Motorola Krave ZN4 Review
Motorola, after the Razr craze of a few years ago, seemed to have slipped out of everyone’s consciousness and was on its way to being forgotten as a handset manufacturer. There have been products since the Razr and many of them have met with reasonable success, but there has been nothing show stopping from the company for a long time. The Krave ZN4 is an attempt to change that and restore Motorola to its lost glory.
What makes the Krave ZN4 stand out is the transparent flip top. Its not just a gimmick. The clear plastic top works as a cover for the touch screen below and extended the screen area when open. The touch screen itself is very responsive. The downside is the interface is based on the aging Verizon Wireless theme which takes away from the otherwise new concept.
The sound quality, both for sending and receiving calls is good. The phone effectively removes most of the background noise and even when driving with the window open, the person you are calling will be able to hear you clearly. Battery life is surprisingly good and in test conditions the phone can be in operation (making a call) for over 6 hours without the battery failing. The Krave ZN4 has all the usual features like voice dialing etc. which you pretty much expect on just about any phone nowadays.
GPS navigation is one of the phone’s strong points. It works very well with Verizon’s VZ Navigator and is able to pick up its location from just about anywhere, even when at the bottom of a vast canyon so skyscrapers. The responsive touch screen makes reading maps and finding your way around a breeze. Sadly the other features of the phone do not match up to its GPS capabilities.
The 2 megapixel camera is average to say the least. While the colors come out fine, the crispness and detail leave a lot to be desired. Cloudy day outdoor photos look far more drab than they should be.
Video also leaves a lot to be desired. Reception is weak and gets even worse when the handset is actually held in the hand as opposed to being placed on a table.
The musical abilities of the phone are disappointing. Besides the fact that only the most basic controls are available with odd tiny icons displayed during playback, the music stops when you access the browser or the GPS navigation.
The OpenWave browser just isn’t finger friendly. The pointer seems to move about on its own accord and this makes tapping difficult. There’s nothing a good web browser won’t fix, but until then……
All in all the Krave ZN4 is a brave attempt by Motorola to get back its share of the handset market. There are many good ideas and concepts like the transparent flip top, but the lack of attention to detail and the use of outdated interfaces and aging messaging and web browsing applications detracts from the cutting edge concept the phone is trying to convey. Its not cheap at $150. If Motorola can come out with version 2 of this phone with the defects taken care of, they may well have a winner on their hands.