22 May 2008
The Motorola U9 (also known as the PEBL2 phone, the Motorola PEBL U9, and the MOTO U9) is often described as a cute clamshell phone, weighing only 88 grams and measures 90 x 49 x 16 mm. Users may opt to use the Motorola U9 in pretty colours that girls root for, with pink as its most notable shade. Its main display features a TFT of 262,000 colours in high resolution that, according to experts, can match up with most state-of-the-art mobile phones sold in the U.K. market. Meanwhile, it runs on energy-saving OLED external, featuring 65,000 colours.

The Motorola U9 is a standout with its display screen that uses a shiny, mirror-like effect and unifies itself with the handset's surface, concealing an external display. Some of its external features disappear completely when the phone is idle, and it is startling to see them when they are illuminated. A host of screensavers may be applied to the Motorola U9, which is meant to put a touch of real life on the mobile phone's entire surface.

To a number of owners, the idea behind the Motorola U9's look must be associated with natural pebbles. Unlike Motorola's RAZR collection, sharp edges don't exist in the Motorola U9 handset. The handset is tactile and smooth with soft and curvy or rounded edges; hence, on-the-go users don't mind holding the phone.

Notably, the Motorola U9 is distinct for its metallic finish, yet it is surprisingly soft as it is sturdy. Touch-sensitive keys, which controls customized and animated screensavers, and touch-sensitive controls are a plus that pleases the senses.

Features-wise, the Motorola U9 has a 2-megapixel camera and a video camera at 176 x 144 pixels, with a 4x digital zoom that supports MPEG4 file format - allowing its users to capture, save or share still pictures and moving video footages.

The handset also boasts of a music player which allows running of audio files in AMR, WMA, MP3, AAC, AAC+ and enhanced AAC+ formats. The Motorola U9 also supports video files in 3GPP and H263 formats. It hosts a variety of ringtones, each in MP3 configurations. Users may opt to add and alter their ringing tones according to what their preferred style is or what their personalities reflect.

Users gain control in creating their playlist through the touch-sensitive music controls. As it claims to be universally usable, the Motorola U9 may be synchronised with Microsoft Windows Media Player, thereby encouraging music management for its user.

Connectivity is easy with the Motorola U9's USB 2.0 and Bluetooth activation. Users who wish to get connected can use the mobile phone, powered by EDGE and GPRS, to access the Internet. According to reviews, EDGE allows data transfers of up to thrice faster than GPRS. In the same manner, Motorola U9 users gain access to the Web with the mobile phone's WAP browser found in the main menu. Accordingly, Motorola U9's messaging services is not only limited to SMS and MMS, but embraces online emailing as well.

The Motorola U9 boasts of a quad band phone technology, allowing international roaming for users over GSM 1900, 1800, 900 and 850. The preppy handset has memory of 25 Megabytes. Its microSD, however, allows up to 4 Gigabytes worth of storage. Its battery lasts 350 hours at the maximum, and offers 7-hour talk time.

It is of no argument that in terms of appearance, the Motorola U9 is tops. Some users, however, can't help but complain of its limitations and oversimplified features. According to several users, Motorola has saved a considerable amount on the cost of creating the U9 by not including in the mobile phone package certain features, such as headphones, USB cables and memory card. Also, a simple but utterly bugging issue to some owners is the fact that its camera does not come with a flash.

While it boasts of a great external look, its display isn't clear enough, and is totally not viable during sunny days, say some complaints. Moreover, while its colors may appeal best to teenage girls, some would have preferred it in colours other than its pink tint.

Being a fingerprint-magnet phone, smudges will have to be wiped off frequently to maintain its shiny, new look - and to most users, this is a disadvantage.

Some suggest that an added 3G feature would aid in the over-the-air downloads of music and audio files. After all, the Motorola U9 is strikingly a music phone!

Female-attracting as it may seem, the Motorola U9 does not start and end with being simply fashionable. In fact, the baby PEBL handset has striking features, which, when discovered, will be appreciated even more by its user despite its flaws.

Find out more about the Motorola U9 at motorola.com
Read other reviews at ecoustics.com