Motorola, the world's second-biggest mobile phone maker, on Monday introduced a new phone design, which slides open and bends to bring the microphone closer to the user's mouth. The Rizr Z8, unveiled at the 3GSM wireless trade show in Barcelona, Spain, uses software from Symbian, which specializes in advanced cell phones and is more often found in phones from Nokia, Motorola's bigger rival.

The new high-speed wireless Rizr Z8 slides open to reveal a keyboard and, unlike traditional sliders, it has an automatic hinge that tilts the keyboard and locks the phone into a V-shape to make it easier to talk into.

The Rizr Z8 will also support television-quality video playback and has a slot for a memory card with up to 4GB of storage space, Motorola said.

SUMMARY OF FEATURES

* Unique ergonomic slider design
* Up to approximately five hours 3G talk time, up to approximately 16 days standby time3
* 3.6Mbps HSDPA providing mobile broadband1
* 2 megapixel camera with 8x zoom and lumi LED light, video record and playback capabilities
* Approximately 90 MB free internal user memory, optional expandable to 4GB with microSD
* Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS 1.21
* Integrated media player
* Redesigned user interface with one-click access to phone functions
* A2DP AVRCP Bluetooth stereo profiles1