Save from an occasional drop, we try our damndest to keep our precious phones out of harm's way, which is why torture tests like Smape's of the ZN5 are so painful to watch. This particular "survival guide" (their term, not ours) is pretty extreme, too, starting with a cushy stay in the freezer but progressing to a brutal tumble in a 500 RPM dryer, a thorough sandblasting, a sound crushing courtesy of a luxury SUV, and the obligatory dip in a hearty, delicious ale. The whole thing reads like a what's-what of things not to do with your phone, but hey, better their ZN5 than yours -- and we're sure it was a blast to actually perform some of these "tests."

[Thanks, Max]

If you recall, Motorola's 5-megapixel ZN5 was slated for release last month, and sure enough, some units are starting to slip out -- enough units, in fact, that we now have ourselves a video unboxing out there somewhere. The packaging seems... dare we say, awfully ordinary for a phone that rests at the top of Moto's featurephone pyramid, especially considering Kodak's much-ballyhooed involvement, TV-out, WiFi, and a ModeShift morphing keypad. S'pose it's just the contents we really care about anyway, though, right? Follow the break for the full video.

[Thanks, CrossBow]

The best cameraphone ever made? That's Motorola's boastful claim about the new ZN5, but Crave UK's quick initial impression of it suggests that it might not be a baseless, ridiculous claim after all -- not totally, anyway. The cam apparently fires up lickety-split after popping the lens cover into its open position, and the xenon flash seems to outperform anything with an LED (no surprise there). The lack of 3G is a bummer, but at least you've got WiFi there to upload your crisp, clean photographic work. Crave also sends a shout out to Moto for including a 3.5mm headphone jack, and also for delivering a design that clearly contains absolutely no roots in the RAZR. We'll second that motion -- and if Moto can either deliver this mega-cheaply when it launches in September or pop out a second version with 3G at a slightly loftier price point, we're thinking this could end up being one of the most highly-praised products to come out of Schaumburg in a long, long time.

[Thanks, T.I.]

In the most thorough examination you can expect this side of mobile-review, SMAPE just put text to phosphor and slapped out a nearly 9,000 word review of Motorola's new 5 megapixel MOTOZINE ZN5 with Xenon flash. They've also pitted it head-to-head with Nokia's own 5 megapixel N82 for a good ol' fashioned photo shootout. While the ZN5 is a smidge thinner, features a dedicated image processing unit for quickness, and optionally stores images in lossless TIFF format for a lower price than the N82, there's one small catch: the N82 (and K850 for that matter) has already been on sale for more than half a year. Nevertheless, as the first model of the new MOTOZINE series, the ZN5 hints at the possibility of a promising future. Assuming of course Moto's phone division lives to see the day.

Update: Speaking of mobile-review, they just posted their detailed review. The following quote pretty much sums it up, "It's no RAZR of our time. It's just a decent, well-rounded phone."

Read -- SMAPE review
Read -- Mobile-Review review

Hints of Motorola's new MOTOZINE series of devices have gone back as far as last year, but today marks the first time that Moto's officially spilled any beans on the goods. The headlining feature on the first model, the ZN5 candybar, lies on the backside: a 5-megapixel sensor courtesy of a partnership with Kodak, featuring autofocus, a xenon flash, image stitching, and on-device integration with Kodak Gallery. Otherwise, you get WiFi (score), Motorola's so-called "ModeShift" technology for morphing the keypad depending on device mode (a la the E8), and a run-of-the-mill quadband GSM radio with EDGE. China's the first country to get the hookup starting next month, but Moto expects to take the ZN5 on a world tour over the course of the remainder of the year.

So wait a second, let us make sure we have this right: buzz has been building for many months around this supposed Motorola superphone -- the ZN5, ZINE, or whatever it's called -- with the hope that it could be just the phone to bring Moto back from the brink. The darned thing's clearly been in the labs for ages, so they've got to be doing something amazing back in there, right? Eh, not so much. First of all, it tops out with EDGE data as expected, which is utterly inexcusable for a device in this class. Granted, it's got WiFi, but we would've expected these guys to spend the few extra bucks, upgrade the chipset, and get MOTOMAGX freaking working with HSDPA. But wait, we haven't even gotten to the best part: that 5 megapixel camera back there? Yeah, no autofocus. Amazing. Hop on over to Boy Genius Report for some more pictures of a phone we'll never be owning.

Update: Whoa, yeah, the ZN5 is supposed to be a candybar. Is this the slider equivalent?

Sure, you've already treated your eyes to a few less-than-stellar images of the ZN5, but this candybar just got a whole lot clearer. A handful of new images have surfaced over at KeySJ, and they take you all the way around the handset itself and even give you a look at the interface. We know, we've probably already lost you to the read link below, but if you're somehow still here, then here's your unnecessary permission to head on down and indulge. Thanks for caring.

[Via JumpAMP]

So this is where the Kodak teaser shot is leading, eh? A clear full-body shot of Motorola's upcoming ZN5 candybar has finally hit the web, appearing to borrow a number of fresh design elements from recently-spied models (take the keypad font, for example, which we've seen on Verizon's unannounced Moto clamshells, and morph tech from the E8). Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how great that 5 megapixel Kodak sensor really is -- the lack of 3G is pretty unforgivable in the year 2008, even if Motorola intends to restrict this model to Asia, which in itself doesn't make terribly much sense for a company that should be concentrating on a global turnaround.

[Via Unwired View]