Motorola MOTO U9 mobile phone

The updated features list meets respectable requirements at this level. It now includes a 2-megapixel camera, multi-format music player, stereo Bluetooth and video capture, plus a selection of Java applications, though there’s no high-speed 3G – it relies on quad-band GPRS and EDGE for data connectivity.

Handling In the hand, the U9 does feel reasonably light – it weighs 87.5g – and, naturally, smooth. It’s pocketable too, measuring 90 x 48.6 x 16.4mm folded. Flip open the phone and the main screen is a reasonable 2.0in QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) 262K-colour array, surrounded by black plastic.

When activated the U9 glows in a pleasingly ethereal way

The numberpad and controls are flush on a single piece of plastic, demarcated by ridges, and are reasonably responsive. Post-RAZR and its numerous imitators, it’s all quite familiar and unexciting. Above the large, well-marked number keys is a round D-pad for main navigation control, flanked by Call and End buttons, a Clear/back key and a dedicated button for switching on the music player.

Motorola has adopted a new user interface for the U9, and the good news is that it's very much like standard user interfaces from other mobile makers – simple and intuitive. It’s based around a standard main menu grid of icons, with a click taking you into further sub-menus – either scroll down lists to choose an option, or press a keypad number corresponding to the option.

Easy, basic stuff, presented in a functional way. You can adapt and customise shortcuts in regular mobile ways too; you can switch the grid to a large icon carousel, or numbered list, and change shortcuts initiated by the D-pad (which can be displayed on the standby screen, if you like).