Motorola continues to make up for its dismal Rokr E1 with its new Rokr E8 Black. Announced at the ultra-posh Wynn Hotel during a late-night press conference (were not sure why Moto had to wait until 9 p.m. on a Sunday to do this), the ROKR E8 Black is one of two handsets Moto is announcing at CES 2008. And it won CNETs Best of CES in the cell phones and smartphones.

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MOTOROLA E8 QUAD BAND BLACK UNLOCKED GSM PHONE



Motorola continues to make up for its dismal Rokr E1 with its new Rokr E8 Black. Announced at the ultra-posh Wynn Hotel during a late-night press conference (we're not sure why Moto had to wait until 9 p.m. on a Sunday to do this), the ROKR E8 Black is one of two handsets Moto is announcing at CES 2008. And it won CNET's Best of CES in the cell phones and smartphones.

Music, of course, is a central theme here but the ROKR E8 Black's real news lies with its unique "ModeShift" technology. Instead of traditional keypad and navigation array, the Rokr features a smooth "glasslike" surface with touch-pad controls that digitally "morph" depending on how the handset is used. As you shift from phone to music to imaging modes, the backlight on the control changes to illuminate only the relevant buttons for your current function. The E8 Black also features Motorola's first Haptics keypad with vibrating feedback and a "FastScroll" navigation wheel that makes it pretty seamless to navigate through long playlists. It's not a complete circle but it's pretty user-friendly.

Loading songs on the E8 Black is also supposed to be fast and easy via a USB connection to a PC. Moto said that over the next year it would introduce more music phones like the E8 that would be better than standalone music players. That's a bold prediction, we can't wait to test it out. We have to say, however, that Moto seems to have succeeded at integrating the ergonomics of an MP3 player and a cell phone into one device.

Other features on the candy bar device include a Linux/Java OS, support for Windows Media Player 11, a large (2-inch) 262,000-color display, 2GB internal memory, stereo Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Moto's CrystalTalk technology (like we saw on the Razr2 series), an external memory card slot, a 2-megapixel camera, a digital-music player, and a full HTML browser. The quad-band world phone supports GPRS and EDGE networks, and it offers a "talking phone" to read your text messages while dialing a number or receiving a call. We haven't had the chance to test that particular feature yet, but it looks fun.



Carrier: AT&T (GSM based), T-Mobile

Technology: Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900

Feature: 2+ Megapixel Camera, A2DP, Bluetooth, Calendar, Camera, Candy Bar Form, Edge, Email Client, FM Radio, High-Speed Data GPRS, Megapixel Camera, Memory Card Slot, MP3, Speaker Phone, Video Capture, Video Clip

Weight: 100 g

Talk Time: Up to 5 hours

Stand By Time: Up to 300 hours

Product Includes

Motorola ROKR E8 Black (unlocked)

Standard battery

AC travel charger

Sync Software CD-ROM

USB data Cable

User manual

General: Network GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900

Size: Dimensions 115 x 53 x 10.6 mm, 60 cc Weight 100 g

Display:







Type TFT, 256K colors Size 320 x 240 pixels, 2 inches - Touch-sensitive keypad - Navigation scroll wheel Ringtones:









Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, AAC Customization Download Vibration Yes - 3.5 mm headset jack

Memory:









Phonebook Yes, Photo call Call records 50 dialed, 50 received, 50 missed calls Card slot microSD (TransFlash) - 2 GB internal user memory Data:









GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps HSCSD No EDGE Class 12 3G No WLAN No Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP Infrared port No USB Yes, v2.0 Features Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML Games Yes+ downloadable Colors Dark Navy, Platinum Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video

Features: - Java MIDP 2.0 - Stereo FM radio - MP3/AAC player - Calculator - Organizer - Built-in handsfree

Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 970 mAh (BK60) Stand-by Up to 300 h Talk time Up to 5 h







NOTE: All of our Unlocked GSM Phones come from around the globe. As such, most carry an "International" warranty from the Manufacturer, which will be detailed within your product packaging, if appropriate. Only DOA (Dead on Arrival) Exchanges will be made for this product through the GSM Support Center. No returns are allowed otherwise. There are no exceptions. All of our unlocked cellular phones are only designed to work on GSM networks such as Cingular and T-Mobile. These phones are NOT compatible with CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. If your intended service provider is not among those four major carriers, please contact that provider to determine GSM compatibility