Hands On Video with T-Mobile’s $199 Motorola ROKR E8
June 25th, 2008 by Todd Haselton
Motorola just announced that the quad-band ROKR E8 will be available to T-Mobile customers on July 7th for $199. We’ve had previews and hands-on time with the beautifully crafted ROKR E8 a few times now, but there’s nothing like finally getting a review unit in and running it through its paces unsupervised.
The ROKR E8 will likely be most attractive to teens and young twenty-somethings on T-Mobile looking for a music phone that can also bring basic e-mail and Web functionality to their fingertips while remaining simple. Its smooth glass top and midnight blue body, which features a soft rubbery back cover, will certainly turn heads. At various spots inside the UI and on the phone itself, there are subtle red accents that make for a beautiful package all around.
While the phone certainly feels sturdy, it’s still going to be hobbled by T-Mobile’s slow EDGE network. Its big competitor is going to be the $49.99 priced Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, which is also offered by T-Mobile. Where the 4.5 x 2.0 x 0.4-inch sized ROKR E8 is more similar in size to a 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.4-inch sized iPod Classic, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is more on par with the first generation iPod Nano’s measurements.
