Hands-on with Moto's stylish, hefty Z9 slider

Essentially a slider version of Motorola's RAZR2, the sleek Z9 is a looker, and it comes loaded with 3.5G and GPS goodness. I got my hands on a review unit last night, and while I like the phone's style, the Z9 isn't exactly what I'd call svelte, and its plain-Jane interface looks seriously outdated. 

Announced today here at CTIA and available now on AT&T, the Z9 goes for the stylish-yet-understated look, complete with a jumbo 2.5-inch LCD, totally flat keypads (save for little rivets that help guide your fingertips), and a four-way navigational pad that lights up with music controls when you're playing tunes.

The HSDPA-capable Z9 comes with turn-by-turn directions courtesy of AT&T Navigator (the new name for AT&T's navigation service, which is still powered by TeleNav), AT&T Video Share (which makes this the first Motorola phone to support AT&T's one-way video conferencing service), and Crystal Talk (Moto's new call quality-enhancement feature, which I'm hoping to test on the Strip).

Also on board: a Windows Media Player 11-compatible music player, access to streaming videos (not MediaFlo, mind you) and full-track music downloads, a two-megapixel camera, and microSD memory expansion (up to 8GB).

All in all, the Z9 packs in a solid lineup of features, but I was surprised by the phone's overall size and heft; at 5.7 by 2 by 0.55 inches and weighing in at almost five ounces. the Z9 makes for a pretty bulky package.

I'm also puzzled why Moto goes to such obvious pains to craft stylish-looking handsets while neglecting the interface; as with the RAZR2, the Z9's menu icons look like something you'd see on a phone circa 2004.

And finally, there's the hefty $200 price tag (with a two year contract)—ouch.