We figure peeps who've placed their orders
through Verizon's site for Motorola's new gotta-have-it clamshell need a little reading material to pass the time while they wait for the good folks in the shipping industry to make their phones materialize -- so without further ado, we present PC Magazine's take on the
Motorola K1m MOTOKRZR (pictured right). While the K1m is undoubtedly a fabulous-looking flip, PC Mag seems to share the same brooding, mildly pessimistic view we do: it's essentially a
V3m in a narrower, shinier package. On the plus side, the new dimensions apparently make the phone both easier and more comfortable to hold against the ear, battery life is top-notch with just over five hours of tested talk time, and the microSD slot means many owners will be able to carry over their investments in memory expansion from prior phones. Sadly, signal strength doesn't quite match that of its older sibling, and the UI is typical Verizon fare -- no Flash here,
a la the
VX8500 Chocolate -- though it does share the Chocolate's tricky-to-use touch sensitive controls. In the end, it seems the K1m ends up setting the standard once again for mobile industrial design, while simultaneously managing to fall further behind in the spec sheet race.
posted Sep 29th 2006 11:27PM
Hopefully the Sprint K1m will be a better package.
#1: get back to me in March when Sprint carries this phone
Only difference from VZW and Sprint is the UI and exterior color.
Just got one for testing. Mine had no package. I will post a review soon.
The culmination of two years of technological advances since the first Razor is this overly tall clunker that can practically look a soda can in the eye? I remember when I got my first flip-phone five years ago with its sub-2" screen. I knew screens would be color within the year--in fact, I ended up purchasing the first color-screen phone available in the U.S. just a few months later--but I also assumed that the screen's size would soon reach to almost the very edge of the flip. Five years later the latest "gotta have" phone has a giant flip and a tiny screen? Who'da thunk? And that's before mentioning all the other deficincies of this handset. Whether it comes to Sprint or not, will stick with my Fusic.
Moto has always sided with small screens on their flips that don't approach the bezel. Battery consumption is undoubtedly the concern there, or the converse, the requirement for a big-honkin' brick of a battery to get you through a day's use. It's always aggravated me too. Then, of course, HTC releases their 'StarTrek' WM5 phone with a practically identical screen-to-bezel ratio. Moto has company, though I would prefer a more refined design that frames the screen more appropriately in any case.
I've said it once and I'll say it again, that overly long design does absolutely nothing for me, and this is a guy who bought a Razr. I can't see the appeal.
Guys, it's just 4mm taller than the old RAZR, get over it. It just looks (really) tall because it's also 9mm narrower.
The Sprint version's UI will be very different, PhoneScoop had a good preview of that, check it at: http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/moto_k1m/
Of course, unlike the chocolate, the touch sensitive controls are only for the media player, not such silly things as call controls. This should be orders of magnitude more usable.