The shape of the Motorola U9 may look familiar to those of you wowed by the unique opening, smooth surfaced PEBL U6. Much has changed since the introduction of that Zen-like device in 2005 though, with Motorola struggling to find a direction after this and the revolutionary RAZR V3.
The Motorola U9 is heralded as combining “the surprising with the familiar” and the first surprise is that the U9 is a music phone. Gone is the PEBL name and the form over function approach, replaced by updated features and multimedia technology in the familiar rounded clamshell design.
First thing you will notice is the borderless colour external display, it is operated by touch sensitive, digital keys to allow users control of the music player from the outside. Open the phone (no clever spring assistance this time though) and you are greeted by a large keypad and 256,000 colour 2 inch LCD, which gives a perfect view of the new Linux-Java user interface and main menu.
Photo's are very clear and colourful too. The Motorola U9 has a 2 megapixel camera with video options, but no flash or autofocus.
Storage of images and music is shared between 25MB of on-board memory and a microSD card of your choosing - up to 4GB in capacity. This would give you capacity for around 1000 songs to play through the U9's Windows Media Player.
Syncronising these files from your PC can be done through a USB 2.0 connection or via Bluetooth 2.0. The latter standard offering the A2DP profile for wireless stereo music playback.
Downloading tracks over the air is not something readily catered for here as the U9 is not 3G enabled, but it does offer a quad band GSM antenna for roaming and GPRS class 12 for data access. Web browsing is also limited to WAP rather than full internet.
Other useful functions within the U9 include a calendar you can sync with Outlook and a voice notes facility, plus the phone has a “flight mode” to isolate the phone but still allow use of the media player.
Weighing 88g the Motorola U9 strikes a balance between fashion and music phone, being light and compact but certainly not bursting with all the latest tech features.