The people from Motorola were kind enough to send us a Motorola Krave ZN4 review unit that we've been using for the past two weeks. What we found during our time with the device was a very solid cellphone that looks sexy, has some very cool features, and performs nicely as a media-centric feature phone, but perhaps falls short of the iPhone-killer status that Verizon may have been looking for in their first full touchscreen phone. Read below for all the details.

The Body and Build

When I first started testing the ZN4 Krave, my wife, who is normally not impressed with gadgets, exclaimed upon first seeing it: "Oh, that's pretty. Can I see it?" The device is definitely distinctive-looking with its clear, plastic flip top and a speaker that seems to float in the clear plastic with no visible wires connecting it to the main part of the device. People tend to look at the device when you pull it out and flip it open. As much as some of the pictures online make it look like a Star Trek communicator that one would imagine flipping open with Scottie's voice emerging from it, that's not the reaction you have to it in person. It's definitely slick looking.

The ZN4 Krave feels very solid without being overly heavy or bulky. As a current New Yorker and as someone who grew up in Mississippi, I always gauge my gadgets' solidity by whether or not I think I could pelt the device at the back of a mugger's retreating head or skip it nicely across a pond; the ZN4 has a size and heft that I think would serve it well in either role. The back, sides, and bottom of the device have a nice matte finish that grips nicely in your hand and prevents the device from sliding around when cast aside on a tabletop.

The plastic flip top is the part that feels the most precarious, but it is quite thick and sturdy. Something about the way it flips out, its thinness, and the way you can see through it makes you think subconsciously that it would easily snap off like those old plastic faceplates that used to come on older model Palm devices. This is an illusion however, as the plastic is a little over an eighth of an inch thick, formed from two pieces of plastic fused together over a very small mesh metal screen that both powers the speaker that appears at a glance to float wirelessly in the see-through plastic and makes the lid a second touchscreen.

Unlike the back and sides of the device, both the face of the device when open and the plastic flip are shiny and attract fingerprints easily, as do most touchscreen devices. However, the screen is bright enough that this is only noticeable when it's not actively being used.

The Touchscreens

One of the more interesting features of the Motorola Krave ZN4 is that it features two touchscreens and a different set of controls depending upon whether the device is closed or open. The nearly invisible metal mesh throughout the plastic flip cover pictured above makes the cover a see-through touchscreen for accessing Music, V Cast TV, M Pictures, VZ Navigator GPS solution, new text messages, new visual voicemail, and any new missed calls without having to open the phone. This feature also means that you need to make liberal use of the device lock switch on the right side of the phone (pictured below) to prevent accidentally accessing the controls.

Unfortunately, these shortcuts are not customizable. If you get the Krave ZN4 and don't opt to pay the monthly fee for V Cast TV or VZ Navigator, you'll find yourself not only with two buttons that are useless, but you'll also be greeted by a small animated commercial for each of the services every time you accidently push these buttons, which is quite probable given their placement between the Music and My Pictures controls. I talked to a Motorola representative about this issue and he confirmed that there was no way to disable the commercials other than by subscribing to these features. Both features perform well on the phone, however, especially the VZ Navigator which makes the Krave ZN4 a direction-savvy GPS device that can read you turn-by-turn directions out loud.

Opening the device changes the default four icons across the top to Messages, DialPad, Menu, and Contacts. Clicking on Menu gives you full access to all the phone's features. The screen is exceptionally bright and easy to see while in use whether the flip cover is open or closed, providing good visibility both inside and outdoors in the sun.

When entering text on the phone in landscape mode, which you can only access by turning the phone on its left side, a full QWERTY keyboard comes up and while entering text while in portrait mode, the phone provides regular keypad entry.

When typing in landscape mode, you have to spend some time figuring out how to properly hold the device as the plastic flip prevents you from holding the left side of the device in the same manner you hold the right side of the device. You can either hold your hand over the top of the plastic flip and type with your index finger, or hold the flip cover extended 90 degrees from the phone, half open and half closed, which allows your left hand to be in relatively the same position as your right hand for thumb typing.

