Motorola KRZR K1m Review

It has only been about a year since Verizon first introduced Motorola's stunningly slim RAZR phone; first with the V3c model and then with the V3m (Music Enabled) version.  Since then, the RAZR has been one of the most popular phones sold by Verizon since the V60 and StarTAC series.  The newest reincarnation of the RAZR is the KRZR K1m, which has all the same features of its predecessor, (such as a 65K color TFT internal display, 1.3MP camera, Bluetooth, speakerphone, voice command, internal antenna, MP3 music player, and MicroSD memory card slot), but packs them all in a more stylish and better designed phone.  The retail package from Verizon includes the KRZR K1m phone with user manual, wall charger, mini-USB to 2.5mm headset jack, and 880mAh battery with cover.

Just like the RAZR, the KRZR is a slim flip phone measuring 4.06”H x 1.73”W x .67”D and with a weight of 3.63oz. Compare this to the RAZR's dimensions of 3.90”H x 2.10”W x .57”D and you will see that the KRZR is slightly taller than the RAZR, yet not as wide. When holding both phones, the hand fits much easier around the KRZR and does not have the awkward feeling that the RAZR has, since it is not as wide. When placing both phones in you pants pocket, the KRZR is also less obtrusive.

Chocolate-KRZR K1m-RAZR V3m	RAZR V3m-KRZR K1m-Chocolate	RAZR V3m-KRZR K1m-Chocolate	KRZR K1m-RAZR V3m-Chocolate

The overall construction of the KRZR is sturdier than the RAZR, and no longer feels like cheap plastic that would easily break. The front exterior of the KRZR is mirrored charcoal-gray plastic that loves to show off fingerprints. At the top is the 1.3MP camera, with a 65K color 96x80 pixel CSTN display in the middle, and touch-sensitive music player buttons at the bottom that work in a similar fashion to the Chocolate. The external display is very small (postage-stamp size), with colored wallpaper being dark and almost covered up by the Date and Time. Since the size and quality of the external display is so poor, we feel that a better choice would of been to have a larger color TFT display or Black & White LCD display. Unlike on the RAZR, the Volume, Speakerphone, and VoiceCommand buttons are located on the bottom flip next to the keypad, not on the top flip next to the display. This is a much better placement and makes them easier to access while using the phone.

Opening up the KRZR with one hand can be challenging, due to the tension of the inner spring, so two-handed opening is recommended, and there are no crackling noises, except for a bump when opening past half way. At the top of the flip is the 65K color 176x220 pixel TFT internal display. Even though it has the same pixel-count as the one on the RAZR, it is not as big, but the quality of the TFT is much improved. It shows text clearly with no pixilation around the edges, and pictures are bright and clear with good color quality. The KRZR's display has a much wider viewing angle which fixes the issue with the RAZR, where you would have to look perfectly straight at it for there not to be any discoloration. Despite the better quality display, it can still be difficult to see when in direct sunlight.

K1m and V3m

Located on the bottom flip is the same type of metallic keypad that was used on the RAZR, which gives the phone a very modern look, but can prove to be hard to see outside with the sun reflecting on it. At the top is the 5 way navigational pad, surrounded by the message, contacts, camera, clear, send and end buttons. Below it is the numeric keypad, with large numbers and well-spaced buttons, which will cut down on missed dialed numbers and make TXT messaging easier. The entire keypad has the same aqua-blue backlight that is on the RAZR, which makes it easy to read in the dark.

K1m and V3m

Interface:

As with most other phones sold by Verizon, the KRZR uses the same standardized Verizon User Interface, which is a far cry from the graphically rich Motorola Menus that other carriers allow, such as Alltel and Sprint. The main menu is divided into 5 sub-categories (Get it Now, Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, Settings & Tools) and is accessible using the 5 way navigational pad. Going from one menu to another is easy, but the navigational pad only has small rubber arrows for up/down/left/right selections, which provides very little tactile feel on you thumb. There are no menu customizations to speak of, other than a choice of 4 color themes. It is a shame that the new FlashUI menu was not implemented on this phone, which would of allowed for much greater menu customization.

Phonebook:

There is enough room to store up to 500 contacts, each with Name, Mobile #, Home #, Work #, Fax #, and E-Mail address. You can also select a picture and ringtone for each of them. When that person calls, the pictures will be shown and the phone will play the ringtone that was assigned to them. After a contact is saved you can access them alphabetically, or use the Go To field to type in the name and have it bring up the results. You may also use the VoiceCommand feature to call people in your contact list by simply saying their name. The voice recognition software will find the person you have stored and call them automatically, or if the person is not stored, you can speak the digits for it to dial. We had no issues using the VoiceCommand feature except in noisy environments, such as a mall where there are many people talking.

