Motorola KRZR K1

Discontinued
25th June 2006

We previewed the Motorola K1 a few days ago, but now Motorola have officially announced this new addition to the RAZR line-up. Called variously the Motorola K1, Motorola KRZR, Motorola MOTOKRZR or pretty much any combination of those words, this handset is aimed at the midrange market and is pretty much a straight upgrade to the V3i in specification terms.

The first thing you'll notice about the KRZR K1 is that it's a lot narrower than the original RAZR at 42mm across rather than 53mm for the V3i. It's also taller at a whopping 103mm compared with 98mm for the V3i, and thicker too at 16mm compared with the V3i's 13.9mm. It's also 2 grams heavier than the V3i at 102 grams.

The outside is made coated with a toughened glass compound, which gives the KRZR K1 an unusually elegant look. Overall, we think the Motorola K1 is a clever combination of familiar RAZR features with some interesting new details.

It's a tall phone - a really tall phone - some 2cm taller than a typical clamshell phone. In fact, when closed the Motorola KRZR K1 is about the same size as the current crop of Nokia candy bar phones. Open the KRZR K1 up and it's a very tall device indeed. This isn't a bad thing, it's just a little unexpected. And of course it does mean that the microphone will be somewhere roughly in the vicinity of your mouth when you're talking.

Enough about looks, the Motorola KRZR K1 is also a modest step up in terms of specification over the V3i, with a 2 megapixel camera and stereo Bluetooth, and the KRZR K1 still comes with a 176x220 pixel display and microSD expandable memory. The KRZR supports EDGE high speed data too, plus all the usual things you'd expect to find such as an MP3 player, email client and web browser. It's a huge improvement over the original RAZR V3 in almost every respect.

Fundamentally though, all Motorola have done is move the internal components around, put in some upgrades and given the design a makeover. In purely technical terms the Motorola K1 is nothing special, and the 176x220 pixel display is beginning to look a little past its prime as many competing handsets have moved to 240x320 pixels.

Still, the MOTOKRZR is an appealing combination of features and design, and it shows that Motorola can do this particular type of thing very well indeed. The KRZR K1 should be available sometime in the second half of 2006.. and you can expect it to be a huge success when it hits the market.

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