Sure, the
ROKR E1 musicphone never quite lived up to
the hype. Not by a long shot. Still, don't count Moto out of the musicphone game just yet.
Mobile Burn got their hands on the followup
ROKR E2 and come away "really happy" from the review. For starters, this "solidly built" tri-band GSM / EDGE candybar features Motorola's new JUIX (a Java / Linux mashup) user interface which
Mobile Burn swoons over due its new tabbed menus and overall speed. In particular, the address book has been improved "by leaps and bounds" over
other Motorola phones. Even better, the much maligned
100-song cap in iTunes is gone, as is the iTunes software. Instead, a new "integrated player" (hint: it supports
RealAudio) is used to playback music loaded onto your favorite SD card -- up to 2GBs now supported. Music sounded "excellent" with adequate bass and the dedicated music controls along the side of the phone worked well. And like all good musicphones, it features a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack for use with any off-the-shelf cans, an off-line mode for listening to music on an airplane, and the ability to play music in the background while using other phone functions. The keys were a "joy to use" with good tactile feedback and the 2-inch TFT screen was found to be "really sharp and bright." With such a positive review, all we can say is this: welcome back to the game Moto.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
-_- @ Jan 2nd 2007 11:40AM
too late.
already got a sync.
No ROKR2 @ Jan 2nd 2007 2:49PM
Trust me, this phone is as much of a flop as the first one and it has nothing to do with the 100 song limit or the iTunes softare and has everything to do with the design. Moto has worked hard to create a design standard for themselves that puts this design into the "bastard child" category. Besides, why ROKR2 when you can RIZR for about the same price?
Brian Sugarman @ Jan 2nd 2007 4:53PM
Why are we talking about a phone that has been out for so long? I want a review of the Rokr E6, not the E2.
mheeklo @ Jan 2nd 2007 5:09PM
This phone reminds me so much of Sendo X2 that I don't think ever went out in the market. I think they got acquired by a bigger phone company. What was the name of that company? Oh yeah...Motorola!
Otsego @ Jan 2nd 2007 6:59PM
thank god for the UI overhaul.. Moto's UI found on the RAZR all the way back to the t-720 sucked the ubiquitous "big one". I might be inclined to grab one of the new motos now... unless of course we get a serious offering from Apple.
jason @ Jan 3rd 2007 1:32AM
amazing how many phones motorola releases that are outdated on the onset. Thank god for advertising and being cute in order to sucker so many millions of buyers.
asdf @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:47AM
Out of everybody bashing this phone, I'd like to know who has used it?
I have and it is very nice. Also, every review out there has just loved the software. The Russians over at mobile review had it beating out all the following other "music phones":
* Nokia 3250
* Samsung X700
* Siemens S75
* Sony Ericsson W800i
* Sony Ericsson W810i
* Sony Ericsson W900i
Once the APIs are opened up to third party development, it will be very strong competition for symbian and ms. You can tell from motorola's open source site, opensource.motorola.com, that they are heading in this direction.
Although not carried by US carriers, you can get this phone for $300, which is pretty cheap for an unsubsidized handset.
Also, I'd be on the look out for some major phones in 07 from Moto with some very slick hardware and running an update of this software.
pc @ Jan 14th 2007 11:09PM
I just got one and I am a happy user.
Even the popularity in my country (malaysia) is not that hot for this phone because ppl are going for Nokia and Sony Ericsson most of the time.
But I am happy with E2's features with the affordable price.
However, there is one complain about E2, I miss moto E398's speaker quality!! :p
darryl @ Nov 15th 2007 9:17AM
CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THE ROKR E2 SUPPORTS ANIMATED WALLPAPERS?