Organizer:

The Calendar is an easy way of keeping track of important dates and times. You can navigate to the day that you want, and then add an event to that day by entering in the Name of the Event, Start and End Time, Recurrence, and Sound to play. Besides the calendar, you can store up to three independent alarms, which is useful as a wake-up alarm.

The KRZR only has 20MB of built-in usable memory. Because of this, we recommend using a MicroSD card for storage of pictures, videos, ringtones, and MP3 music files. Doing so will free the 20Mb of internal memory for use with Get it Now applications, which cannot be stored on the memory card. In order to get to the MicroSD slot on the phone, you have to remove the Battery cover and insert the card into the slot next to the battery. This process is much more difficult than on most other phones where the memory card slot is accessible on the side of the phone.

Messaging:

Messaging is straightforward and does not require any lengthy instructions. You can select three different messages to send: Text, Picture, and Video. When sending a Text message, you first enter in the cell number to where it is going and then type the message. If you enter in an E-Mail address as the destination, it will send the message to that persons E-Mail, which they can then reply back to.  Pictures and text can also be sent from an E-Mail address to the phone. When using the iTap text entry, the phone will try to predict the word that you are typing so that you don't have to enter it all in. We found the iTap to be more time consuming than T9 text entry, which most non-Motorola phones use.  Picture and Video Messaging work mostly the same way as a text message, except that you can attach a picture or video and send it to another phone or E-Mail address, but you limited to only sending videos that are up to 15 seconds in size. Sending a Picture or Video will take about 15 seconds when in an EVDO coverage area.

Connectivity:

Bluetooth version 1.1 is supported with up to 20 pairings. Supported profiles include headset, handsfree, serial port, DUN, and OPP (image and vCard transfer only). When testing the with a Jabra 250v headset, calls were clear and had little static as long as we were within 15 feet of the phone. Another useful feature is that you can use a Bluetooth headset in conjunction with the Voice Activated dialing that is built into the phone, but we would of liked to have seen A2DP stereo Bluetooth supported as well for music playback.

Limited Internet access is provided through the phone's WAP browser using Verizon's Mobile Web service which will take you to the Mobile Web main menu. From there you can access various information, such as news, weather, sports, and entertainment. Going to the Search/Go to URL menu will allow you to enter in other WAP and HTTP sites. Most WAP sites load in only a few seconds when in an EVDO area, otherwise it will default to 1x speeds and take longer to load. HTML sites can take up to 30 seconds to load (depending on content) but most do not display properly and larger images cannot be shown.  Due to the small size of the display, and lack of a HTML browser, we recommend only viewing WAP sites on the phone. If you are going to be viewing HTML sites often and need full E-Mail support, then a SmartPhone such as the Motorola Q or XV6700 with QWERTY Keyboard will be better suited for these tasks since they have a fully integrated HTML browser and Outlook E-Mail client.

Camera:

Motorola KRZR K1m in shooting mode

The quality of the 1.3MP CMOS camera is unreliable and quite disappointing. Most pictures looked muted, had bad color representation, purple fringing, and soft edges. Even though most pictures came out undesirable, there were a small few that did looked better. We are not sure why, considering that the same settings were used on all pictures taken. Just like on the Chocolate, the KRZR and RAZR also seem to have a problem with the Auto White Balance, which will cause some pictures taken outside to have a blue tint to them. Pictures taken indoors also suffer with being blurry and having poor color quality. Since there is no Flash on the phone, it is impossible to take pictures in total darkness.
Despite the fact that the camera quality is far behind that of other phones, such as the A990 and even the VX8300, it does take pictures relatively easily and has many options to choose from. To access the camera, press the camera icon button on the left side of the keypad, and then press the round center button on the navigational pad to snap the picture. There is a 1 second lag from the time the center button is pressed until the photo appears on the screen, then you must choose to either Save or Erase the picture (there is no auto-save feature). Saving the picture to the memory card takes an additional 4 seconds. Because of this, it takes a total of 7 seconds to take one picture, save it, and then take another picture. This would be a problem if you needed to take pictures quickly and fast together.  However, this is still faster than on the RAZR where it takes 10 seconds to take a picture, save it, and then take another.

• Resolution:  1280x1024, 640x480, 320x240, 160x120
• Self Timer:  Off, 3 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec
• Brightness:  -2, -1, 0, +1, +2
• White Balance:  Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Darkness
• Shutter Sound:  Shutter, Silent, Quack, Boing
• Color Effects:  Normal, Antique, B&W, Negative
• Multishot: On, Off
• Fun Frames:  There are 10 Fun Frames to choose from
• Storage Device:  SD Card, Phone

Pressing the camera icon button twice will open up the Video Recorder. Just as with the pictures, the video quality is lacking and almost useless. This is partly due to the fact of the KRZR only being able to record in 176x144 resolution.

