Motorola MOTOZINE 5 MP Camera Phone, Black (T-Mobile)

Superb hardware, responsive software, great price, clunky configuration December 3, 2008

Reviewer:  A. Khalak 

I have had this phone for about a week, and have been able to put it through its paces.

Pros: The call voice quality and the picture quality are excellent. The MP3 player is also very good, and pauses when you receive a call. It can hold a 4Gig memory card, which will capture lots of full resolutions photos. The phone has bluetooth and wifi connectivity, and you can browse the web using a wifi connection. The handset itself is very ergonomic, and the test that I found on it shows it to have impressive durability.
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The computer switches "modes" quickly, so that if you take the phone out of your pocket and flip open the lens cover, it behaves just like a regular digital camera and you can take a photo right away. Then, when you close the lens cover, it goes back to behaving like a phone.

Cons: The adjusting some of the settings takes a while to figure out, and it took me a while to figure out how to get the browser to use wifi, etc. The video recording mode is essentially useless. I have also found some problems with taking close up photos in low light, since the flash is too bright.

Great phone, great camera December 2, 2008

Reviewer:  Kaitai Treekillas "Kaitai"  (Cambridge, MA) -

I've owned this phone for several weeks, and am highly impressed. The call quality is excellent, and the picture quality is impressive. The other day a buddy was looking at the pics, and his comment was simply, "these are real pictures." That's pretty much the whole reason to own the phone right there. A couple of complaints. First, texting is a pain. Perhaps it's my Paul Bunyan-like fingers, but my initial texts were little better than half sentences before they were inadvertently sent. Not a big deal for me since I don't text much, but something to keep in mind. Second, the software has proven to be a bit buggy. I've had a few instances where, after turning the phone on, I couldn't access my music because the phone wasn't able to refresh the media list (thus the 4 stars). I've contacted customer support, but to no avail. I assume there will be some sort of firmware update soon, or hope there will be anyway. It's only happened twice, so again, not a big deal. I purchased this phone primarily for the camera, and have not been disappointed. I do hope I don't sprout an extra ear due to the high radiation, as mentioned in a previous review.

Great REAL CAMERA phone + VIDEOs! April 18, 2009

Reviewer:  Evan Ernest Smith "Watsu believer"  (Bend, Oregon USA) -

This phone has taken some pictures that I have posted onto Facebook, and people can't believe I took them with my phone. I have even printed a few of the best, and they look great!

One of the strongest camera features is how intuitive, and how QUICKLY READY TO CAPTURE A SHOT - as soon as you slide the lens cover open, the camera mode is activated, and I can capture pics almost as fast as I can get the thing out of my pocket. Try THAT with other camera phones. It takes mulitiple pics very quickly in succession also. You can even do basic edits, with KODAK software, right in the phone. The panorama auto-stitch function is cool, and really works.

The call quality is very good. I have only had issues when I stood in a couple dead zones in my house. Otherwise, great, no problems.

I have the 4GB micro SD chip in it, and I once took an over 10 minute long video of a drive into work... I was seeing how long it would record for! (I ran out of time, not the phone!) My friend commented on the video that it looked better in quality than the old super-8 movies he used to make decades ago... sure grainy, but AMAZING that this little device can actually jam that much into a tiny-pinky-nail sized chip! Not to mention, no film-developing fees or special projectors, etc. It comes with a special cord that lets you show your pics and videos on most TVs, right from the phone.

The USB cable that comes WITH the phone works great to get the pics onto my PC. I don't use the feature, but the phone has WiFi so you are supposed to be able to upload that way also.

My top two phone criteria was: 1. A good phone 2. A good camera. This phone fits both very well.

I only give 4 stars because I have to charge the battery every day, and also there is a bit of a lag sometimes when switching between menus, editing contacts, etc.

This phone synced flawlessly with my Outlook contacts, and this is the first time ever since owning cell phones that I didn't have to manually input a bunch of numbers or use some iffy web service to transfer all that junk. Just a trusty USB cable on my trusty computer.

The alarm clock function is easy to access, program, and use. This phone IS my alarm clock now. You can even record a phrase and set it as an one of 3 alarms. "Don't forget to pick up the milk", set to go off on your drive home, and never forget again! You can also awake to your favorite MP3 file, or set any MP3 file as a ringtone.

FM radio and MP3 player function works great, also! I still love my iPod, but sometimes it is nice to carry just one device, and I leave the iPod at home (gasp!)

Bad hardware specs! December 26, 2008

Reviewer:  Steve Simons 

I will start this review off by saying the the MotoZINE is really kind of a cool phone. It has a certain "wow" factor. The 5 megapixel camera is great, it's actually a better camera then most 5 mp standalone digital cameras. It's a beautiful phone too, and has quite a few cool features.

