Motorola ROKR E8 Reviews

Motorola hasn’t had the easiest ride of late, but they are hoping to turn things around with their latest range appealing to the mass market rather than tech heads. Motorola hopes to emulate past success in the crossover market with the Motorola ROKR E8, a slightly schizophrenic number which is equally phone, media player and camera.

The E8, a quad-band candy bar handset to be released on July 1st, uses a unique method of no dedicated keys, simply a glossy surface underneath the screen with a set of raised dots. On this canvas, different sets of touch sensitive keys are activated and illuminated according to the active mode. The raised dots are the source of force feedback, a very strange feeling that causes an uncanny sensation of pressing real keys. It is even accompanied by a realistic plastic ‘squeak’ that, while effective, gives the phone a slightly cheap sound. Only when the phone is off does one realise that all of this sensation is created artificially, as the panels have no give at all.

Despite being an impressive fingerprint magnet, the E8 manages to make a nice first impression, a black monolith that bursts into life when touched. It is a distinctive thin handset. Measuring only 115 x 53 x 10.6mm, it is a little bit smaller but has a similar footprint to an iPhone. The screen is 2 inches, a little small in its letterbox format, but is still more than capable, producing a crisp image. In a single press of the ‘music’ button, the traditional keypad fades and is replaced by traditional ‘play’, ‘skip back’, and ‘skip forward’ buttons, as well as a repeat and shuffle feature.

The options in the music library are very familiar to any user of a popular digital music player, with songs searchable by the usual criteria of artist, album, genre etc.

The navigation through the phone is complimented by a FastScroll mode, a device similar to the iPod’s clickwheel for rotating through options and swiftly finding the right song. As well as it works in music mode and going through contacts, the only shortcoming is that the system is too odd in other menus, and its position on the outside edge of the E8’s d-pad makes for many incorrect button presses. The 2GB of internal memory is a welcome surprise, offering plenty of room for tunes on the go. It is complimented by a microSD slot, great for adding even more space.

Despite being Windows-biased with regards to adding music, it is a fairly painless affair as the supplied USB cable allows for easy drag-and-drop file transfer through Windows Media Player 11. The album art is all present and correct when transferred, and looks really good on the widescreen. Sound quality is really something to write home about, easily rivalling the iPhone's output. The bassiest tracks blast well on the (slightly flimsy) headphones included, and subtle notes carry just as effectively.

Special mention should go to the 3.5mm headphone slot. Complete with a plastic cover, this port is placed directly on the top of the phone for easy access, giving the impression that Motorola consciously made this phone with music functionality and ease of use at the forefront. Bluetooth for stereo headphones is also supported, so the connectivity angle for the ROKR is well covered.

There does seem to be a slight lack of customisability, with only a single theme included but a significant number of wallpapers and ringtones. Hopefully, as the phone picks up momentum, there will be more user-generated content to fill that gap in the themes.

The photo function allows the blank slate keypad to adapt again, offering another set of four unique keys for zooming in and out, switching between photo/video and saving images. Despite being only a 2-megapixel camera, the image capture is fairly impressive, with an 8x digital zoom. The photo feature loads the instant the button on the side is depressed, and the screen provides a very clear viewfinder. No flash though, which is a real shame.

The browser highlights the basic nature of this handset, which really suffers at not having 3G functionality. Even the most simple landing pages take what feels like an age to load, and unfortunately the Fastscroll is not active for browsing, a strange choice given how natural it would feel to move down a webpage using this feature. It is an issue as the narrow screen means plenty of d-pad pressing to navigate, which leads to much accidental clicking on the sensitive ‘OK’ button.

The ROKR E8 works well as a telephone, proving effective at making and receiving calls whilst in any mode. It is noticeably easier to hear callers than with some higher spec smartphones, and the CrystalTalk system of adjusting volume according to ambient noise is very effective. People often did not believe I was outside during some voice calls due to the quality and clarity.

The ModeShift keypad is definitely an impressive feature and an exciting glimpse of a world other than touchscreens. A little unresponsive on occasion, it is a small price to pay given the versatility and ease that it provides. A handset that manages to feel like three dedicated phones in one package, the ROKR E8 is an excellent handset, only let down by lightweight specs. With 3G data transfer and a larger screen, this would have been a strong competitor for some of the big guns, but in it’s current form the E8 provides a great MP3 player and a fully-featured phone, without making compromises in either. Proof positive that Motorola innovates as opposed to being an also-ran, if ever it was needed.