There are a few menu options available:

• Brightness:  -2, -1, 0, +1, +2
• White Balance:  Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Darkness
• Duration:  Short (10 sec), Medium (15 sec), Fit to Vid Msg (15 sec), Long (Max Memory)
• Color Effects:  Normal, Antique, B&W, Negative
• Storage Device:  SD Card, Phone

Overall we were very dissatisfied with the pictures and videos produced from the KRZR. The only improvement with taking pictures with the KRZR is that it is faster than with the RAZR. Even if the KRZR K1m (for Verizon) employed the same 2MP camera that was used on the K1 (GSM version), the quality would still not be good as other phones (see the K1 review for the pictures). The only solution would be for Motorola to start using a higher quality sensor, such as a CCD, and use better lenses in their phones. Then, maybe, Motorola's camera phones could start competing with other manufactures.

Motorola KRZR K1m (left) compared to Motorola RAZR V3m (right)

Audio:

Both MP3 and WMA music playback can be accomplished quite easily when using a MicroSD card.  Format the card in the phone first, then put the card in the USB reader attached to your computer and copy/paste the music files to it. After the files are copied, place the card back into the phone and access the My Music menu. Music is categorized by Genre, Artist, Albums, Shuffle, and Playlist. Once the song begins to play, the display will show the song information, album art (if there is one) and track time position, but there are no graphic equalizers. Closing the flip while a song is playing will illuminate the blue backlit touch-sensitive controls on the front of the phone. In the center is the Play/Pause button, to the left is the Rewind/Skip Back button, and to the right is the Fast-Forward/Skip Ahead button. It is easy to use the front music control buttons and they have a fast response time. We also like that the blue backlight does not turnoff until you exit the music player. Even though the phone only has 1 mono-speaker, the sound quality was remarkably good and much louder than on the LG Chocolate. However, the placement of the speaker on the back of the phone is a poor design, so the phone must be turned over to hear the full quality of the music. A better placement for speaker would have been on the side of the phone down at the bottom. Since the Bluetooth A2DP profile is not supported, you cannot use the music player to connect to a stereo Bluetooth device, so you are limited to the built in speak or wired headphones. It would also of been nice if there was a FM transmitter, like on the LG Fusic, so that you could listen to the music on any FM radio.

Software:

All Verizon phones, including the KRZR, use Qualcomm's BREW software format for the downloadable Get it Now applications. One of the most useful applications is the VZNavigator program. With it, you can enter in a destination and the phone will plot a route from where you are and guide you to the destination. While driving, you will be given turn-by-turn directions on the screen and a voice will read the driving directions to you. The only downside to using the VZNavigator on the KRZR is that the display is smaller than other phones, which cause the on-screen maps to be smaller. We used the VZNavigator program in South Florida and it was able to guide us easily to destinations with no problems. We highly recommend this program for people who do not have the costly built-in GPS systems in their car.

Performance:

The reception and sound quality of the KRZR are slightly better than the RAZR. Voices are clear and had no interference or static, as long as our hand did not completely cover up the bottom of the phone that houses the internal antenna. Doing so will cause a drop in call quality. The earpiece speaker has eight levels of volume, with Medium or Med-High sounding best. The speakerphone is clear and not distorted as long as the volume is not turned up to the highest setting. You can also close the flip while using the speakerphone. We consider the call and voice quality of the KRZR to be equal to that of the LG VX8300, but still does not sound as good as the Samsung A990.

Ringtones must be E-mailed to the phone in MP3 format from a computer. The phone will receive a message and will allow you to save the attached mp3 file. From there, you can go into the Settings & Tools menu and select the ringtone. The Ringtone playback is loud, but since the speaker is on the back of the phone, it muffles the sound. Again, if the speaker was not on the back of the phone, it would improve the ringtone quality.

The battery is 880mAh Li-Ion and is rated to have 4Hr Talk time or 18 Days Standby time. However, we were only able to achieve 3Hr Talk time and 6 Days of Standby time. Since the KRZR is a slim design phone, Motorola does not manufacture an Extended battery that would provide longer talk and standby times. We wouldn't mind sacrificing some extra thickness to the phone if an extended battery was made available.

Conclusion:

The new KRZR K1m is a welcome improvement over the RAZR, but the improvements are only skin deep. The features of both phones are practically identical, except that the KRZR has MP3 controls on the front flip and better internal display. The KRZR is also not as wide as the RAZR, but is slightly taller, which improve the overall feel and handling of the phone. Its strong points are the excellent call quality, good construction, MP3 player, and slim design. However, the camera quality is poor, external display is too small, and A2DP Stereo Bluetooth is not supported. The KRZR is the best choice between the two Motorola phones, however a better choice would be the LG VX8300 and Samsung A990. Even though neither of those are as slim as the KRZR, they have better camera quality, higher battery life, and are also constructed well. If you already own the RAZR, the higher price of the KRZR does not warrant the small differences between the two.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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