JP\/18\/ZATNI<\/p>\n
ROKR, The Music Phone That Could<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi
\nContributor\/zatni@cbn.net.id<\/p>\n
By now you must have become familiar with the name iTunes. It is
\na set of standards and tools that Apple has developed for
\nstoring, downloading, managing and playing back digital music and
\nvideo files.<\/p>\n
It also incorporates FairPlay digital right management, which
\nensures that you fairly compensate the artists and the music
\nhouses for the enjoyment that you derive from their work.<\/p>\n
You can download the iTunes applications from Apple's website
\nand install it on your Windows 2000 or XP PC. Of course, if you
\nbuy a Mac it is already included. You can then connect to the
\niTunes Music Store, preview the music and purchase the songs or
\nvideos that you like. You can then store the files on your iPod
\nor burn them on a CD or DVD using an iTunes-compatible recorder.<\/p>\n
Last week, I promised you a review of the Motorola ROKR,
\nMotorola's first effort at a cell phone that can also store and
\nplay iTunes music. The ROKR is Motorola's first product to
\ncompete with Sony-Ericsson's Walkman mobile phone series, as well
\nas Nokia's N91 and its brethren.<\/p>\n
We looked at the SE W550i last Monday, and it is just a
\ncoincidence that the ROKR was the next cell phone I got to play
\naround with.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Motorola Indonesia, I got the first chance to try
\nout the ROKR. They only have one demo unit for the media, so that
\nshould tell you how lucky I am. The price has not yet been set,
\nbut I was told the phone would cost about Rp 2 million.<\/p>\n
What is special about the ROKR? It is the first attempt by
\nMotorola and Apple to work together to produce a mobile phone and
\nmusic player in one single gadget. Now let us see how successful
\nthey were.<\/p>\n
The upsides<\/p>\n
Like other Motorola cellular phones in general, the ROKR has
\nan excellent 176 x 220 LCD screen capable of displaying 162K
\ncolors. The five-way joystick is as responsive and as easy to use
\nas the other cellular phones from Motorola. Like the SE W550i,
\nthe ROKR has a dedicated button to call up its media player.<\/p>\n
Like the SE W550i, too, there are no hard keys to control the
\nplayback. However, once the music is playing you can use the
\nROKR's joystick to adjust the volume. There are two dedicated
\nvolume control buttons on the left side of the cell phone as
\nwell.<\/p>\n
The cellular phone's keypad is a mixed bag. In general, it has
\na very nice tactile feel, but I always prefer larger keys with
\nnon-slippery caps. With the ROKR, it is important that you keep
\nyour fingernail cut short.<\/p>\n
In the camera mode, the joystick will help adjust the
\nbrightness and zoom level. This is another feature that I like
\nvery much. Music reproduction is done through a pair of great
\nsurround-sound speakers on both sides of the cell phone. The
\nkeypad's backlight can be set to light up in sync with the music.<\/p>\n
Perhaps because this cell phone is not an entirely new model
\n-- a lot of people will notice its close affiliation with the
\nMotorola E398 -- it was not as buggy as the demo unit of the SE
\nW550i. The volume up and down buttons worked well. More on this
\nlater, though.<\/p>\n
One thing that I noticed was that the ROKR has a superb
\nreception ability. I usually have difficulty when talking on my
\nfavorite two-year-old Nokia 6800 cell phone inside my house.
\nPeople cannot hear what I say, and I get disconnected quite
\noften. The ROKR, on the other hand, had a very high level of
\nsensitivity so I never had this problem.<\/p>\n
The downsides<\/p>\n
If the SE W550i that we looked at last week tried to break
\naway from the conventional cell phone design, the ROKR is just
\nthe opposite. It is a very conservatively designed candy bar-
\nshaped phone. As you can see in the picture, it is the E398 with
\nthe music player functionality somewhat forced into it.<\/p>\n
The embedded digital camera was also a big surprise. Motorola
\nthrew in a VGA camera. (Do they still manufacture this module
\ntoday?) While you can make video clips with this camera, the SE
\n550i is still better as it has a 1.3 MP camera.<\/p>\n
The ROKR came with a 256 MB TransFlash memory card. Here is a
\ncatch. Although you can replace it with a much more spacious
\nTransFlash card, you will not be able to store more than 100
\nsongs. That is the limit, and there is nothing you can do about
\nit.<\/p>\n
I guess that is one way Apple makes sure that you will not go
\naround downloading music from your friends' iPods for free. Keep
\nin mind, too, that the ROKR was launched at the same time Apple
\nlaunched its iPod Nano. It is easy to see how the ROKR could
\nundermine the sales of the iPod Nano if both had the same music
\nhandling capability.<\/p>\n
And let me tell you replacing the TransFlash memory card is
\njust as complicated as changing the air-conditioner filter of a
\n1995 BMW 5-Series. So, if you think you can use different memory
\ncards to store more than 100 songs, forget it.<\/p>\n
There are other things that I thought could be better
\nimplemented. The non-standard earphone plug on top of the unit is
\nprotected with a rubber cover. I never like rubber covers, they
\nlook very cheap and they get dirty quickly.<\/p>\n
And when the cellular phone's iTunes is playing, the whole
\nthing slows down. You press the volume up button and nothing
\nhappens immediately. You press and press again and suddenly the
\nsound becomes much louder than you want. Of course, the music
\nwill automatically pause the moment you pick up a call. By the
\nway, I prefer the list format of the main menu rather than the
\nicons.<\/p>\n
It is also funny that this music cell phone does not come with
\nan FM radio or a voice recorder. You also have to use the
\nsupplied cable to connect the phone to your PC or Mac to download
\nmusic, digital book or podcasts to your ROKR. However, there is
\nanother surprise here: the connection is USB 1.1, which tops out
\nat 12 Mbps. Downloading music files to the cell phone will thus
\ntake a long time.<\/p>\n
Final word<\/p>\n
Unlike the SE W550i, the first generation of ROKR does not
\nlook sexy at all, and there will not be too much excitement
\nassociated with hanging it around your neck. However, this phone
\nwill shine brightly in areas where signal reception is not very
\ngood.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that Motorola and Apple have a lot of
\npotential. Motorola makes great cellular phones and Apple has a
\nlong history of creating cool consumer electronics. But to make
\nthe alliance successful they will have to work more closely at
\nthe drawing board.<\/p>",
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