect. And I love that it is acceptable as an MP3 player as well, thankfully it has the full size headphone jack. I sold my Creative Zen. I only need one device. Not three. I love that about this phone. Beyond that, its just a well designed phone. I like a lot of its features.
Now the bad. It can be a little slow. Sometimes you'll hit a key and it won't respond for a second or two. Not all the time, but I can see how its a little frustrating for some. I can live with it, but its there. Also, the keypad is difficult to text on, I have to admit. Not painful, but if you text a lot, this may be a deal breaker. Again, I'm ok with it.
I like this phone, I expect a lot of other people will too.9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The phone is quick and responive and overall amazing.
by clim0215 on December 1, 2008
Pros: -Probably the best camera phone out there yet.
-Responsive
-Fast
-Very good phone that's new out there.
-Easy to navigateCons: -Design can be fixed, especially with the bump.
^Not really a big deal, but thick compared to my previous phoneSummary: I recommend this phone, especially if you like phones that are responsive and quick. The camera is like relatively fast compared to all other camera phones. Once you click you ...
Summary: I recommend this phone, especially if you like phones that are responsive and quick. The camera is like relatively fast compared to all other camera phones. Once you click you get the image instantly without massive blur.
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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For what I need, I'm VERY happy with my new Zine!!
by Wyldcat89 on December 20, 2008
Pros: The camera is excellent, I love the layout of the phone and it's ease of use. Battery life is excellent! Regular calls and speaker phone calls are crystal clear.
Cons: Would prefer keys on keypad to be seperated, this is the one flaw would change.. but it's not as bad as some make it out to be. OS isn't the quickest but again, not a deterent for me.
Summary: I wanted a phone with good call quality for regular calls and using speaker phone, decent battery life, a nice camera and the ability check my email. Not much to ...
Summary: I wanted a phone with good call quality for regular calls and using speaker phone, decent battery life, a nice camera and the ability check my email. Not much to ask for right.. It's not the most advanced smartphone, so don't expect it to rival a Curve or an Iphone, but it's quite nice for what it is. I could check my email and facebook page with no trouble at all. The signal strength is very good and calls are crystal clear, even on speaker phone. I'm most impressed with the battery life and the phone's ease of operation. The camera has a lot of features and learning them doesn't take long. If the Zine's options fit what you're looking for, it'll meet your expectations. If you're wanting a higher level smartphone, this may not be your best bet.
Upgraded from a Motorola Razr MP3 phone to the Zine. Also considered the Blackberry Pearl Flip and Nokia 5610. The Zine was the right fit for me and I absolutely love it!3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Nice camera built-in, great phone: I hate touch screen
by wwwumax on December 1, 2008
Pros: acceptable 5MP camera with flash, nice display size, nice support for video and audio, nice accessory and software included. FM radio, 3.5mm headphone hole. Correct weight with a little bit more. Wi-fi web ability.
Cons: system stuck sometimes, web browsing stuck in 2nd or more pages. Can do better phone books, can have more control on camera.
Summary: I bought this phone for its camera, period. I have DSLR with professional grade lenses on it, so I know what is a good picture, yet I can't always ...
Summary: I bought this phone for its camera, period. I have DSLR with professional grade lenses on it, so I know what is a good picture, yet I can't always get an extra camera let alone DSLR with me to get pictures of my running kid. Hence I need a phone with OK camera to be with me. Compares to Behold with touch screen, keys are necessary as well. To be honest, all touch screen sucks despite their hypes on "human interface". Touch screen input are slower, error prone and non-professional.
Back to ZN5: it automatically adjust ISO, hence night shoots are always grainy. Flash may appear too harsh sometimes. But I can finally see the pictures twice. The camera controls can be more close to real camera if possible.
Camera aside, the voice quality is good as well, though I'd wish louder on speaker.
I like to idea of using standard 3.5mm headphone plug and the FM radio though go back to get used to wired phone is a little problem.
