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Motorola ROKR iTunes Phone Review
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I loved my Nokia 3650 and it is an older phone, I got the Motorola V710 which is a pretty new phone and it has "bluetooth" that can only be used with a friggen headset....wtf? And in low lighting the 1.2MP camera sucks. The interface is not so elegant either...my 3650 had bluetooth,IR,mp3 player,video camera, and a camera.
edit: I can't wait to get 500 posts to be able to put my profile picture as my avitar.
edit: I can't wait to get 500 posts to be able to put my profile picture as my avitar.
My main problem with them is they're so damned ugly..
I have a theory that Apple worked with Motorola to learn secrets about making mobiles.. Apple will now use their new found skills to make their own phone.. Which hopefully won't look like junk...
Pretty stupid theory.. But hey.. I can dream..
I have a theory that Apple worked with Motorola to learn secrets about making mobiles.. Apple will now use their new found skills to make their own phone.. Which hopefully won't look like junk...
Pretty stupid theory.. But hey.. I can dream..
iQuit said:
Well, it is a cell phone after all, not a digital camera, I don't think anyone can expect too much from cell phones in this respect...
iQuit said:
You have a little ways to go yet! (Oh, and it's "avatar")
camomac said:i really don't understand why people are so frustrated with this phone, like many have said this is just REV.1.
it will get better, and atleast the technology has been introduced!
heck, i didn't even but an iPod until they were on the 4th gen, and had color!
relax, and enjoy knowing that this is just the beginning...
At least the 1st gen iPods were elegant, functional, and pleasing devices.
As for it being "just REV. 1," it shouldn't matter what version it is. For $249, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to be pleased with a product.
~Shard~ said:Well, it is a cell phone after all, not a digital camera, I don't think anyone can expect too much from cell phones in this respect...
yes it´s only a cell phone after all, but it looks like it hit the market two years too late... motorola has fallen behind it´s competitors. their phones, and especially the rokr-phone is not up-to-date, concerning the features and technical specifications.
vga-cam (rokr) compared to 2mpixel-cams in the competitors-phones.
100 songs (rokr) compared to 1.000 songs.
usb 1.1 transfer-speed (rokr) compared to usb 2.0 speed.
...
Well, I'm one of the few (at least among people talking on the web) that really likes the phone. Here's my list of anti-complaints:
1. Materials - It feels a lot better than I thought it would. The white areas are glossy and smooth, but not iPod smooth, so you don't see fingerprints and every little scratch. The phone itself "rings" a little when you hit it, kinda like a tuning fork, but I think that might have to do with improving sound quality from the speakers and such - but I'm no acoustic engineering, so not sure.
2. Sound - The speakers just about match the sound quality from my Powerbook G4 (or thereabouts), and the headphones are good enough. The biggest thing lacking I think is an equalizer - I personally don't like the sound of a flat EQ on my iPod, so I think an equalizer may help improve the sound, especially high and low tones.
3. 'Syncing' Music - Okay, yeah, this part kinda sucks. Its no iPod, no USB 2.0, etc. But drag and drop to the phone is pretty easy, and just like the iPod, there's a preferences menu for it (click on the little iPod icon in iTunes just under the Autofill area). Interestingly, there's a slider here that lets you pick how much of the memory card goes toward songs, and how much is reserved for data. Right now I can slide the data side all the way to 100 MB without the song count dipping lower than 100. Obviously, this feature is for future phones with less than 512MB of memory for iTunes - or even better, future versions of iTunes mobile. The song cap is obviously artificial, and even the E1's manual lists a couple websites to visit "for more information about being able to store more music in iTunes on your phone" after the part about using iTMS, syncing music, etc.
On the up side though, you do get ratings and maybe play count (not sure about that one) to sync, so that does beat the shuffle...
4. Bluetooth - Even though you can't use Bluetooth to listen to the music on a headset (or in a car), or transfer iTunes songs over to phone (you can transfer files not using iTunes), the Bluetooth features do work well - syncing address book and iCal is pretty easy, and set up with my Prius' hands-free system was painless.
5. Phone features - The call quality is good, the interface isn't nearly as painful as some make it out to be (reorder your Main Menu, and read the manual). Having a mic on the headphones is a good touch to mix iTunes and calls. The little joystick thing is handy, much nicer than the up/down buttons on other phones, which would make iTunes very hard to use. Also, iTunes works either in the traditional iPod-like interface, or out at the main screen of the phone, making getting between iTunes and other features easier. The camera isn't great, but its a phone, and even though there are better phone cameras, but I have a Sony M1, so no phone camera could beat the 5.1 MP still and MPEG-4 video.
Overall, since my old phone is a does-nothing-but-call-and-barely-does-GPRS Nokia, and my 3G iPod's dead battery has turned it into my car's jukebox, this phone does what I need it to do, and does it well enough. Would I love some more songs on it, or Firewire connections, or a processor fast enough for WoW Mobile, yes. But, for what it is, it works. Other phones may be better, but this is the only one that will play my iTunes songs.