Motorola designed the Krave to provide haptic feedback, but there is no actual pushback from the screen when you "click" on it with your finger. Rather the entire device vibrates ever so slightly to simulate a tactile response from the screen, and this vibration can be felt when accessing either of the touchscreens. Unfortunately, while the Krave provides haptic feedback in all default applications, there is no haptic feedback when running programs like VZ Navigator, so it isn't a universal haptic experience. 

The Ports and Controls

The Left Side

The Right Side

The Speaker

The speaker on the Motorola Krave ZN4 is not only a cool looking little metal button floating in what appears to be a clear plastic flip top with no clearly visible means of connectivity to the main body of the phone, it's also a very loud, clear, and capable speaker. By default, the phone announces each number as you dial (you can turn this off easily enough in the phone preferences). Watching V Cast TV, video media files, or listening to music sans headphones is perfectly fine with this speaker, and the ringtones announce themselves loud and clear when the volume is turned up, even in the noisiest circumstances.

The Phone

As a phone, the Krave ZN4 performed very well with no dropped calls, difficulty placing calls, or noise on the line.

The Camera

The two megapixel camera on the Krave is just that: a two-megapixel camera. If you're looking to take high resolution and excellent shots or record high definition video on the go, this isn't the phone for you. If you're just looking to take a few quick shots here and there to add to your contacts or to shoot some regular VGA video, then the camera in the Krave will serve you well enough. However, I must note that on two occasions while testing the phone, the camera froze when I tried to load it, displaying only a black screen and information about the number of pictures remaining (pictured below).

Battery Life

Although I didn't conduct any hard and fast tests of the battery life, a full charge lasted for about two days of normal use. The only time I managed to quickly drain the battery was when I left the phone playing V Cast TV for over two hours straight.

Features

The Motorola Krave ZN4 is packed with features but, unfortunately, few of those features really shine as much as the design of the device itself. With a microSD card slot for adding music and video files, the Krave is a capable media phone. The V Cast TV capabilities of the phone are cool, but there is a monthly cost for the service and only a limited amount of channels and a limited list of content on rotation on these custom channels is available. Likewise, the VZ Navigator GPS functionality is extremely helpful, but there is a monthly fee associated with the service and not subscribing to the service leaves you without GPS functionality on the phone — as well as with a particularly annoying commercial for the service that plays whenever you accidently hit its button from the touchscreen while the device is closed.

Where the ZN4 really falls short of competing with phones like the iPhone is in the web browsing experience. Despite the EV-DO connection on the phone, I found most websites loaded slowly and in mobile form, rather than in a more full browsing experience. The on-screen mouse on the device definitely takes some getting used to as well, as you have to hover over a link and then click in the middle of the circle to register a click. The IM features of the phone worked nicely as did the email functionality, but neither was lightning fast or particularly amazing in any way. Fortunately, the ZN4 supports tethering to a laptop via Bluetooth, so that the phone can serve as a high speed modem (check out our guide to using your phone as a Bluetooth modem for the full rundown).

Besides transferring files via a microSD card, most files can be sent back and forth between your computer and the phone via Bluetooth; but in our tests, connecting to a Mac was inconsistent with file transfers from the phone to the Mac sometimes failing entirely with no explanation of what went wrong. When we discussed this issue with a Motorola representative, he said that Mac support was not ideal on the phone.

What's missing?

The device lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. There's no true sync available with your computer although you can sync the address book via a Bluetooth connection. 

What we'd like to see in future models

The ability to customize the menu items and do away with the defaults that stream commercials to you if you're not a subscriber is a must as far as we're concerned, and admittedly, this is a Verizon limitation on the device, not a Motorola one. The ability to turn off the haptic response would also be a good feature, as the little vibrations probably take a bit of energy that could be saved and prolong battery life for power users. Multi-touch functionality would allow the browser to zoom in and out of web pages and eliminate the need for the clunky on screen mouse.

Obsessable Recommendation

If you're looking for a cool looking feature phone that is media savvy, and you like the look of the Krave ZN4, it may very well be the phone for you. If you're a power user, however, looking for always-on connectivity, a rich browsing experience on the go, or you're really looking for a good camera phone, you'll be disappointed with the ZN4 and should probably look elsewhere for a better fit.

Obsessable Rating: 6 out of 10