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My standard photo of the coloured dish shot indoors under normal household lighting looks somewhat insipid. You can improve on it if you abandon the auto settings, but who wants to bother with that too often?

The outdoor shots of flowers are OK for detail but colour reproduction is poor. The red flowers are far more crimson than the image suggests, and the other flowers are a bright pink not the dull purplish colour in the image.

I’ve already mentioned the calendar and other synchronising applications. There is also a version of the Opera web browser and a good messaging client with SMS, MMS and email support as well as voice recorder, alarms and notes jotter.
The Z8 should technically be classed as a smartphone because it runs UIQ, though not in the same vein as Sony Ercisson’s incarnation. There is no a touch sensitive screen, so all interaction has to be via the softmenu buttons.

UIQ is a powerful OS but I have never found a handset on which it is really well implemented. Sadly the Z8 has not changed that. UIQ is too complex for a phone that lacks a touchscreen. Also, with no QWERTY input, using it for serious text creation is a no-go zone.

There is 80MB of built in memory and you can also use a microSD card for file storage. You can make a direct link to the phone, and you get a cable (mini USB). Provided synchronisation software can be used if you want to sync Outlook contacts, calendar, tasks and email, or you can use the Z8 in Mass Storage mode for file transfer.

Verdict

The curved format when the handset is opened might appeal to some, as might the colour scheme. I’d expect the bundled Bluetooth headset to appeal to even more. The Z8 (or more specifically future incarnations of it) could just be Motorola’s best shot at toppling Sony Ericsson its position at the top of the music capable mobile phone tree.

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