Review: Motorola's Linux Powered ROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

It has been a very long time in coming, but Motorola is finally starting to put out devices based on its new Linux platform. The new platform was originally called JUIX ("juice"), in homage to its Java and Linux UNIX roots, but these days the company merely calls it the Linux platform or sometimes the Linux Java platform since Java now plays a much smaller part in the system than it did in early versions.

In any event, the Motorola ROKR Z6 is among the initial handset designs that Motorola has built on this new platform. As such, it has a brand new user interface and a significantly faster processor to ensure that things move along at a quicker pace than the older devices did. The quad-band GSM/EDGE ROKR Z6 supports Bluetooth stereo with its music player and offers the user the ability to take 2 megapixel photographs with its built-in camera. The Z6 may look much like the MOTORIZR Z3 that we recently reviewed, but the similarity is truly only skin deep. Inside, the Z6 is all new.

This review is based on pre-production devices supplied to us by Motorola. The firmware tested is not the final firmware expected to reach retail shelves, but the hardware version is production ready.

Physical Aspects

The MOTOROKR Z6 is a solidly built slider handset. The actual slider mechanism contains a dual-homed spring that causes it to open and close securely while making a solid thunking sound. The front face of the phone is decked out in a polished black finish that contrasts with the rubbery soft-touch paint found on the back of the device. The mate black middle section of the phone houses a series of gloss black controls. The volume control and smartkey are located on the left edge, the camera and voice dial buttons on the right. The covered miniUSB port is also located on the right. When opened, the back of the slider shows a patter of dots that is color keyed to the rest of the phone - gray for the black Z6, red for the black and red version, and orange for the black and orange version.

Like Motorola's RAZR, KRZR, and SLVR models that are already on the market, the ROKR Z6 makes use of flat metal front controls and keys. The grooved d-pad is reasonably large and easy enough to use with a fingernail or fingertip. It is surrounded by the red and green send and end call buttons, a pair of softkeys, and dedicated back and music keys. All of the keys click solidly in spite of their flat design. The keypad keys have the same decent feel, but also benefit from raised rubber strips that run between them that make the keys easy to find by touch alone. The bulge beneath the keypad that houses the internal antenna at least makes sure that the keypad isn't sitting at the very bottom edge of the phone, which I always find makes a keypad harder to use. Overall the keypad design isn't ever going to be as ergonomically friendly as a well-designed conventional keypad with normal buttons, but it is still very usable.

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

Motorola MOTOROKR Z6

The thin keypad tech also allows the Z6 to maintain a fairly slim profile at 20mm (.8"). With a height and width of 106mm x 45mm (4.2" x 1.8"), you can think of the Z6 as being a bit larger than 3 iPod Nanos stacked on top of each other. Of course opening up the slider increases its length a decent amount: 38mm (1.5").

The Z6's display is a bright and colorful 2" TFT that can show up to 262k colors. The display has a 240x320 pixel resolution that lends itself well to normal use and taking photos. It really does the new user interface justice, as the two together make for a pretty smart looking system. At its brightest setting, the display looks fantastic and is easy to read in direct sunlight. It does appear to be somewhat transflective, but even so, it can be a bit hard to read in direct sun when the brightness is turned all the way down. Overall, it is still quite impressive, far more so than the relatively poor looking screen shots we have in this review would suggest.