However, there are some issues, or rather, one main issue:

The processor of the phone is not very good at all. It can't handle multiple button presses or multiple tasks happening. When just a few things happen, it commonly results in the phone resetting (which is what you should hope for) or the phone just getting stuck on the home screen(which is what you don't want), sometimes for 15-20 minutes until you finally decide to take the battery out and restart the phone.

Often, if the phone gets stuck on the home screen and rights itself, you can't call anyone for a very long time. Everytime you try to call someone, you get an error message that says "Tapi server is disconnected".

One story I would like to present: My car battery was dead one day(i had stupidly left my lights on), and i was trying to get ahold of my girlfriend because she lived very close and I was going to see if her parents would come and give my car a jump.

It was below freezing outside, with 30 mph winds, so you can definitely assume it was freezing cold.

As i tried to call her, and text her, the issues got ridiculous. I was barely even able to talk to her for 1 minute or so before the phone resetting, and consequently, dropping the call. In texting, it took me 45 minutes to get my message across to her.

In my opionion, I do not recommend the MotoZINE.

If you were to get any phone, i'd recommend the motoROKR

Above average camera phone May 13, 2009

Reviewer:  Joseph Frohock "jofro1962"  (Oklahoma) -

While the obvious strength of the Zine is the 5 MP camera, the phone itself is very nice. I'll touch on the awesome camera features first. Preparing to snap a picture is, well, a snap. Just slide open the camera lens and you're ready to shoot. The display is vibrant and bright and once you've pressed the shutter button the camera snaps in almost nil time. The phone offers several ways to share the photos, all taking only a couple of button presses. There's picture messaging to another phone, uploading to your t-Mobile album or uploading to a Kodak gallery provided free. The Xenon flash makes pictures snapped at night look like hign noon and there are several onboard editing options. The pics themselves are excellent, photo album quality shots. The video, while not on par with still shots, is still above average for a camera phone.
The phone is a slim back model with a bit of stylish purple trim and feels very solid. The keys are flush with the case which takes a little getting used to but they are quite easy once you do. The screen is, as mentioned, bright and vibrant, well above your standard cell phone. Sound quality is great and although the speakerphone is a tad fuzzy is still plenty clear enough. The web browser isn't cutting edge, but again above average for a non-smart phone and is quite fast especially if you use the phone's wifi capabilities. The music player is pretty standard and works fine if you just want to load the included 1 gig memory card with songs and listen to music.
I purchased this phone because I am the father of two young boys and wanted to be able to capture those all too frequent unexpected "Kodak Moments" without having to carry a camera around all the time and this phone does the trick excellently. I could not be happier.

Camera replacement for me, Nice phone was a perk February 17, 2010

Reviewer:  W. Biesinger  (Irvine CA USA) -

Got the phone for free about 8 months ago via Amazon.com and I'm wishing T-mobile still sold it for my other lines. I bought the phone for the camera.

Pros:
* Nice camera, easily shares photos, *very* quick camera bootup time (just slide cover over and only about .75 second delay before the picture is taken
* Clear call quality, including a powerful speakerphone
* Extensive feature set (WiFi, FM receiver, Media player, messaging, email, bluetooth including push services)
* Good predictive text engine
* Dig the keylock switch on the side. I'll miss this in whatever other phone I have
* The hidden photo buttons are groovy. "Trash" and "Share" buttons light up when you are in landscape photo review mode
* Purple everything? At least the phone looks good

Cons:
* The phone lacks a bit in CPU power, which you can tell when you first boot the phone, end a call, or are moving around in menus a lot. There's a distinct lag for these actions, but it's not a big deal
* Low battery warning vibrates and buzzes (wasting more battery...) One of those features that are really bugs
* Purple everything? At least the phone looks good

Surprised to hear about so many people's trouble with the phone. I haven't had any issues with sync, phonebook, etc that weren't caused by my own tinkering with ModMyMoto.

Fantastic camera, phone January 10, 2009

Reviewer:  rpv  (CA) -

I have been using Motorola ZN5 or MotoZine for about a month and it is a wonderful phone with a 5 megapixel camera. The cell quality is wonderful in this phone and I have not had a missed call so far. In this review, I am not going into some basic details which are already present in the user guide or present in other online reviews. Most of this review is regarding non-phone features of ZN5 and I call ZN5 as a mini-PDA or even a mini computer. Address book sync up, phone settings, bluetooth, speakerphone quality are all excellent. The main reason we got this phone is for its camera apart from the obvious reason of making phone calls. Got 2 from TMobile for the family plan. I will attach many sample photos taken by this camera. It can take 4 GB Micro SDHC card, Reports suggest it will also take a 8 GB card (unofficial). I am posting many screenshots of the camera screen because this is often lacking in userguides and people find this extremely useful while deciding to buy cameras or reading reviews.

