Motorola U9
RATING
Pros
- Floating animated screensavers
- Looks good
- External OLED screen
Cons
- 2 MP camera
- No 3G
- No FM radio
SUMMARY
Cute shiny fashionable music phone with a nifty touch-sensitive OLED external display. Something different to show your friends. Buy for less than £80 on PAYG. Tasty.
Review
The Motorola U9 is a quad-band clamshell (flip) phone with 2 MP camera and music player (with dedicated music player controls). The unique stand-out feature is the external touch-sensitive OLED screen.
The U9 is available in 3 colours: pink, purple and black. The Motorola U9 - "I'm a Lady...doobie doobie doobie do.. I'm a Lady". Glossy casing with rubberised back, smooth... a bit like a big bar of soap. It's similar to the Motorola PEBL phone.
The press release states:
"Feel it, see it, hear it... U9 phone is made to be held, and made to be seen."
The Motorola U9 is pretty cheap - just £79.99 on PAYG (May 2008). Vodafone are selling the U9 on a contract with a free bottle of Moet Pink Champagne. Lovely.
Design
Lightweight - 87g and slips easily into a handbag or pocket. Smooth curves, very shiny plastic front with a matt rubberised back.
Front: 2 MP camera lens, external hidden OLED display, charger indicator light, Bluetooth indicator light.
Left: Volume keys, side select key.
Top: Lanyard eyelet.
Right: Voice command key.
Back: Handsfree speaker.
Bottom: Micro USB port - plug in the charger, headset, USB.
MicroSD memory card: Beneath the battery. Supports up to 4 GB.
OLED Screen: The best thing about the Motorola U9 is the external OLED screen. The 1.45-inch-inch screen displays animated wallpapers, music player controls, who's calling/texting, clock.
OLED displays use less power, have no backlight and you can view the screen from lots of angles. How OLEDs Work - a very good in-depth look at OLED technology.
Key points from the above link:
A heads-up display in your car? A display monitor built in to your clothing? OLED makes it possible.
* OLEDs can create brighter crisper displays.
* OLEDs have large fields of view. Approx. 170 degrees. LCDs work by blocking light. OLEDs produce their own light, so they have a much wider viewing range.
* OLEDs do not require backlighting like LCDs.
* OLEDs are thinner and lighter than LCDs.
* OLEDs use less power than LCDs - because no backlighting.
* OLEDs are brighter than LCDs.
* OLEDs are easier to produce and can be made to larger sizes. They're plastic, so can easily produce large thin sheets.
* LEDs and LCDs require glass for support, and glass absorbs some light. OLEDs do not require glass.
* OLEDs refresh faster than LCDs - almost 1000 times faster.
* A future newspaper - fold up the digital display when you're done.
* 2003 - Kodak released the first digital camera with OLED.
* 2005 - Samsung had developed a 40-inch OLED TV screen.
* Current problems: OLED lifetime issues - 14,000 hours for blue organics, expensive to manufacture and water can easily damage OLEDs.
Organic Light Emitting Diode screens are slowly replacing LCD screens - TVs, digital cameras, camcorders, and we're seeing more mobile phones with OLED displays - Nokia Prism, 8800 Arte and more due for release in 2008. OLEDS can be so thin and light, you can roll them up - roll up big-screen monitors here we come.
Sony's Flexible OLED: Thin flexible screen. Impressive. Something for the future - a large roll-up OLED screen which plugs in to your mobile phone.
Keypad: Glossy black plastic. Dedicated music key. The keys are a decent size and the rows are separated by ridges.
Features
2 MP Camera
2 MP (1200 x 1600) camera. No auto-focus, no flash. Settings include: zoom, styles, scene, exposure, lighting conditions, auto-timer, multi-shot, picture settings and video settings.
Take photos in good light and keep the phone still. Shots in low light will be poor, as will close-up shots and scenes the fixed focus camera can't get focus on.
Video capture is 176 x 144 pixels at 15 fps.
Music Player
Shuffle, auto-repeat, stereo effects, playlists and other standard music controls. Press the music button on the keypad. Use the dedicated touch-sensitive external OLED music controls.
Other Features
Rough Guides city guidebook, video player, voice commands, PIM tools, SMS, MMS, Email. There's no FM radio and there's only 25 MB phone memory - memory card recommended. No memory card was supplied in the box.
There's quad-band (it's amazing how many expensive phones don't have quad-band), an HTML browser - 2-inch screen, no 3G (EDGE only), so not very good. Battery life is quoted at 7 hours talk time. Quite good battery life.
Summary
Cute shiny fashionable music phone with a nifty touch-sensitive OLED external display. Something different to show your friends. Buy for less than £80 on PAYG. Tasty.
= coming soonFeatures / Specifications
* confirm features at manufacturer's Web site.
3.5 x 1.9 x 0.6 inches
3.1 oz
- 2.0-inch OLED
- 240x320 pixels
- 65000 colours
- 25 MB phone memory
- microSD memory card (4 GB max)
- Quad-band (GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)
- EDGE
- Talk time: 7 hours
- Standby time: 350 hours
In The Box
Motorola U9 phone, battery, charger, USB cable, earphones, software CD, user manual, quick start guide, how-to guide.
Connectivity
- Bluetooth 2.0
- USB 2.0
Camera
- 2.0 MP Camera
- features: 8x digital zoom, multi-shot
- QCIF video resolution
- 15 FPS video capture
Messaging
- SMS, MMS, Email
Entertainment
- Games: PrizePlay games
- Music Player
- Video Player
Internet
- HTML browser
Installed Applications
- Rough Guides city guidebook, Windows Media Player 11
- PIM: PIM tools
- Voice dialling, voice recorder, voice commands
Prices
Prices coming soon.
TAGS: fashion, music, flip phones
Useful Links
| Official Site: | Motorola U9 |
| User Manual: | U9 User Manual |
| Pink Vs Purple: | Pink or Purple? |
| OLED Screen Demo: | OLED Screen Video |
| PhoneScoop: | U9 OLED screen |
| YouTube Videos: | Motorola U9 Videos |
| Images: | Motorola U9 Images |
