Motorola E8 ROKR

Editor's Review of the E8 ROKR

On first impressions, it's obvious that the Motorola ROKR E8 is a music focussed handset, thanks to its dedicated music keys and resemblance to that of an MP3 player. When coupled with its impressive features, it's a handset ready to take on Sony Ericsson's Walkman range.

The Motorola E8, available in Dark Navy and Platinum, boasts a candybar design, and is relatively slim at just 115 x 53 x 10.6mm. With a weight of 100g, its lightweight enough to slip straight into your pocket, too. Within its glossy chassis is a compact TFT display measuring in at just 50.8mm, and although compact, it still manages to boast a display of 256,000 colours.

Underneath the display, The ROKR E8 houses touch-sensive keys, alonside an Omega wheel, which acts in a similar way to the scroll wheel found on the iPod Touch. It's one of the most interesting designs we've seen on a handset recently, as the keypad can morph from an alphanumeric keypad into dedicated music keys and camera controls. The handset also supports haptic feedback, so you will feel a small vibrantion when touching the virual keys. This quirky design is one that is sure to be appreciated by fashionistas, although may not be the most convenient layout for business users.

As you would expect, the Motorola E8 ROKR offers music features in abundance, including an integrated music player and FM radio support. With dedicated music keys the MP3 player is extremely easy to use, and with a 3.5mm, you can boost the sound quality with some high-end headphones. However, the onboard speakers have been praised for their excellent sound quality, so this won't always be necessary. The Motorola E8 ROKR also allows users to store files and data with a capacity of up to 2GB, but thanks to its microSD slot, this can be expanded up to 6GB, which with spaces for up to 1500 songs, should be plenty of storage for any music lover. However, the microSD slot cannot be accessed without removing the battery beforehand, which can prove to be a little bit irritating.

The Motorola E8 ROKR is comes equipped with a 2 megapixel camera, which may not be the most impressive on the market, but is good enough for taking snaps while on the move. With a lack of flash, the poor quality can be noticed in recorded footage however.

Another poor feature of this handset is its Internet functionality, as it lacks both 3G and WiFi connectivity. However, with the efficient Opera Mini web browser onboard, it the most of the slow GPRS and EDGE speeds, aswell as the tiny display.

Moreover, while the Motorola E8 ROKR may be first-rate in terms of modern design and music features, the mobile phone may disappoint users who prefer to compose text messages rather than make calls, because becoming familiar to the buttons or keys might take a while.