Most of the popular phone makers are under pressure to release touchscreen mobile devices since the launch of the first iPhone. Therefore, we can see that now there are more and more touch screen mobile devices from different manufacturers on the market. We have seen the Motorola Ming which is the first touch screen phone from Moto which was very popular mainly in Asia, now the descendant of Ming – the Krave ZN4 was released recently. This time, the target market is back to the US.
Design-different from others
From the Motorola Krave ZN4 design, we can say that Motorola has its own ways of designing its touchscreen phone. The Motorola Krave ZN4 was inspired by the design of its own Ming-a flip-style phone with a flip-up front transparent protective screen (cover). Interestingly, the front cover also allows to be a touch screen. Motorola Krave ZN4 does not have many buttons. There is only a Home and Power button above the screen. The other keys are located around its perimeter, including the microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, volume controls, micro USB connection/power port, lock switch, and dial buttons. by voice and camera. At the rear is the 2MP camera lens.
User interface and application: simple and useful
Motorola has its own touch user interface for the Moto Krave ZN4 and it is simple and efficient. Retrieving a contact, dialing a number, sending a message just works, and there was no inadvertent action caused by a misplaced finger on the touchscreen. The phone doesn’t have a keyboard, so you’ll need to enter data by touching either a portrait-style T9 keyboard or a landscape-format QWERTY keyboard, both of which have a slight vibration feedback. The Krave also comes with many pre-installed programs such as Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL, AIM, and Verizon.net POP3, IMAP email for sending email, and AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo! Messenger, for instant messaging. For GPS functionality, the Motorola Krave ZN4 does a good job with VZ Navigator, thanks to Verizon Wireless. VZ Navigator is highly sensitive and highly accurate.
Multimedia-TV is fun
Verizon Wireless has introduced V Cast Mobile TV and the V Cast Music store for Motorola Krave. Through this app, you can easily enjoy music and videos, but you need to be a VW subscriber. To play these files, there is a media player in the Motorola Krave that supports most of the popular music and video formats. The V Cast Mobile TV service allows you to watch TV shows like Comedy Central, ESPN, and Nickelodeon. However, you have to put the phone on the table to watch TV, because it blocks the antenna reception when you hold it by hand. As for the camera, as we expected, the only 2 MP camera quite disappointing, although not entirely unredeemable. You can’t change the resolution of your photos, like other phones of the same tier have.
Conclusion: there is still a long way to go
We can say that Motorola has tried to make a different kind of touchscreen phone from being an ‘iPhone-like’ touchscreen phone. However, the Motorola Krave ZN4 continues to lag behind. Krave’s only advantage is its multimedia capabilities. There are many improvements that can be done on this phone such as web browsing, camera, etc. To be honest, Krave was a disappointment.