1. Materials - It feels a lot better than I thought it would. The white areas are glossy and smooth, but not iPod smooth, so you don't see fingerprints and every little scratch. The phone itself "rings" a little when you hit it, kinda like a tuning fork, but I think that might have to do with improving sound quality from the speakers and such - but I'm no acoustic engineering, so not sure.
2. Sound - The speakers just about match the sound quality from my Powerbook G4 (or thereabouts), and the headphones are good enough. The biggest thing lacking I think is an equalizer - I personally don't like the sound of a flat EQ on my iPod, so I think an equalizer may help improve the sound, especially high and low tones.
3. 'Syncing' Music - Okay, yeah, this part kinda sucks. Its no iPod, no USB 2.0, etc. But drag and drop to the phone is pretty easy, and just like the iPod, there's a preferences menu for it (click on the little iPod icon in iTunes just under the Autofill area). Interestingly, there's a slider here that lets you pick how much of the memory card goes toward songs, and how much is reserved for data. Right now I can slide the data side all the way to 100 MB without the song count dipping lower than 100. Obviously, this feature is for future phones with less than 512MB of memory for iTunes - or even better, future versions of iTunes mobile. The song cap is obviously artificial, and even the E1's manual lists a couple websites to visit "for more information about being able to store more music in iTunes on your phone" after the part about using iTMS, syncing music, etc.
On the up side though, you do get ratings and maybe play count (not sure about that one) to sync, so that does beat the shuffle...
4. Bluetooth - Even though you can't use Bluetooth to listen to the music on a headset (or in a car), or transfer iTunes songs over to phone (you can transfer files not using iTunes), the Bluetooth features do work well - syncing address book and iCal is pretty easy, and set up with my Prius' hands-free system was painless.
5. Phone features - The call quality is good, the interface isn't nearly as painful as some make it out to be (reorder your Main Menu, and read the manual). Having a mic on the headphones is a good touch to mix iTunes and calls. The little joystick thing is handy, much nicer than the up/down buttons on other phones, which would make iTunes very hard to use. Also, iTunes works either in the traditional iPod-like interface, or out at the main screen of the phone, making getting between iTunes and other features easier. The camera isn't great, but its a phone, and even though there are better phone cameras, but I have a Sony M1, so no phone camera could beat the 5.1 MP still and MPEG-4 video.
Overall, since my old phone is a does-nothing-but-call-and-barely-does-GPRS Nokia, and my 3G iPod's dead battery has turned it into my car's jukebox, this phone does what I need it to do, and does it well enough. Would I love some more songs on it, or Firewire connections, or a processor fast enough for WoW Mobile, yes. But, for what it is, it works. Other phones may be better, but this is the only one that will play my iTunes songs.
I'm totally confused by all this, as I'm not big on mobile/ cell phones. You're saying that "this is the only one that will play my iTunes songs". Hold on - I though plenty of phones played MP3's? It can't be that hard to get songs on them (running Tiger).richdun said:
Okay, if the ROKR is the only phone that appears in iTunes like an iPod, then that's a major asset if the music function is important to you. But if it's an otherwise crap phone, you might hesitate and get something different, even if you have to 'manually' put songs on it.
All I want to know is - what is the best Bluetooth phone that works well as a phone but is the BEST at playing music - especially in terms of sound quality???
mister_L said:
Yep, these issues are key for me.
Why of why wasn't this a USB 2.0 phone if its all about sync and go. I really want to update Podcasts to my phone so I can leave my iPod at home, but near an hour to transfer a full update is a joke. Really. I just hope the rumour about the new Razor iTines phone has USB 2.
And VGA...tut tut. Again, next Razor models might save us here given the last weeks glimpses.
gabriel_uk said:All I want to know is - what is the best Bluetooth phone that works well as a phone but is the BEST at playing music - especially in terms of sound quality???
hi,
imo it´s the sonyericsson k750i (/w800). best ui, best bluetooth support, nice features (e.g. imap-email-client, 2 mpixel cam, isync-support, memstick mounts as usb-drive, iphoto-import, radio with rds) and very good mp3/aac-player.
as i wrote above, you can export playlist directly from itunes to the phone, you can also drag and drop (mp3-)files, it supports up to 4gb memorysticks duo (1 gb is around 70 euro), the sound quality is very good, equalizer, good playlist features. all you need is the phone, the in-ear headset with stereo-connector (hpm-70) and at least an 1gb memorystick pro duo.
Not for nothing, but the reason the V710's bluetooth is limited to the headset is Verizon, not Moto. Verizon insists that the V710's bluetooth functionality be crippled so that users would not be able to easily transfer files from a computer to the phone. This way, users would have to use Verizon's network to get files onto their phones and vice/versa.iQuit said:
mister_L said:
So can you drag and drop AAC files onto it directly from iTunes?
Do you use a card reader for better speed?
You can get it for about $100 after rebate from places like Amazon and Buy.com. Much better deal IMO. I'm still waiting for v.2 though.
does anyone else notice the irony in this? the two products he compared this phone to no longer exist.Doctor Q said: