Launched on September 7, 2005, in San Francisco, California, the E1 is the first phone to be integrated with Apple'siTunes music player, the next phone being the first iPhone in 2007.[1] The phone had been widely expected, with technology sites reporting on collaborations between Motorola and Apple as far back as December 2004.
Description and acceptance
The ROKR E1 is a re-badged Motorola E398 candybar style phone (it was originally called the E790) with Apple-licensed technology to play back iTunes Music Store purchased music. It features a music player with an interface similar to that of Apple's iPod music players. Since hardware on the Motorola E398 and ROKR E1 phones are the same, it is possible to crossflash the Motorola ROKR E1's firmware to the Motorola E398 using phone flashing software like flash & backup.
While the phone equipped an upgradeable 512 MB microSD memory card (Max. 1 GB), its firmware allowed only up to 100 songs to be loaded at any time.[2] The limit hurt the ROKR's appeal. Many users also discovered that transferring music to the phone was slow compared to dedicated players, due to lack of support for Hi-Speed USB, and the E1 lacked wireless transfer.[3] The Rokr was also criticized for being too much like the preceding E398. As a result, the Rokr E1 sold below expectations despite a high-profile marketing campaign.[4]
Because of the iPod Nano unveiling on the same day, relations between Motorola and Apple were strained and Motorola CEO Ed Zander later accused Apple of purposely undercutting the Rokr.[5]
The Rokr E1 was replaced by the E2 (see below), which lacked iTunes support and was superseded by the iTunes-enabled SLVR L7.
The E2 was released in January 2006. Instead of iTunes, the phone came bundled with RealPlayer, supporting a larger variety of formats. It also featured a music control panel on the left side of the phone. Users can also listen to stereo FM radio with Motorola Rokr E2. By using iRadio, FM radio programs can also be downloaded into the phone through internet, letting users listen to the radio at any time. The first public release occurred on June 22, 2006, in China.[6][7]
As a Linux-based phone, the open source community developed numerous modifications to the phone's software, such as quad band, EDGE, and support for a 4 GB SD card. [citation needed] Some have overclocked the processor.
The E6 was released in China on November 14, 2006, and subsequently worldwide on December 4, 2006.
The Rokr E6 is a direct descendant of the E680 and the MING, sharing the same MontavistaLinuxoperating system, IntelXScale PXA270 series processors, and the RealPlayer media player instead of the iTunes player installed on the first Rokr phone. The E6 features a built-in FM radio, (but no radio recording). It also inherited the 2-megapixel camera with manual macro-switching and business card recognition from MING, enhanced with QR Code recognition functions. Additionally, the phone features a 3.5 mm headphone jack, allowing use of a standard-sized headphone plug.
It comes installed with Picsel Viewer with the ability to read Microsoft Office and PDF file formats.
Details
The phone is part of Motorola's line of phones running Linux, this one using a modified 2.4.20 kernel. This has upset some, as they broke the GPL in not releasing the kernel source code.[8] The software is an updated version of MING (Motorola A1200), with a different file system. Most of the apps that work on the MING work on the E6, but some may not due to the file system. Normally the phone only runs on tri-band GSM networks, though some have found an exploit to get it to run on Quad Band networks and over Edge.[9] The radio channel frequency can also be modified beyond 88 MHz to 65 MHz, and the preset number of channels can also be modified.
Technical specifications
Battery Life
Up to 7 hours talk time - about 235 hours standby
Web Camera
Yes, via USB
Voice Recording
Yes (.amr)
Video Recording
Yes, up to CIF 352×288 (.3gp)
Maximum number of Sockets
10
Browsers
Opera Mini with support for HTTP, HTTPS, Socket, Secure Socket, UDP
Image Support
.PNG, .GIF, .BMP, .JPEG, .EMS, .WMP
Encoding schemes
USASCII, UTF-8 (Unicode), UTF-16 with explicit Byte Order Mark (Part of IOP), UCS-2
The Z6, originally known as the Rizr Z6, was released on July 7, 2007. The Z6 features Motorola's new version of the embedded Linux-based operating system, MOTOMAGX. It also supports stereo Bluetooth technology (A2DP) and features a 2-megapixel digital camera. The Z6 also supports synchronisation with Windows Media Player 11, allowing playlists and audio to be transferred to the phone's internal memory, which can in turn be transferred onto a compatible microSD memory card. The phone does not support 3G or HSDPA, relying on EDGE for data.
Audio format support
The Z6 supports the following audio formats:[citation needed]
The Z6m is the CDMA version of the Rokr Z6. The Rokr Z6m comes with an integrated music player, 3.5 mm headset jack, stereo Bluetooth, a 512 MBMicroSD card in its respective slot, a key lock switch, and a 2-megapixel digital camera. The phone supports up to 2 GB of removable storage.
U.S. Cellular was the first carrier to release the Rokr Z6m on October 14, 2007, alongside their Napster-to-Go service's launch.[citation needed]
Technical information
When connected to a computer via USB and the connection type is set to "Modem/COM", the phone acts like a USB serial peripheral, allowing Motorola Phone AT Commands to be sent. In this mode, sending "AT+MODE=8" will put the phone into a different state,
in which it no longer accepts AT commands but its P2K05 functionality is accessible.
The W5 was released in September 2007.[citation needed] The phone features up to 2 GB through a microSD slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Motorola's P2K OS, and a music player.
The E8 was released in July 2008. It features a new keypad interface called ModeShift, which automatically changes the context of the keypad depending on the current function of the device. It also features a localized touch feedback system with haptic technology that gives the feeling of real buttons, though the keyboard surface is smooth. It will sync with Microsoft Outlook, but not with Web or Mac based calendars.
Both E8 and EM30 uses the ModeShift technology and this enables the phone to switch from talk to music with one touch (special music keys light up when playing music) Coupled with in-build CrystalTalk technology (a Motorola patent), crisp and clear conversations is possible in noisy environments.
Both E8 and EM30 uses the ModeShift technology and this enables the phone to switch from talk to music with one touch (special music keys get lighted up when playing music) The phone incorporated Motorola's patented CrystalTalk technology, providing clear conversations in noisy environments.[citation needed]
Specifications
Messaging: MMS, EMS 5.0, email (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4), Motosync for corporate email support
Connectivity method: Stereo Bluetooth Class 2, 3.5mm, USB 2.0 HS, Mobile Phone Tools, Over the Air Sync (OTA), PC Sync
Dual Transfer Mode (DTM): Enables GPRS during call; operator dependent
Camera: 2 MP, Digital Zoom, Fixed Focus, take up to 8 multi shot pictures
The ZN50 was released in July 2009 as a high-end phone in the Rokr series. It featured a 3.15 MP camera with auto-focus, improved screen resolution, a touchscreen and storage expandable up to 16 GB.
