The RIZR Z3 is the latest addition to Motorola’s popular four-letter (4LTR) series of mobile phones. The RIZR joins the RAZR, SLVR, and KRZR with the same familiar styling and a new slider design. The face of the RIZR "rises" up to expose a keypad beneath, hence the name.

Slider phones have been popular for a few months now, and the RIZR marks Motorola's first attempt at the slider design trend. One the whole, it's a solid achievement on Moto's part, and the RIZR manages to be not only lovely but also user-friendly as well. We particularly like the blue color scheme and the solid slider mechanism. We could open and close the phone easily with one hand, but the spring-assisted movement was stiff enough for us to exert some effort. Also, there's a small thumb grip just below the display that makes opening and closing the phone a breeze.

The RIZR is slightly taller and wider (105.5 x 45.5 x 16mm) than the KRZR (103 x 42 x 16mm) but it also manages to be the tiniest bit thinner. And while the slider design adds more weight (115g as opposed to the KRZR's 103g) the extra heft gives the RIZR a more solid feel in the hand. Just be aware that like all slider phones, the RIZR won't cradle the curve of your head like the flip phone KRZR.

The display is a good quality TFT screen with 262,000 colours and a good resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. Again, this is trailing behind the best screens from Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia, but is good enough

Standing out as main feature of the cell phone is the small 2 MegaPixel camera /Flash / Zoom / Video Recorder. The camera works in landscape orientation, just like any other regular digital camera, making it really easy to use. A dedicated shutter button for the camera is placed on the sides of the phone. Comparing to past MegaPixel cameras that Motorola has had on other cell phones, this camera has a much better image quality. With the camera you can take pictures in night mode, hence the bright LED flash that comes with it. The camera can also be used for video capture and playback

The Motorola Rizr has a rated battery life of 6.6 hours talk time and 14.6 days standby time. In our tests, we got a very respectable 6.5 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Rizr has a digital SAR rating of 1.02 watts per kilogram.

Motorola RIZR Z3 has a relatively loud loudspeaker. It can be heard in noisy environment. This is great but the quality of the sound is not so good and that's why we don't recommend it as a music phone. You can plug in your favorite headphones if you find a audio jack-to-USB connector. The software music player in the phone is quite nice, actually. It supports shuffle, replay, playlists and a long list of music formats.

When minimized, the music player can be controlled by the ways of the four-way button. Regrettably, there is no option of running more applications simultaneously. For example, you cannot run a game and play a tune in the same time. Also, you cannot do anything and start the camera application as the latter will shut automatically down any other running application.

Similar to GSM KRZR, it is quad-band, making it a good asset for people who travel abroad, as they might roam seamlessly across countries and continents. The supported band types are GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz equivalent to the networks it can function in.