My complain is its Linux system that freeze from time to time and slow the first time accessing media files. For any folders having multiple files, the file management react slow as well. The wi-fi web browser works, but can't never go through 2nd page, maybe it is out of memory?
Another complain is to its phone book, maybe today's phone books are equally bad: my 10 years ago Sprint phone has the ability to choose another phone number from the entry of dialed or received number. Now, Nokia, Samsung, Moto all force you to go to main book to pick! What a waste of time!!
I like Motorola to have data cable and software with the package so that I can sync my old phone book in without separate buying.
I like this phone, even if it still not as fancy as N96. BTW, 3G function, GPS, and all sort of wasting function is not my concern at all.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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It's not perfect, but it's close
by xKaileix on November 30, 2008
Pros: Great Kodak Camera, sound is clear, always have a signal, call quailtiy is good, good signal everywhere, MP3 player
Cons: Keypad is small, 2nd highest raidiaton phone on the market, kinda heavy, MircoSD slot is behind the battery
Summary: Well..This phone was worth getting after I thoughly washed my Samsung T339. The camera doesn't lag! It takes better pictures than my old 4mp olympus camera. The MP3 ...
Summary: Well..This phone was worth getting after I thoughly washed my Samsung T339. The camera doesn't lag! It takes better pictures than my old 4mp olympus camera. The MP3 player is great sounding. I just don't like how small the key pad is, makes it difficult to text with. I have found the menu easy to use, even though you can't change it, thats not a deal breaker to me. I love how colorful the screen is. The phone keys don't lag for me..but I was told when that kind of stuff happens, just turn your phone off and back on. I love this phone and it's well worth it.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Decent Camera But That's About It.
by E_Huntington on December 3, 2008
Pros: Camera pretty good but not the quality of a stand alone 5MP camera.
Solid feel, but thick, and heavy.Cons: The slow, delayed OS and horrible keypad design is what ultimately convinced me to return this phone. Texting was so frustrating. Inputs would constantly lag and there was frequent overlap input from the keypad.
Summary: I really had high hopes for the ZN5, and I'm pretty forgiving of product shortcomings, but I just can't believe Motorola packaged a good cutting-edge camera (for a ...
Summary: I really had high hopes for the ZN5, and I'm pretty forgiving of product shortcomings, but I just can't believe Motorola packaged a good cutting-edge camera (for a phone) with its same old poor/fair software and lousy keypad design. Its the first phone I've ever been strongly compelled to return. Trying the BB Curve now (same price) and so far so (very) good.
2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Worst phone I ever had!
by rnj7078 on September 21, 2009
Pros: Camere is a 5.0 pics are great.
Cons: It shuts off periodocally at very odd moments, freezes up, camera devices on my new replacement is loud, keeps flashing clean up phone memory, I can't text or reply to my texts.
Summary: I hate this phone. T-mobile has replaced it 2 times and I am now going on my 3rd replacement. It is frustrating makes you want to take your phone and ...
Summary: I hate this phone. T-mobile has replaced it 2 times and I am now going on my 3rd replacement. It is frustrating makes you want to take your phone and slam it on the ground. I have been looking into buying another phone because of all these issues but T-mobile told me that is this 3rd one gives me problems they will exchange it with a different model phone. I have been looking at the phones they have and surprisingly noticed that the Zine is no longer on the list for purchase. HMMM, I wonder why? lol
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Worst phone I've ever had!
by odgirl1201 on August 9, 2009
Pros: The camera does , in fact, take beautiful pictures
Cons: The phone freezes CONSTANTLY !
Summary: I returned the phone to TMobile to tell them about the freezing/lagging problem. They put me on the phone with customer service who told me I just need to ...
