T-Mobile announces Motorola ROKR E8

As expected, T-Mobile has taken the wraps off its very own version of Motorola's ROKR E8, a glossy black candybar offering a 2 megapixel camera, 2GB of internal storage (plus a microSD slot that'll swallow up to 8GB more), stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, and that so-called "morphing" keypad that selectively renders keys invisible depending on the mode you're using. It's missing 3G, but that's one feature T-Mobile customers are all too well acquainted to missing out on -- and considering that the just-announced flagship ZN5 doesn't even do any WCDMA, it shouldn't come as any surprise. Subscribers and would-be subscribers will be able to nab the E8 come July 7 for $199.99 on contract.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Nick Ritch @ Jun 26th 2008 12:24AM]

HOLY MOTHER OF UGLY!!!!

[Celtic @ Jun 26th 2008 1:31AM]

ROKR, rock, brick...same deal right?

[iEye @ Jun 26th 2008 12:28AM]

Should be free on a contract...

At least include a 4GB card and Stereo BT headset for free... people have become to expect more on a contract now...

[hiko36 @ Jun 26th 2008 12:30AM]

For once, I concur.
That thing is more expensive that what I payed for my Dash... No way am I paying $200 ON CONTRACT for a non-smartphone.

[heshmati4 @ Jun 26th 2008 12:28AM]

For $199, why would you want to get this???

I rather get an iphone 3G for $199 or an Instinct for $129 that does a lot more that this. T-mobile needs better phones and 3G badly before it's too late...

[Stefan Jobs @ Jun 26th 2008 10:21PM]

Because not everyone wants $99/month unlimited data plans

[grull27 @ Jun 26th 2008 12:38AM]

That is the ugliest shit ever. For $200 you might as well get an iPhone 3G. T-mobile doesn't even have a 3G network.

[hiko36 @ Jun 26th 2008 12:38AM]

Unfortunately, it will never be "too late". Most T-Mobile subscribers are not as savvy and simply do not care about 3G, or a smartphone for that matter. I would say about 75% of new subscribers opt for the free or $20 phones.

[hiko36 @ Jun 26th 2008 12:46AM]

that was in repsonse to heshmati4

[natels @ Jun 26th 2008 9:02AM]

I would say 75% of them opt for the sidekick and are sub 16.

[hiko36 @ Jun 26th 2008 9:20AM]

I was being realistic, but if you want to go that route, a Sidekick can still be had sub $199. Even the Sidekick is better than this thing.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Jun 26th 2008 12:59AM]

Wait what? they still make it? and on the 8 version already? Wasn't it labeled a failure sometime around version 1?

[Dave Graham @ Jun 27th 2008 3:04AM]

Well, I have the ROKR E2 and I love it, it does a lot more than an iPhone (except Wi-Fi and the eyecandy). It has 320x240 video recording, it plays flv, wmv and most video formats, besides playing almost every audio format (not ogg or flac sadly), extremely moddable, radio, flash, and a bunch of other things expensive phones won't do (except for the wi-fi and 3g which I don't even use).

I'm going for this one as soon as I can find it around here. I don't even have 3G here till december or so, so I don't care about it.

[tekdroid @ Jun 26th 2008 12:59AM]

Well, I would have to agree with the general consensus of 'ugly' and that perhaps Motorola need new designers, but every manufacturer has models that are very ugly in their range. I know others disagree with me here, but that M logo at the earpiece with included bling. Ugh. Tasteless and unbecoming and they insist on perpetuating this on their whole range.

Things I dislike with this thing are:
1) gloss, general looks
2) price

Internal storage is generous, but frankly I would prefer that flash storage external with minimal internal flash, microSD-style. 3.5mm phones jack is welcome, but I'd be looking for a cover or rubber stopper for it because those things go bad quickly when left in pockets and around the place collecting dust without a cover.

For that price you can get a K630 or equivalent from Sony Ericsson, and with, dare I say it, overall far better features and usability than this. But maybe this price is not surprising since most brand new models have highly inflated pricing simply 'cause they're new.

