Motorola KRZR K1 launched

Motorola’s MotoKRZR (”crazer”) K1 is the company’s first major overhaul of the RAZR family of clamshell handsets. Formerly known by the code name Canary, the K1 has a narrower body than the RAZR family handsets, to better fit in smaller hands, and is a wee bit thicker than the original. That’s right, I said “thicker”, not thinner. While Motorola can be credited with starting the entire “thin is in” trend in the industry, it seems quite content in moving the other direction when it creates a better overall experience for the user. The narrower and thicker body of the K1 does just that.

The MotoKRZR K1 feels very solid in the hand; much more so than the RAZR handsets do. The front of the device has a high gloss glass face that looks very good, but is a bit of a finger print magnet. The back of the K1 is covered in Motorola’s lovely soft touch paint that gives the K1 a somewhat rubber coated feel to it. On the inside, the keypad has a simplified, and improved, layout and is covered in a color coordinated blue coating. Key feel has been improved a bit over that of the current family of RAZR handsets as well.

In terms of displays, Motorola has chosen to stick with the current RAZR family’s 176×220 resolution standard. The display is clear and bright, just as it has been in older models. Like the MotoRIZR Z3, the K1 gets a new 2 megapixel camera that takes nice quality photos. Also like the MotoRIZR Z3, the MotoKRZR K1 gets Bluetooth 2.0 support with A2DP stereo profile support, so that music loaded onto its microSD memory card can be accessed with wireless stereo headphones.

Other highlights include Motorola's MotoSYNC support for contact and calendar synchronization with Microsoft Exchange servers, as well as Motorola's Screen 3 standby screen. Screen 3 allows for information such as news or sports scores to be automatically downloaded and displayed on the standby screen of the phone. The MOTOKRZR K1 also supports speaker independent voice command and dialing, and the enhanced contacts system allows for more information to be stored (birthday, street address, URL, IM).

Motorola expects that the K1 will be available in this half of the year. One source was quoted as suggesting "late Q3 or early Q4" as being likely. Pricing should be comparable to what the RAZR sold for when first launched.