Summary: I returned the phone to TMobile to tell them about the freezing/lagging problem. They put me on the phone with customer service who told me I just need to take the battery out and reset it. This wouldn't be a problem , if it didn't happen every.single.day! Who has time to reset the phone every day? TMobile customer service/tech support admits this is a known problem with the phone. I had to return it and get something different. If you text AT ALL do not get this phone! If you just looking for a plain phone that takes nice pictures.. this is your phone.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Pretty good phone and a great camera!
by Elbone on August 5, 2009
Pros: -Big vivid screen
-Best camera of any I've seen
-Nice slick look
-Plum and black is very nice
-Wifi
-Solid build
-Screen is nice and bright and colors show up excellent
-Tetris
-Independent controls for phone and cameraCons: -Sound quality is not a great as they make it sound
-Bad location for micro-SD card (should accessible for quick swapping from phone to card reader
-No Mac software (serious over sight)
-Texting could be a bit easierSummary: I have had this phone for exactly two seconds and I can already tell you it is the best phone I've ever had!!!!!
ZOMG!!!
Don't you hate those ...Summary: I have had this phone for exactly two seconds and I can already tell you it is the best phone I've ever had!!!!!
ZOMG!!!
Don't you hate those types of reviews? I know I do.
Actually, I've had this phone for two weeks now, so I feel it is an adequate amount of time to give a decent review. I want to start by saying that I love this phone. This is the first "cool" phone I've ever had. My last phone was a Motorola v360 which is a pretty basic phone, and I had that for three years. It was time to upgrade and I got the ZINE.
I was look for a phone that had a good camera and decent texting, along with great call quality. I hit on a couple and missed on the most important one in my opinion.
First the good.
When I went to the T-Mobile store to look at this phone and pick it up, I was amazed at how cool it looked. The black with plum trim on the phone is very slick and stylish. The layout of the buttons is very nice, although the back button does get in the way (more on that later). The menu button in the front is raised just enough to find it without looking.
The camera is by far the best I have ever seen on a phone and Kodak and Motorola did an excellent job on it. The pictures come out nice and when I transfer them to my computer, they look just as good as my 5MP digital camera. I like the fact that it has a real headphone jack and not a USB one like the v360. It makes using your own headphones a lot easier. I love the panorama function and I have yet to use the macro function, but I intend to very soon.
Switching to camera mode is a snap and that's where this phone shines! When you lower the shutter on the back of the phone, the front panel switches to the camera function. There is a menu button, a send to button, and a trash button for those less the great shots you want to get rid of. It can hold up to a 4GB Micro-SD card.
It comes with nice wallpapers and some cool screen-savers.
The menus are pretty straight forward and don't really need explaining.
Now for the bad.
As great as this phone is, Moto and Kodak dropped the ball on a few things.
First of all the fact that it doesn't have any Mac compatible software for us mac users is completely ridiculous to me. I have a PC that I do not use anymore and at this point in the game, you would think that these two companies would software for both PC and Mac users. This causes a problem because if I take some pics with my phone I have to open the back up and dismantle the phone in order to get to the SD card. The fact that there is no Mac software meant that I had to go and buy a card reader in order to transfer my pictures to my computer. Fix this MOTO!
Again this is ridiculous!
There should be a slot where you can open a cover and swap the card out on the fly since it's transfer technology isn't made for all computers. This would make things so much easier.
I guess that would be too much like right though.
On to the call quality. I was excited to hear how the calls would sound on this phone, given the fact that it uses Moto's Crystal Talk technology. I am sorry to point out that this is not even an upgrade to the quality on the v360, which doesn't use the technology. This is a major shortcoming for such an awesome phone. At times the calls sounded jumbled and static filled.
There were times when the calls sounded really nice, but those are few and far in between. The texting is also a disappointment. I am a huge texter and this is a big drawback for me. The flushness of the buttons makes it a little hard to text and the predictive text takes some getting used to. I turned it off as I found it useless, but I might give it another go and work with it. It took some getting used to on my last phone so I'm going to give it a try one more time.
The back button on this phone is in a bad place for me as it sits right above the 3(DEF) button and I find myself hitting it accidentally and erasing letter and having to re-type them. Again this might be remedied by using the predictive texting, but I don't know just yet.
Overall this is a great phone and if you want a good upgrade from an old boring and drab, blah phone, this is the one to get.
$50 with a 2-year contract isn't bad at all.
Plus it has an MP3 player in it so you can condense the things you carry with into one piece. You get a great camera, a good phone, and a really good MP3 player all in one.
I'm happy with this purchase, hopefully if you're reading this, you will be too.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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As good as a poor man can get!
by secondbushome on July 22, 2009
Pros: Very good camera for a cheapy phone, Very bright flash and overall good photo quality, WiFi capability is as expected, usable all around the house. Can be used as a modem for a computer when plugged in via USB. Would put more except I'm out of room.
Cons: Keypad has very small buttons. You have to type using your fingertip or nail. Some lag BUT not as bad as some people here are making it out to be. I had some problems with installing it on the computer. Fixed after a couple of hours. Some slow loads.
Summary: I'm actually giving the phone 4 stars. The 5 stars is to balance out its overall rating on here. For a phone that doesn't require an immersive and ...
Summary: I'm actually giving the phone 4 stars. The 5 stars is to balance out its overall rating on here. For a phone that doesn't require an immersive and expensive data plan, this phone can do alot. Good camera with a flash that'll light up a pitch black room in a photo. It's also very good to have a sliding lens cover so the lens won't get covered up with lint and dirt. Video capabilities are disappointing, i.e. only as good as other sub $50 phones. I was hoping for better seeing how much they put into the camera. "Large" is 176x144, which is the same as my old Samsung that I got 2.5 years ago. And overall video quality is mediocre. You can watch Youtube videos on it via t-zones or Wifi, though the video is reduced down to crap quality. Another nuisance is that T-Mobile denies network access to unsigned apps. However, I managed to get Google Maps working after downloading it for the upteenth time and finally getting a signed version. Very odd. Trouble with installing it on my laptop via USB involved alot of locking up in the programs while trying to install it. After fiddling around, I found out there are actually several different settings in the USB connection menu on the phone that actually changes how the computer will recognise the phone when plugged in, be that as a camera, a storage device, or a modem. It's annoying because the phone actually has to change 'modes' while you're accessing it via the computer. The major nuisance was that it'll do this when you're merely switching from accessing the phone's files to the memory card's files. AND then it'll do it again when you exit the Moto tools program. Oh well, a small nuisance. Enough of that, other things include the 1GB microSD card that comes with the phone to supplement the 150mb onboard. This was a thoughtful addition. The phone also comes with a USB cable, earbuds, AND a TV-out cable, which is usually stuff you have to buy separately. The FM radio requires the earbuds plugged in though you can still use it through the speakerphone. The sound quality was surprisely good. Same for MP3 playback.
I realise I'm writing pretty tangently. Sorry for the lack of linearity. Let's see, the phone lock is a physical switch. I really hope it doesn't one day break and make the phone vulnerable to pocket dialing, or worse, be stuck in lock mode for good. i can't say for sure, but I think talk volume can only be adjusted during the call as I haven't found another way to do it. This brings me to mention the complexity of menu navigation that isn't exactly intuitive, made worse by the abundance of features and adjustability of the phone. That's just something you end up learning and get used to with time. The cover on the USB port is a bit annoying when you're trying to plug in because it can get in the way. It's attached pretty weakly and I'd imagine it'll break off eventually.
Yes, the keypad is a hassle to dial and my first few text messages took some time to complete. There are also some extra buttons positioned in random places that you'll have to look up the manual to know what they're for. I guess the small keys are to accomodate the phone's extra large screen, while saving the cost of adding a separate keypad that would otherwise make the ZN5 a much more expensive phone. I personally think it's a fair trade-off because I really like the screen. I would suggest to immediately buy a plastic case that covers the screen because that is ALOT of surface to scratch.
