3GSM Barcelona 2007 live coverage

Motorola has certainly made a nice progress this year. At their originally designed stand at the 3GSM 2007 held at the Fira de Barcelona they announced a bunch of new mobiles.

Motorola stand

Motorola RIZR Z8

So here at this stand Motorola presented a rather innovative mobile phone that we hope would set the standards for their future portfolio additions. Their regular menu interface was getting too old and rusty now and was falling way back the competitors' solutions. So they needed to freshen up things in order to keep their market position. Obviously they've put some work into it and the end result is the Motorola RIZR Z8 - their latest and greatest slider. It has an unusual form factor - it's a kick slider as they call it but we would rather call it a flexi-slider. Flexi because basically when it's open, the body flexes in the middle in order for the handset to follow your face contour more naturally while you are talking on it.

Motorola RIZR Z8 flexi slider form factor

Otherwise before it's opened you wouldn't know there something unusual about this pup. The Motorola RIZR Z8 feels nice when held in hand and it fits perfectly in your palm. We did spend quite a good time with it. Despite the unusual form factor, the keypad is still user-friendly. The navigation keys are not that comfortable though. At 15.3 mm, the Z8 features a 2.2" 16M colors TFT display, a 2 megapixel camera with red eye reduction, stereo Bluetooth, a microSD memory card slot, 3G with video calls and most importantly, it's HSDPA-enabled. The Motorola RIZR Z8 is expected to hit the shelves in Q2 2007.

Motorola RIZR Z8 held in hand

We are rather amazed with the speed of its user interface reaction. The menu graphics themselves are rather nice and all in all it's a great upgrade. There is a nice Home Screen which allows different application shortcuts and add-ons to be added to the standby screen. The Motorola RIZR Z8 is also capable of playing fullscreen videos at 30 fps which we managed to see for ourselves. The most curious perhaps about the menu system is the fact that it is Symbian OS with UIQ user interface. This is supposedly the only UIQ handset without touchscreen. The good news is that it allows you to install third-party UIQ applications. The downside though is that all these applications are written for mobile handsets with touchscreens and they need to be adapted in order to run on Motorola RIZR Z8.

Motorola RIZR Z8 user interface

For your viewing pleasure we have prepared our own exclusive GSMArena video of the RIZR Z8 interface - just to get the feel of it. Bear in mind that it looks way better in reality.

Motorola SLVR L9

The other new update to the Motorola portfolio is the Motorola SLVR L9. is an updated version of the SLVR L7/L7e. The new mobile retains the design and form factor but enjoys the added benefits of a FM radio and a 2 megapixel camera.

Motorola SLVR L9

An innovative feature in the Motorola SLVR L9 is that it supports megaSIM cards which come with their own integrated memory. The black SIM card you see on the pictures is in fact a MegaSIM with 256MB of integrated memory. Capacities of those MegaSIM cards can soar up to 1GB of user memory - and that's without taking into account the memory card slot that this mobile is also equipped with. The MegaSIM card module delivers mobile operator customers with advanced mobile services such as MMS, MP3 and video clips downloading, full PIM functionality, and high resolution picture storage.

Motorola SLVR L9 and the MegaSIM

The Motorola SLVR L9 has also received the mirror-like finish of the Motorola KRZR K1 as well as a lot of chrome elements which according to us makes it look much more fashionable. In reality though, much like the KRZR K1 it is a real fingerprint magnet. Motorola SLVR L9 is expected to be available in Q2 2007.

Motorola L9 compared to KRZR K1

Motorola KRZR K3

The Motorola KRZR K3 represents a serious step forward in comparison to the original KRZR K1. It features 3G support with video calls and is HSDPA-enabled. The stereo Bluetooth capability seems to be the hit this year in Motorola's camp.

Motorola KRZR K3

The KRZR K3 is again a shiny clamshell that easily gets smudged with fingerprints all over. As a matter of fact all Motorola handsets seem more or less fingerprint magnets. The KRZR K3 has retained the original RAZR-styled keypad but as far as navigation is concerned it has a lot more user-friendly D-pad than the RIZR Z3 and the SLVR L9. The K3 has the same 2 megapixel camera as its predecessor but has received an additional VGA camera for making video calls. As far as the interface is concerned, don't expect any miracles. The 3D icons on the standby screen and the semi-transparent camera interface are the only updates we could find. The MOTOKRZR K3 is expected to be available in Q1 2007.

Motorola KRZR K3

Motorola Q q9

The Motorola Q q9 is the latest in the Motorola's line of messengers. This HSDPA-enabled messenger features a QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a microSD memory card slot - and all that at a thickness of only 11.8 mm. It is also among the few devices that would run on the new Windows Mobile 6. The Motorola Q q9 is expected to be available in Q2 of 2007.

Motorola Q q9

Motorola Q gsm

The GSM version of the Motorola Q was finally made available. It was announced so long ago that we started to wonder if it will be ev0er really produced - so we are quite pleased to finally hold it in hand. It is based on the Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone. The most interesting thing about it are the side controls - it features a 3-way jog dial plus a Task Switcher key which takes you through the currently running applications. The Motorola Q gsm feels more compact than the Motorola Q q9.

Motorola Q gsm

Motorola W205

The Motorola W205 is among the several new Motorola budget handsets that may attract you with their simplicity and ease of use. The W205 is a classic bar-shaped talk-and-text phone with no frills. The 500 contact positions and 750 positions are more than enough. It's equipped with a 65K colors CSTN display and has a compact size and shape. The body is made of matt plastic and when compared to a Motorola W208 you can easily see that it's not made to impress. Otherwise it has a rather comfortable keypad and navigation. The Motorola W205 is expected to be available in Q1 2007.

Motorola W205

Motorola FONE

The Motorola FONE F3 is not a newly announced device but it's a highly unusual budget handset. It is extremely slim and has a large display which though is inverted monochrome one. The dimensions of the FONE F3 are rather large except for the thcikness, of course. Motorola has tried to build it with extreme user-friendliness. The mobile is already market available but that's our first chance to make a live picture of it.

Motorola MOTOFONE F3