T-Mobile Gets the Motorola ROKR E8

Motorola is attempting to turn its fortunes around with the new ROKR E8—and it looks like T-Mobile users will be able to get their hands on one. No word yet on pricing or availability. [Boy Genius]

Moto Rokr E8 Has Backlit Nubs For Keys

These first shots of the Motorola Rokr E8 from zol.com.cn shows the unique keypad that Moto went with. Instead of regular keys, they've got little nubs that need to be back-illuminated. When you're dialing, all the keys are lit; but when you're playing music, the numbers are dimmed and only the music controls are bright. This could be even greater if the keys' backlit images could change in the background, but it doesn't seem like the E8 is advanced enough to do that. [Zol.com via IDNES via Phonearena]

ETS Motorola S71 Headphone Sunglasses

If you own a Bluetooth headset but aren't happy with how ridiculous you look wearing it, then these may be for you. The ETS Motorola S71 is a combination pair of sunglasses/headphones/Bluetooth headset/opposite sex repellent. The device, which is apparently also known as the O ROKR Pro, has buttons on the frame which let you control a music player. It can charge over an optional USB cable, and there is no word on price or launch date yet. I'm hoping for too much, and never. [Mobile Whack]

Motorola Quietly Introduces MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth Music FM Transmitter Speakerphone

Today at the Motorola holiday show in NYC, amid a sea of RAZR-style phones and accessories that many Giz readers have already seen, Motorola showed off a few new items. The coolest (we hope) will be the ROKR T505 speakerphone. Like its predecessors in the T line, this one clips to the visor above your head. But unlike those older models, this one earns the ROKR badge by taking stereo streaming audio from your phone or music player via Bluetooth A2DP profile. More »

Motorola Expands ROKR Music Phone Line with PEBL U9

Just like with the MotoRIZR Z6, Motorola is taking an old phone and placing the ROKR moniker on it, essentially turning it into a badged music phone. This time they're taking the Moto PEBL U9 and making it a Moto ROKR U9. More »

ROKR Z6: Motorola New Music Phone Won't Make Elvis Proud

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Touchscreen Moto ROKR E6 Video Tour

We were kind of skeptical of the Moto ROKR E6 Linux phone at first glance, but after watching the video and seeing what we can do, there may be room for this in our pockets yet. Noah from PhoneDog gives you a walk-through of the ROKR E6's UI, complete with an Apple iPhone skin that he installed himself. More »

Motorola to Ship ROKR E6 Sans iTunes: Stepping Aside for the iPhone?

Motorola announced it will ship its ROKR E6 music phone later this month but conspicuously absent from its feature list is iTunes. That'll be replaced by the loathsome RealPlayer. Doing damage control on a phone that was doomed from the start, Motorola is positioning this candy bar as a PDA. More »

Motorola ROKR E6 Passes FCC, Linux Fanboys Throw Awkward High Fives

The Motorola ROKR E6, or E690 as the engineers call it, was just approved by the FCC, much to Linux fans' delight. It will follow up older ROKR phones, possibly with iTunes capabilities, and will run Motorola's Linux OS. More »

Oakley/Motorola O ROKR Reviewed (Verdict: Good, But Has Issues)

Similar in design to the Thump 2, this O ROKR combines a pretty decent set of shades with the Bluetooth-enabled headphones which allow you to stream music from an iPod or a Bluetooth-enabled phone straight to your listen-holes. To make this work with your iPod, you'll need to buy a NaviPlay Bluetooth iPod Adapter, and to make it work with Bluetooth phones you will need a phone with A2DP support. More »

ROKR E2 Approved by FCC, Still Might Suck

The ROKR E2 that we saw iTunesless at CES back in January might actually include iTunes after all. The loveable Apple music player is actually mentioned once in the user manual. More »

Song Limit Upgrade on Motorola ROKR?