Reception is decent so far. I live in the suburbs and generally get 3-4 bars. My previous Samsung phone had a busted receiver that would kill reception indoors so I don't have a fair comparison. I had to deal with a busted earpiece too, so I feel spoiled now being able to hear the person on the other line. Still, using my judgment, I would say call quality is very good.
I'm seriously going to max out the 5000 letter limit. Just watch me. Other small complaints: the home screen left button Shortcuts can't be changed to other features/apps that you're more likely to use. T-zones requires loading time and it's actually separate from the internet browser, which then requires another loading time. My previous phone had T-zones integrated with the browser so I didn't deal with this double loading. Default ways of connecting to the internet have to be manually adjusted as, if you lose Wi-fi connection and want to fall back on your data service plan, you have to go through the settings and change the 'browser profile' from 'wi-fi' to 't-zones', otherwise the browser can't access the internet. And THEN afterwards, you have to manually switch back to the 'wi-fi' option when you're back in wi-fi range, because otherwise, the phone will continue using the slower t-zones connection even if you're connected to wi-fi because of the setting on the phone. Moreso, apps and the video player have their own separate settings on this that you'll also have to change manually...
Haha, I've maxed out the word limit!1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Motorola
- Part number: ZN5BLKMOTOROLA
- Description: The MOTOZINE ZN5 is built to shoot: it's the only phone to use Kodak Imaging technology and Kodak Perfect Touch technology, which together create brighter, more vivid pictures that you'll want to show off. The MOTOZINE ZN5 is built to share too: you can upload your photos to the web the instant you take them, or save them to share later on up to 4GB of optional expandable memory. When you're done, with ModeShift technology, just slide across the lens cover and your 5-megapixel camera instantly transforms back to a phone.
General
- Product Type Cellular phone With digital camera / digital player / FM radio
- Service Provider T-Mobile
- Width 2 in
- Depth 0.5 in
- Height 4.7 in
- Weight 4 oz
Cellular
- Technology GSM
- Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
- Phone Design Candy bar
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Call Timer Yes
- Conference Call Capability Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Speakerphone Yes
- Wireless Interface IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11i
- Additional Features TV Link
Communicator Features
- User Memory 350 MB
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Mobile Email Yes
- GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Yes - Class 12
- EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution) Yes - Class 12
- Internet Browser Yes
- Messaging / Data Features XHTML Browser
Multimedia Features
- Playback Digital Video Formats MPEG-4, H.263 video and AMR audio
- Downloadable Content Games, Ring tones, Wallpapers, Audio files, Video files, Screensavers
Digital Camera
- Camera highlights With a resolution of 5 megapixels, this model will give you better pictures than other phones.
- Sensor Resolution 5 megapixels
- Lens Aperture F/2.8-5.6
- Min Focal Length 5.56 mm
- Focus Adjustment Automatic
- Special Effects Blue, Gray, Sepia, Reddish, Greenish, Negative
- Camera Light Source Flash
- Features Multi-shots, Macro function
Organizer
- Alarm Clock Yes
- Calendar Yes
- Reminder Yes
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT
- Display Resolution 240 x 320 pixels
- Diagonal Size 2.4 in
- Color Support Color
- Color Depth 18-bit (262000 Colors)
- Multi-language Menu Yes
Memory
- Internal Shared Memory Yes
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Headset jack - Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Micro-USB
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Technology - Lithium ion
- Capacity 950 mAh
- Talk Time 325 min
Accessories
- A-Data Speedy Series flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33795596)8.99
- ATP SD Trio Professional PLUS card adapter - flash: microSD - Hi-Speed USB (32128464)17.00
- Centon 2GBRSD3-1 - flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33503634)11.84 - 13.29
- Centon flash memory card - 4 GB - microSD (33362243)16.74 - 70.99
Manufacturer info
- Motorola
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Motorola products on Shopper.com
-
- Website: http://www.motorola.com/
- Address:
600 N. Highway 45, Libertyville, IL 60048 - Phone: 847/576-5000
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