Motorola Z9 Review - Usability & Performance

The Z9 is definitely one of the better cell phones I’ve tested when it comes to voice quality.  I tested it on AT&T’s network in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, and was really impressed by the clarity of callers’ voices coming through to my end - and got a similar response from the people I was talking to.  Chalk it up to MOTO’s Crystal Talk noise reduction technology, which apparently works.  Signal strength was above average as compared to other AT&T handsets I’ve tested recently, and the speakerphone was passable in a pinch if not superlative.  I had no problems pairing the Z9 with a variety of mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, though there’s no headphone jack on the phone.  Both voice calls and music sounded quite good over the Motorola S9 stereo Bluetooth headset.

One benefit of the Z9’s size is that it affords a large display.  The 2.4” QVGA screen was bright and easy to read, and the menu system - if not flashy - was clean and easy to navigate.  Video clips played very well, with virtually no stuttering, and the phone also made for a handy digital photo album.  I also enjoyed browsing through MobiTV’s video offerings as well as AT&T’s music store selections.  XM Radio over 3G worked well, too, though paying double for subscriptions on radio and cell phone might be a bit much for most consumers.

I had some problems with the AT&T Navigator app, specifically when it came to acquiring a GPS signal.  Sometimes I had no problems while others I got to around 95% on the status bar before the application hung indefinitely.  Once the signal was acquired, the navigation app proved accurate and handy.  But the signal issues were a bit disconcerting, and I couldn’t find a pattern to them - they cropped up when I was inside and outside, and then the GPS would later work fine both inside and out.  Very strange.  I actually had some similar, seemingly random issues with 3G connections, though they weren’t quite as pronounced.