Observant tipster Evan DiBiase was rooting around the iTunes 6.0.3 binary file while lamenting the 100-song limit on his ROKR iTunes phone, and noticed some mysterious references to upgradePhone . One thing led to another and suddenly DiBiase found a link that led him to the iTunes Music Store. He saw the screen above, offering more tunes on a ROKR...for a price. DiBiase thinks Apple could have upgrade plans up its sleeve, charging extra to break through that unfortunate 100 song ceiling. More »

Xensaxion: ROKR Docking Beats

We've seen an overabundance of iPod docking speakers, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to be bombarded with Qool Labs Xensaxion for your Motorola ROKR. A neat little gadget, it's a pair of docking speakers that also allows you to charge the phone, synchronize your files and even take a call using a hands free option. Also works with PCs, desktop, notebook, MP3 Players, CD players and even a portable DVD Players through a a mini-jack audio input. No price just yet. More »

Live From CES: Motorola Oakley ROKR

These sunglasses look an awful lot like the THUMP/RAZRWIRE but are in fact much more viable. These are Bluetooth headphones, there is no built-in MP3 player to mess with. It just streams the music from your phone, but all the controls are on the glasses (which have a Plutonite lens and semi-rimless design). This makes it lighter than even the THUMP, but still pretty much just as ugly. These are made to go with the ROKR E2, of course. Available in the first half of 2006, price TBA.

ROKR E2-Will It Suck less?

Yes, it's hard to believe, but CES has brought out the second incarnation of the Motorola ROKR phone, the ROKR E2. It's based on a Linux OS and of course comes loaded with a MP3 player that's compatible with a bunch of different audio formats. A USB 2.0 connection gives you fast transfer rates and you'll be able to drag-and-drop your music from your PC directly to the phone. Has up to 2GB of optional removable SD mass memory, a built-in FM radio, dedicated music keys on the handset s side and front, as well as play/pause, skip backward/forward, and hold. Oh, and don't forget the "airplane" mode which lets you listen to your tunes while in the air. Other features include a 1.3 megapixel camera for pictures, video capture and playback and SCREEN3 technology for zero-click access to news, sports and entertainment content. The best we can do for availability is sometime in the first half of next year. No price set as of now.

ROKR Promises From Motorola

Admitting the fact the the original ROKR phone was not only bulky and unattractive, but limited in space for downloaded songs, Ron Garriques, the head of Motorola's mobile unit, has finally stood up and made some promises for the next generation. First of all, the next ROKR will be slimmer and sleeker for sure (he even showed a phone that looked a lot more like a RAZR than a ROKR, with a megapixel camera and stereo headsets to make his point). And no carrier has to stick to just iTunes. They can put whatever music software they want in the new phone.

"Any time a carrier wants iTunes they can have it," Garriques told investors at the UBS Global Communications Conference.

Lesson learned. We forgive you Motorola, for now. More »

Can You Hear My ROKR Now?

As soon as the Motorola ROKR hit stores, you knew there'd be a ton of crap to buy around it—so don't look so surprised. The new Jabra C220s stereo headset includes an in-line microphone so you can press a button on the headset, take your call and press the button again to keep listening to your music. Not exactly a brainstorm since Skullcandy has been making these kinds of earphones for years (and for all kinds of mobile phones). But I guess now that Jabra and Cingular have teamed up and, well, it is the ROKR after all, it deserves some attention. These are behind-the-ear style headphones—which you either love or hate depending on ear size and whatnot. $34.99. More »

Airtime

Push Pause On The Mobile Music Revolution

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Every Phone Becomes A Music Phone: The 'New' Nokia 6630

You've already been teased with an announcement about this Nokia 6630 3G WCDMA phone, but now it's been re-positioned. The ROKR, for all its faults, has influenced several handset makers to play up the tunes. The Fins are the latest to tweak their marketing campaign. The original 6630 was Nokia's first 3G smartphone in Europe. The new 6630 features "special emphasis on music functionality." It comes with a 256-megabyte memory card, but it also supports the 1GB RS-MMC for even higher capacity. Nokia PC Suite software will be required to transfer music and the phone is actually bundled with a Nokia USB MMC/SD reader, which is a nice bonus. A Nokia Audio Adapter is included and converts the 6630's ear-port to a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The phone comes in Rustic Red and Aluminum Gray, and will sell for 500 euros when it comes to market later this month. More »

MSNBC Pulls Its Own Finger - AL ROKR - Get it?

Say what you will, but it kind of gives me a little bit of a tickle when I see an MSNBC writer send a shout out to another NBC personality. It's kind of insidery, you know? It also reminds me of the way my grandpa used to shuffle into the living room to tell jokes that quickly devolved into nonsense. More »

The nano News and ROKR Re-up

There has been lots of news, rumor and speculation since the ROKR and nano were released last week. Instead of posting dribs and drabs about how hard it is to access the ROKR sim card or the algorithm for determining the weight-offset of the nano when placed inside a pocket protector (took me all darn weekend!), I've decided to glob all the nano-ROKR tidbits into the two mega-posts that follow. So pull up a danish and settle in...

The ROKR Re-up