Motorola ROKR U9

Guide price: £99.00

Pebble shaped flip-phone. This beautiful Motorola is the update to the PEBL range. Now smoother, shinier and slimmer, the U9 has gained an external 1.45" colour OLED multifunction display, a better UI (User Interface) and an improved 2 megapixel digital camera and mp3 player.
When you first hold this mobile you realise immediately this is not a paired down budget phone, but a top quality, really well made phone. The fit and finish is superb and you will be assured that the all important hinge on this flip-phone is more than up to the job and long life is a given. The front is mirror shiny, the back and sides are cleverly coated with a rubberised anti-slip finish. The front sports the camera lens and front speaker, the sides quick access buttons and the bottom a covered mini USB port for easy charging or data access. The external display, although limited in colours is certainly a 'wow' factor because it is not expected! See the fire screensaver and the mp3 player display running! Then gently prod the surface for touch screen control of the music player! great!
The phone comes with Windows Media Player 11, but it can also handle Apple's iTunes preferred format of AAC and ACC+. This is a really important feature, if you want to use your iTunes account and this phone can take a 4GB microSD card, with the potential of storing over 1,000 tracks. This makes the U9 a serious music player, coupled with an inbuilt quality speaker and it's ability to stream Stereo music to either Bluetooth wireless headphones, or through your car's stereo with the new Motorola T505 and you have quite a serious package!
I tested the T505 with the U9 and found it made the perfect companion, as it makes the phone handsfree and streams your music via your car's stereo. Both features work really well, Bluetooth pairing is simple and the T505 searches for the best FM Station for you to use for streaming to. The unit even mutes the music and announces the incoming callers telephone number!
The U9 has Motorola’s innovative CrystalTalk™ technology that automatically adjusts audio to help ensure clear calls even in a noisy environment. And there’s more to talk about including advanced speaker independent voice dialling and talking phone features for additional convenience, all good! I was impressed with the call quality, although the phone did suffer from signal loss, but this was only in poor signal coverage areas and most phones struggle in deepest darkest Essex!
The megapixel size may be an issue with some people as it is only a relatively lowly 2 megapixels, but I found it to be more than adequate, in fact, I was genuinely impressed with the excellent colour reproduction and the quality of the photos and movies. The phone easily produced nice 4x6" prints and remember that in some circumstances the ability to record the moment accurately can be more important than the pixel count!

Pros with owning the U9:

Tiny size, that looks more like a compact mirror than a mobile phone!
Beautifully made, and able to take some punishment in jean pockets or handbags full of assorted clutter!
Full mp3 player features, including touch sensitive outer surface controls.
Bluetooth with Stereo streaming.
Good quality 2 megapixel camera with movie recording.
Two screens, one hidden, one very high quality 2" inner screen.
High quality inbuilt speaker, able to produce an impressive output.
CrystalTalk for clear calls, even when in a noisy enviroment.
Good battery life.
Available in two gorgeous colours (Rose Bloom or Purple)
Quadband!
Endlessly customisable with smart easy to use UI.
Has the 'Wow' factor with it's diminutive size and hidden OLED outer screen.

Cons with owning the U9:
Phone comes with a measly 25mb of internal memory, so a high capacity memory card(MicroSD)is necessary immediately.
Mini USB port for easy charging, but needs a Motorola USB cable, as it is not of the same design as a generic miniUSB cable.

Hilary's Conclusion:
This is a very attractive phone with quality build and innovative features thrown in, you must however look past the fact that it only has a 2 megapixel camera as most of the opposition sports 5 megapixels!

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