Overall, ZN5 is a outstanding device (phone/camera/mp3 player/radio/USB drive/etc). I have not revieed many other features like connecting to TV (cable was included), taking video, video playback. Phone quality and reception are outstanding and that is most important to a phone. Motorola has always excelled in that category. With a camera and a no frills mp3 player, ZN5 is a great buy.
My full review at

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It's a phone first and it doesn't always work right February 8, 2009

Reviewer:  E. Ament  (Kentucky) -

First, the camera and overall technology is great. That's why I give it two stars. Even then, I ran into an issue. One day it wouldn't recogize I had a memory card in the phone when just using the phone. The computer would recognize the card when plugged in by USB. Something was wrong with the phone. I formatted the card and it recognized it. Not cool, because I have to put everything back on the card. Also, for some reason, the phone will restrart for no reason. I hope that won't happen now that the card is formatted.

Now onto the important stuff. You know, talking on a phone! A few times, the phone just stopped working. I was connected, but there was no sound on either end. I disconnected the bluetooth and tried to talk. It didn't work. I concluded it isn't T-Mobile's fault. That's why I rereviewed this phone and now give it two stars. Phones are for talking and if you can't for one second due to the hardware, it fails.

Maybe I need to see about areplacement and this is common. All I know is it didn't happen with my first phone with another network. It's only been about six months. A year and a half with this might drive me nuts.

EXCELLENT PHONE! plus much more! January 28, 2010

Reviewer:  M. Wilson  (Clermont, FL) -

I LOVE this phone. The reception, call quality, and camera are excellent, which are why this phone is SO GOOD. But I love it for the MP3 player. It is the BEST! It is as good or better than an Ipod, really! Very easy to use with WMP. The speakers on the phone are really loud. You can use entire songs for ringtones. Earbuds are excellent. The screen has a high resoulution and you can watch short videos, including Youtube videos from the browser. I like MotoConnect that lets my phone share photos, music, calendar, addresses, etc. with my PC. FM radio, Bluetooth, Wi-fi and Email are handy; I can read, manage, and send E-mail, including photos. I get a notice when I recieve a new email. Texting can be tricky because the keys take a while to master, but after I started using my nails, I found the keys responsive and predictive texting fast. Motorola phone tools is a photo editing software that's lots of fun, and comes with the phone. Not too many apps, unfortunately T-mobile disabled Java apps, but a ModMyMoto website, GSM arena, and Motorola's website help get around some of the disabilities T-mobile put on this phone. My phone used to shut off alot, but I learned to put some paper on top of the battery to hold it in place. It NEVER shuts off; ever. It has taken some getting used to, but the longer I use it, the more I realize how much my Motozine ZN5 has to offer. It is an excellent phone, camera, mp3 player, PDA, plus so much more.

Ok phone, nice camera, keys stick January 1, 2010

Reviewer:  Sue Jones "Sue Jones"  (Michigan) -

I've had this phone for over 6 months now.

Pros:
Best thing about this phone is one they barely advertise - it has really, really good call quality. I've had a difficult time with past cell phones talking to my elderly mom because she just can't understand. With this one, we have no issues. Many of my co-workers can't tell when I'm on my cell vs. land line.

Another good thing, it seems to get a better signal than my old t-Mobil phone. Used to be that Verizon phones couldn't even get a signal at my house. T-Mobil just barely. When I got this phone, I suddenly had all the bars most of the time. Very nice.

Menus are easy to use and intuitive.

In regards to others' comments. I've never had the OS freeze.

Camera is great although the flash is a little too intense. I took this phone/camera on my last vacation - it did great. No reason to carry a camera too any longer - even when I want good pictures. Very freeing.

Cons:
The keys stick - badly. Say, if you push the '1' key - it will just stay down. This makes entering phone numbers difficult. Texting basically impossible. I returned the phone once due to this issue. I got a new one. It worked for awhile, but now is experiencing the same issues. And, just as some keys stick in the down position, some won't push at all. Also, sometimes the wrong key will enter. For example: even when I'm extremely careful to push the '*' key, '9' will be entered instead. It is very difficult for me to call into teleconferences due to how hard it is just to get the '*' key to depress in a timely manner.

My screen on the phone I returned also got stuck 'on' for awhile. I attribute it to the stuck keys as well. I was very reluctant to buy a non-flip phone. The problems I've had with this one are making me promise myself when this contract is up, that I will switch back.

It's very difficult to get the USB port flap open.

The wired headset that comes with the phone apparently distorts my voice quite a bit - at least according to my co-workers. So, it's hard to make hands free calls. I haven't tried another.

Software wasn't really thought through:
Stored contacts display phone numbers in tiny, tiny, tiny font. The screen is HUGE - it would be nice if I could use a bit of it to display the numbers larger.

Often, phone numbers are displayed without hyphens in the logical locations - it would be nice if they had built this into the software. (i.e., 1234567890 vs. 123-456-7890)

Font choices are limited - none that easy to read.

No options for displaying larger fonts.