Motorola ROKR E8 Review

Written on 5/24/2008 05:21:00 PM by poison_ivy

The Motorola ROKR E8 has been one of the talked about mobile phones during the 2008 CES. During that time, Motorola already announced its plan to sell its ailing mobile phone division. The ROKR E8 looked like a promising device that may help Motorola nab its previously held number two position as a mobile phone manufacturer. Let’s take a look and see whether the Motorola ROKR E8 will save Motorola.

Design

One of the reasons why the Motorola ROKR E8 was much talked about during the CES 2008 was because of its design. The ROKR E8 is a slim, candy bar that has this innovative “mode-shift” technology. The mode-shift technology changes the Motorola ROKR E8’s keypad according to what function is being used (phone, music player, camera). I have to admit, that is a very cool feature. I was expecting some sort of hidden keypad or an actual keypad but it turns out that the whole device looks like a touch screen phone with only a few points to guide users towards the right keys. It is somewhat similar to the front music control keys of the RAZR2 series and the V6 Maxx. Like the RAZR2 series, the Motorola ROKR E8 offers haptic feedback. Though Motorola got it right in terms of design, the ROKR E8 will be a disappointment for avid texters as it takes a while getting used to the keys.

Features

The Motorola ROKR E8 is of course, a music phone, judging from the way that it is designed to look like an MP3 player and since of course, Motorola decided to add it to their ROKR line. For the audio quality, I have to say that this is one of the better music phones I’ve encountered. Even the speaker is good and when I used a MP3 file for my ringtone, I actually forgot that it was my phone ringing and thought that the sound came from a CD player. The ROKR E8 also has a built-in FM tuner and a 2GB internal memory. Another downside of this phone is that the microSD card is located in the battery compartment.

The camera is pretty decent though not as great as dedicated camera phones out in the market but it can do the job. Love that it can still work even in low light conditions compared with my previous HTC P3600i PDA phone.

The Motorola ROKR E8 is a love-it or hate-it kind of mobile phone. For those so used to text messaging, they would definitely hate the ROKR E8’s interface but music lovers and fashionistas will love the E8’s audio playback quality and design.

Posted in Motorola |