This slider phone from Motorola offers an excellent feature set as well as very solid performance. At first glance, the most noticeable thing about the Z9 is the stunning 2-2/5-inch LCD. Capable of supporting up to 262,000 colors, the screen presents video and graphics in a crisp and vivid manner. Beneath the sizeable screen is a toggle wheel and a few buttons for accessing the various features. These buttons are flush with the rest of the phone but have a slight bumped texture that makes for easier navigation in low-light conditions. All of the controls are intuitive to operate and the menu does a fairly good job at keeping the ergonomics in order.

One of the best things about the construction of the Z9 is its slider design. Opening the phone can be done single-handedly and the casing moves in a solid yet smooth motion. Each of the dial pad buttons also has a raised bump to help dial-by-feel advocates, and the keypad is backlit for those who like to look. The phone itself is 4.9 ounces, and has a solid yet compact feel in the hand. Due to its mostly metal construction, the phone conveys a reliability often not found in slider phones. Its dimensions also make it very comfortable to hold to one's ear. One downside, however, is that the shiny metallic design is definitely a magnet for fingerprints.

The Z9 offers a 2-megapixel camera that delivers photos that have a good, but not great, picture quality. The camera can be operated without opening the slider mechanism, making it feel much more like a regular digital camera and enabling quicker snapshots. A choice of four resolutions can improve the matter, but even in the best setting the colors aren't as crisp one would like. The video also allows for a choice of three resolutions, each of which is of decent quality. The length of videos is only limited by the amount of space on your microSD card-- unless you plan to text the video, in which case the clips are limited to 30 seconds. If you tend to play back videos right after taking them, beware that the video function drains the life out of the battery rather quickly. Other features of the camera include: various shutter sounds (including silent), an exposure meter, 8x zoom, and a very bright flash. The Z9 offers 45MB of internal memory and the microSD cards can handle up to 8GB, which is especially useful for audiophiles. Unlike many phones that annoyingly place the memory card behind the battery, it is beside the battery here, so you don't have to power down the phone to transfer files to your computer. You can also use Bluetooth to accomplish the task.

The phonebook on the Z9 is fairly sizeable, capable of storing up to 2000 entries in its internal memory and an additional 250 on its SIM card. Each of these entries can contain up to six phone numbers, three posted addresses, two posted addresses, a nickname, a birth date, and a web address. You can pair the entries with both photo ID and distinctive ringers.

The Motorola Z9 operates as a music player, which can be enabled quickly using the shortcut button on the side of the device. Beside this button is a volume rocker, all of which have haptic technology so that a vibration signals when you've depressed the button. The music interface itself is fairly barebones, but AT&T's video and music services are supported so you have a lot of access to content. The interface allows you to create playlists, to shuffle songs, and to adjust bass levels. The speaker on the back of the phone offers fairly good performance and considerable volume. This makes it particularly handy for speakerphone calls, which operate under full duplex technology so you don't have to alternate your conversations with callers. In regards to music listening, most people will probably avoid the speaker and opt for stereo Bluetooth headphones.

One of the best things about this phone is its call quality. Motorola has developed a feature termed CrystalTalk that makes for very stellar call quality, and the quadband GSM networks offer a lot of reliability and versatility. Additionally, the microphone has excellent noise-canceling properties, effectively eliminating ambient sound and working exceptionally well in windy environments. Probably the next best thing about this phone is the AT&T Video Share application, allowing callers to talk as one-way streaming video is broadcast from mobile phone to mobile phone.

As stated before, battery life is quickly drained by frequent viewing of videos, but otherwise the performance is adequate at about 4 hours of talk time and 11.6 days of standby. The actual performance of the video application is quite good with little pixilation occurring when viewing streaming sites. A lot of this, of course, is due to the speedy 3.5G network that provides the Internet access.

If you have spare minutes waiting in line or sitting on public transportation, you'll appreciate the four games, which include: Super KO Boxing, Scrabble Blast, Lumines, and Tower Bloxx. The phone is also loaded with more standard features such as calendar, alarm clock, voice recorder, speakerphone, voice dialing, vibrating ringer, and a whole mess of wallpapers, screensavers, and skins. Overall, the Motorola Z9 offers consumers an attractive phone with very solid performance.

Pros: Great reception, stunning LCD, solid construction
Cons: So-so camera, fingerprint magnet

Warranty
1 year, limited