Motorola RIZR Z8

Remember the lofty visions of the future you once had when you were young? Fuelled by Dan Dare comics and terrible sci-Fi TV programmes, our generation was convinced that by the time the new millennium arrived we'd all be zooming around using jetpacks, consuming entire meals in pill form and taking regular holidays to Mars.

Needless to say we've been disappointed in many ways, but when a mobile phone like the Motorola 'RIZR' Z8 comes along, it reminds you of those whimsical ideas you once had. You see, it's possible to watch a film on the Z8. That's right, you read that correctly. An entire movie! Whatever will they think of next? X-ray spectacles?

Childhood wish fulfilment aside, the Z8 represents something of a departure for Motorola. Recently obsessed with creating ultra-thin handsets, the firm has bucked the trend slightly by granting the Z8 a reassuringly robust and chunky frame. It's a slider handset with a difference: instead of just moving upwards, the phone actually bends to form what Motorola is claiming to be a "more ergonomic" shape. The actual benefit gained from this contortion is negligible, but it looks pretty neat nonetheless.

What's slightly less appealing is the snot-green trim the Z8 sports.

Under the hood, the fracture from the norm continues. The Z8 showcases the particularly polished Symbian OS as opposed to the Linux operating system found in the company's previous smartphones. While it's somewhat hard to get excited about user interfaces these days, it's always nice to see one that is a pleasure (rather than a chore) to use. Motorola has something of a reputation for creating clunky and irksome menu systems, so this is like a breath of fresh air.

Considering the highly impressive smartphone credentials the Z8 possesses, it's strange that Motorola is pushing it as a multimedia handset rather than a business one. The aforementioned movie playback is demonstrated with aplomb by the bundled copy of the Matt Damon thriller The Bourne Identity, which is stuffed into a 512MB MicroSD card.

Playback is practically flawless, with smooth movement and a total lack of troublesome pixellation or artefacts. You also get to the option to fast forward and rewind the action with almost no delay. Although the notion of video playback on mobile devices could hardly be described as innovative, you can't help but gaze in open-mouthed astonishment as the Z8 effortlessly transforms from unassuming telephone to portable cinema. There's even the ability to connect to Sky's on-demand services – as if escaping from television wasn't hard enough already.

Of course, techno-sceptics will argue that very few people will want to stare at a tiny screen for the entire length of a feature film, and they'd be quite right. Prolonged viewing is likely to deliver a particularly nasty headache (with the added bonus of eyestrain) but it's difficult to deny that it's an impressive feature to have on a mobile phone. The future is now, as some might say.

Elsewhere, things are pleasingly comprehensive. Wireless headphones are included in the box to allow audio enjoyment unhindered by cables and as you might expect the Z8 comes with a feature-packed MP3 player which accepts MicroSD cards with a capacity of up to 4GB – not quite in the same league as the dedicated MP3 phones with their 8GB of flash storage, but more than enough to satisfy most mobile-owning music lovers.

Sadly, when it comes to other aspects of mobile entertainment, the Z8 suffers from the same fate that befell its stablemate, the RAZR2. While the phone is unquestionably powerful enough to comfortably create some stupendous 3D visuals (the bundled version of Urban Asphalt 2 is practically PSone standard), the control pad is simply not up to the task.

In fact, the fascia controls (as well as the heavily recessed keypad which is exposed when the phone is slid open) are hopelessly spongy and lacking in decent tactile feedback. Although we only had chance to test the bundled racing title, it's obvious that any piece of entertainment software released on the Z8 is going to be restricted by the same disappointingly indistinct controls.

The Z8, then, is a first-rate smartphone packed with useful features and some seriously imposing entertainment potential, but sadly there are a few little niggles that prevent it from being a classic handset; the bulky design certainly isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, for example. And as far as mobile gaming is concerned – after all, that's what we focus on here at Pocket Gamer – the Z8 is technically adept but rendered impotent by the hopelessly imprecise D-pad.