While Motorola has recently tried to revive past glories with its RAZR2, its latest MOTO U9 clamshell instead harks back to the less market-shaking but still much-admired design of its PEBL.

That pebble-like smoothness is much in evidence in the rounded curves of the U9, though two years on, it has had a significant makeover, along with a timely update under the bonnet too.  

The MOTO U9 is positioned as a mass market mobile, aimed at style-aware younger mobile buyers with an eye-catching, glossy metallic-mirrored outer shell. Here, Motorola has built in a ‘hidden’ external display; you can’t normally see it until it’s activated, when it seems to appear out of nowhere, glowing through the shell. All very reminiscent of Sony Ericsson’s 2006-released Z610i, in fact.

When in music player mode, touch sensitive control keys also appear on the bottom of the external display, allowing users to change tracks, pause or play without flipping open the shell.

As well as its multi-format music player, the U9 has a standard 2-megapixel camera built in, which can handle basic video capture too. 3G connectivity is absent, however, on this phone, which is a quad-band GSM GPRS/EDGE device.

Priced around the £100 mark on pre-pay, Motorola isn’t pitching the U9 as a high-end fashionista favourite, and this is reflected in a mostly average set of features for a phone at this mark. On the roster, you do get stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity, plus voice control functionality, and a few interesting Java applications.

Handling

Appearances count for plenty in the mobile business, particularly where the U9 is pitched. Available in glossy black, purple and pink, it is an eye-catching small phone, and the curvaceous design will certainly grab some buyer attention.

The soft rubber-textured feel of the original PEBL has been partially retained, on the back panel of the phone, although the flip casing is now shiny plastic. This gives it a lightweight feel – the phone weighs 87.5g – and, inevitably, less of a quality feel. The quirky pull-to-open hinge mechanism and magnetic clip of the PEBL are no more either; this is a straightforward flip phone design with nothing too fancy inside.

The numberpad inside the flip is also a no-nonsense design that reflects the RAZR legacy. The flat one-piece flat plastic keypad has a grid layout, with individual keys divided by slightly raised bumps. There’s a circular 5-way D-pad, flanked by navigation controls, including a pair of softkeys and a dedicated music player button. The D-pad can be programmed for function shortcuts, too.

The screen inside is a reasonably-sized 2-inch QVGA (240x320 pixels) 262k-colour TFT, which is bright and clear enough.

Motorola has introduced a refreshed user interface for the U9, although nothing stunningly radical; Motorola has adopted some menu conventions widely used by other mobile makers rather than re-inventing the wheel. The menu system – an icon-based main menu grid, that can also be switched to a numbered list or carousel large icon style, plus sub menus using numbered lists as required - make the U9’s features very easy to get to grips with.

What will grab most attention is on the outside though. The external screen, veiled by the semi-transparent casing, is a 1.45-inch, 128x160 pixel 65K-colour OLED. This screen isn’t the biggest, most detailed array around, but the way it fades through the mirrored-look shell gives it some talking-point appeal. It’s not particularly bright or clear, though.