Motorola Krzr K1 review

Motorola Krzr K1 Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 7 November 2006

Features
There's a tendency with fashion-centric phones to think of style first and substance later. However, the Krzr K1 doesn't disappoint in the features department. One of the most important features is that the interface is more user-friendly than older Motorola phones, which had a reputation of being difficult to use.

One area where you notice a great improvement is in the text-input interface, which now offers a better predictive service. As you press each key it offers you a potential word that you might be trying to type, and with the new cancel button it feels more natural to correct your errors.

The K1 has a 2-megapixel camera that takes still pictures and videos. You can access the camera by pressing the shutter button on the left side. This also works with the K1 shut, using the external screen as a viewfinder.

Once you have taken a picture you can edit it, adjusting the picture's brightness, contrast and sharpness. You can rotate a picture, add a border or mirror effect and then send it to your friends via Bluetooth or MMS.

The music player plays MP3, AAC and AAC+ files, lets you create play lists and search through albums, songs, genres and artists. You can also put the player in shuffle or repeat mode.

Proprietary stereo headphones are provided in the box, but the K1 also supports stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), so you can use a stereo Bluetooth headset to listen to your music wirelessly. Using the expandable microSD slot you can store up to 1GB of songs or pictures, and the K1 comes with a USB cable so you can transfer data to or from your PC straight out of the box.

Other services include calendar, alarm, SMS and MMS messaging, a voice recorder, speakerphone mode, polyphonic ring tones, Java games and you can browse the Web using the WAP browser. It supports T-Mobile's Web & Walk service, too. The K1 has quad-band connectivity, so it will work anywhere that uses a GSM network (ie most of the world).

An interesting but somewhat curious feature is the voice-command service that at the push of a button and a spoken command lets you compose an email, voice memo or text message. This isn't always easy to access, as you need to speak clearly and be in a relatively quiet place. We're also not sure why you would want to use this system for anything other than a voice memo, since the text and email features require you to eventually type on the keypad, anyway.

Performance
The audio quality during calls is loud and clear and the speakerphone works as expected. The audio quality on the music player is clear too, but it would have been nice if there was an adaptor for a 3.5mm jack.

The picture quality from the 2-megapixel camera is as expected and great for MMS messages, but without autofocus some shots come out blurry. There's no LED light or flash, so shots in low light aren't possible.

Battery life is quoted at 300 hours standby and 6 hours talk time. We wouldn't dispute this -- we charged it after about two days of moderate to heavy usage.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide