Rokr iPhone gets so-so marks
p2p news / p2pnet:- Apple`s – or, rather, Motorola`s – latest wunderkind somewhat underwhelmed Chicago Tribune technology editor Eric Benderoff
He predicts the Rokr E1 iPod, due on the shelves today at $250 with a mandatory with a two-year service contract, will be winner because it`s easy. And he says, With the headphones on – included with the phone from Cingular – the sound quality is on par with an iPod although, Without the headphones, the music sounds like it comes from a mobile phone.
But Benderoff lists a number of drawbacks:
- It has iPod `technology` built in, but it`s not as intuitive or as simple to set up, based on a brief test Wednesday
- It only holds about 100 songs (although it does include a camera)
- It didn`t set up immediately on two different laptops, one a Mac and the other a Dell running Windows XP. A call to a technician finally solved the issue, but the delays for this reviewer – fluent in all things iPod – were frustrating
- And, transferring songs from a computer to an iPod is a simple drag-and-drop operation handled in seconds (unless you have set to automatically update, which is also fast). But a drag-and-drop transfer from the Dell to the Rokr was excruciatingly slow, taking minutes for just two songs”
Benderoff points out that he did the demo with a Cingular exec and didn`t know if the difficulties were down to the the exec’s laptop (this reviewer’s iBook never did recognize the phone)
Thereafter, however, he gives the phone good marks.
- When a call comes in, the music stops and to allow the phone’s usual ring
- The menu is much like the iPod’s software
- Movement among options is via the phone’s joystick
- iTunes access is through a separate function button
He doesn`t say what the power-draw is while you`re listening to music.
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See:-
Chicago Tribune – Rokr a hit, with reservations, September 8, 2005
September 9th, 2005 at 4:59 am
It’s not an iPod Phone or “iPhone”. It’s not even an Apple phone. It’s a phone with iTunes load on to it. This is an example of iTunes licensing by Apple, not a Apple branded phone.
Apple +2 points for licensing it’s technology.
Moto +1 points for liccensing Apple’s technology.
Moto -1 points for an “iPod Killer” design on par with attempts by Sony or Creative.
Cingular 0 points for being a leach.
This is not an “iPhone” but either way it’s a win for Apple as it enters the wireless space with the best music software on a iTunesPhone.
The iPhone is yet to come.