Motorola KRZR K1 Blue (AT&T)

Calls and speakerphone: We found calls to be loud and clear on the Motorola Krzr. We rarely needed to use the side volume keys to adjust the sound. Using the speakerphone didn’t degrade call quality, and there was only a slight echo. Additionally, two people can talk simultaneously when the speakerphone is activated.

Audio quality: Playback of songs is decent through the cell phone’s speakers; however, some songs can sound tinny because the bass isn’t great. Additionally, since the speaker is located on the back of the cell phone, you should turn the Krzr over to listen to songs. On the plus side, we really enjoyed listening to music with the included headset. Songs sounded great through them.

Menu/phone book: As is the case with many Motorola cell phones, the menu’s interface is intuitive, requiring only a couple of steps to access most of the Krzr’s features. You can also personalize the buttons on the Krzr. Entering and saving numbers (there’s room for 5 phone numbers for each of the 1,000 contacts) is easy. Additionally, you can save birthday info, 3 e-mail addresses, a Web address, and a physical address for every contact stored on your cell phone. Don’t feel like entering all that data? No worries. You can use Mobile Phone Tools and the syncing cable to transfer contacts from your computer to your cell phone. For all you folks that have a predictive text messaging application, this Krzr supports iTap.

Another bonus is that the Krzr lets you print pictures, photos, messages, datebook events, and address book entries. You can do so via Bluetooth to a Bluetooth-compatible printer, or you can hook up the Krzr to a computer and print the traditional way, using the included mini-USB cable. You can also send contact info to other cell phones via either Bluetooth or in a message.

Camera/video: The Motorola Krzr sports a 2-megapixel camera and the ability to record short videos. Although it lacks a flash, we doubt that having one would enhance picture quality much. About that: Picture quality is acceptable, but far from fabulous (images are a tad blurry) – especially considering it has a 2-megapixel lens. Video quality isn’t much better, but at least you can see what’s happening on the screen. Additionally, if you want to save a lot of photos and music, you’ll need an optional TransFlash storage card since the cell phone has only 12MB of internal storage, which can fill up quickly depending on what else you have stored on the Krzr. Though it’s unmarked, the side button located just under the volume keys activates the camera if you press it for a few seconds, allowing you to take self-portraits.

Music: Depending on which GSM version of the Motorola Krzr you purchase, the music player options will vary. They all play music, but whether or not there’s a highlighted Music application will be determined by the version you purchase. In the unlocked version, you’ll find the music player in Multimedia applications. It’s simply called Sounds; choose that and all available sounds will appear on the phone’s screen (including songs). Select the song you want to play, and the music player will start. You can play back AAC (Apple’s music file format) and MP3 files, but not Windows WMA files. If you want the ability to play WMA files, check out Verizon Wireless’s version of the Krzr.

As noted, audio quality is pretty good through the cell phone speakers. Though this cell phone lacks the ability to adjust audiocentric controls such as bass and treble, you can create playlists. However, you are limited to creating a playlist based on where songs are stored: either in the cell phone’s memory or on a TransFlash storage card. You might want to purchase one of these cards if you plan on loading a lot of music on the cell phone since you can save only 4 or 5 songs on the Krzr’s 12MB of internal memory.

You can get music onto the phone via Bluetooth (we had a hard time with this option), or you can use the USB-to-mini-USB cable and Mobile Phone Tools to transfer songs from a computer to the phone. You can also store tunes from your PC on a TransFlash card, then slip it into the TransFlash slot located beneath the battery cover on the back of the Motorola cell phone. Our only quibble with the music player is that once the feature is activated, hitting the End key doesn’t halt the application.

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the Motorola cell phone with a Motorola H500 Bluetooth headset and a LG HBM-730 Bluetooth headset. We should note that using the Bluetooth feature can decrease battery life. Call quality isn’t as stellar as when you’re not using a headset, but it is quite acceptable. Occasionally, we found that once we placed a call using the headset, people couldn’t hear us and we’d have to call again. As noted, you can use Bluetooth to transfer songs on and off the cell phone as well.

Look and feel: When we first heard about the Krzr, we wondered how Motorola would improve an already slick cell phone. Well, the company did a few good things. For starters, the back of the cell phone is slightly rubberized (think: the Pebl). Our favorite element is its actual size. It’s about the same width as the Motorola Pebl and about half as thin. It’s a tad longer, making it about the same length as the original Razr. Our least favorite design aspect is the location of the voice record button; we often pressed it while on a call or when we flipped open the cell phone with one hand.

The display is bright but not nearly as crisp as, say, the screen on the Samsung A990. Our only quibble with the Krzr’s design is the front of the cell phone, which attracts grease and fingerprints quickly. Additionally, if you use the cell phone a lot, you’ll notice a silhouette of the keypad on the screen, but it doesn’t damage it at all; it’s just another reason to wipe off the screen. But we can live with those minor flaws – the Krzr’s that attractive.

Keypad: The trademark flat keypad found on the Razr is here as well. For some reason, it’s still supercool. With its blue-backlit numbers and lines, it looks like something out of the movie Tron. While you might think it would be hard to dial on a flat keypad, we found it pretty easy to do. However, we should note that those with larger hands should probably stick with the Motorola Razr. The Krzr is a perfect fit for people with smaller hands. Additionally, we did find occasionally that we accidentally hit the wrong button when using the round, 4-way nav-key.

In the battery life department, the Motorola Krzr had decent performance. We found that we could last two days before needing to recharge when using the Motorola Krzr regularly to make calls and send/receive text messages. Users who barely use the cell phone to make/receive calls and send/receive messages can wait about four days before needing to recharge, while heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Motorola Krzr every other day. If you have a mini-USB-to-USB cable, you can always charge the cell phone by connecting it to a computer. Nice!