ZN5 Mobile Phone I

The Motorola Motozine ZN5 is part cell phone, part digital camera. It's the brainchild of a partnership between Motorola and Kodak, boasting a 5-megapixel camera with a bevy of impressive settings and features. And at $99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) it comes at an unbeatable price--it's much less expensive than the Nokia N95 (approximately $500, unlocked), which also has a 5-megapixel camera. But Motorola put so much effort into the camera component that it compromised on other aspects of the phone, such as design and 3G support. Face up, the Motozine ZN5 is a typical candy-bar-shaped phone. It has a bright, 2.4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel screen, and beneath that lies a flat keypad (with small, tactile bumps on the number keys). The handset also has dedicated keys for different camera functions, such as photo reviewing and sharing. ad_icon Flip the ZN5 over, and it looks like a stand-alone point-and-shoot camera, complete with a Xenon flash and lens cover. Unfortunately the lens cover is flimsy and easily pops up in a bag or pocket. Either way you turn it, the ZN5 still resembles a slab of concrete. In spite of that, however, it feels good in the hand, both as a camera and as a phone. Weighing about 4 ounces, the ZN5 is sturdy without being too bulky, and it's constructed with a combination of hard and soft plastic that makes it comfortable to hold for long periods of time. And you'll want to hang on to this phone for every photo opportunity, because the camera, the ZN5's headline feature, is superb. It starts automatically when you slide open the lens cover or when you press the dedicated camera key on the phone's side. The 5-megapixel camera has autozoom, a low-light setting, three focus settings (auto, landscape, and macro), five white-balance settings, panoramic and multishot modes, an autotimer, and six shutter sounds. The camera has some limitations; for one, you can't manually adjust the shutter speed or set the aperture. The click-to-capture speed is about 0.02 seconds, though, which is faster than most mobile phones and even some stand-alone cameras. The camera automatically adjusts aperture and shutter speed depending on the environmental lighting. After you're done snapping pictures, you can edit your photos on the camera. Among other things, you can resize, rotate, or crop; adjust brightness, contrast, or sharpness; and add image borders and graphics. Kodak's Perfect Touch feature--a one-touch photo enhancer that lightens dark areas and deepens colors--is another useful included editing tool. Unfortunately, you can't edit your recorded videos; you can only trim their length for video messages.