[YpoCaramel @ Jun 26th 2008 1:02AM]

A Morphing keypad is not ugly.

[Nando @ Jun 26th 2008 1:11AM]

No 3G, figures...

Why isn't T-Mo preparing for their 3G finally-coming-of-age by releasing 3G phones? I don't get it. This is a really low-end phone, right? I would understand if this was a really low-end phone...oh wait, I just read it...$199.99 on contract.... tsk tsk tsk... :(

[skulldriveshaft @ Jun 26th 2008 1:11AM]

It's a shiny candy bar phone, and that's what people will buy it for.

They did shrink the screen though, which should help it survive a few days longer.

[Dave Graham @ Jun 27th 2008 3:06AM]

They didn't shrinked the screen, it's a regular 2 inches screen on landscape position.

[BeniRose @ Jun 26th 2008 1:23AM]

Didn't this phone already fail miserably? And I think they made a replacement for it, it was called the iPhone?

If it was free, then we'd have something to work with.

[Gerard @ Jun 26th 2008 1:24AM]

I'm getting one of these for my girlfriend. It's sexy and can swallow up to 8inches I mean 8gigs of music.

[Cody @ Jun 26th 2008 3:43AM]

Clak,
You do realize that there is no such thing as a pink iPhone...and here I thought you were supposed to be an apple fanboy...can't be too much of a fan if you don't even know their products. You probably don't even have a girlfriend anyways since you spend what seems like all your time promoting apple.

Are you sure your "girlfriend" wasn't just Steve Jobs in a dress?

[w00t @ Jun 26th 2008 4:57AM]

Clak,
Do you realise there is also no such thing as 'your girlfriend' ;)

[Lamp @ Jun 26th 2008 10:10AM]

...why do people still insist on taking clak seriously?


thank you for informing him there is no pink iphone though,
theres no way he was kidding about that.

[jb @ Jun 26th 2008 1:25AM]

At least for $200 the moto has basics like voice dialing (voice command kicks ass!)unlike the iphone 3g.

[Rob S @ Jun 26th 2008 1:40AM]

actually i love it and another big thing is that it comes with an extra 1gig MicroSD card and a carrying case i love the morphing keyboard

[jason @ Jun 26th 2008 1:50AM]

that screen is SMALL damn... looks like 1"

then you look below and see all the wasted keypad space. this phone should be about 1/2 its size, or have a bigger screen.


and the price is quite ridiculous because you can get a smartphone or iphone for the same price.

[wako @ Jun 26th 2008 1:51AM]

screw it, bye tmobile it seems like you are hopeless when it comes to bringing out a good phone

[Will @ Jun 26th 2008 1:55AM]

Ridiculously overpriced. And I'm a hardcore T-Mobile user. Why would anyone choose this over a sidekick slide? Or pay $50 more to get an LX. T-Mobile really needs to release something revolutionary, like the Sidekick was in its day. Or maybe a new 3G Sidekick? I suppose this dilemma is why I have my unlocked iPhone...

[Supes @ Jun 26th 2008 11:33PM]

You said it Will. What is T-Mobile doing offering this phone at $199 like it's some high-end phone. It has one trick up its sleeve and that's not enough to make it cool or worth that much cash on a two-year.

I've been using my iPhone on T-Mobile for 6 months now and haven't seen one serious contender come out of T-Mobile for years. It's so sad because they do so many things right. But their phone selection is done so very wrong. Someone at T-Mobile seems really confused about what makes a great phone or how to go about doing that.

Sidekick: Should be renamed the T-Mobile Time Warp. This, along with the RAZR, are the quintessential products that prove one must innovate or die. It's almost too perfect that Motorola is building the Sidekick Slide.

Shadow / Shadow 2 : Windows Mobile covered in some shiny mess. It's definitely not fun. It's not cool. It causes most people to set it down and back away from it slowly.

Last year's Blackberries: Check.

Everything else: Low-end design rejects that even the regional carriers would shun.

[Joshi @ Jun 26th 2008 2:19AM]

The screen looks really small from that angle. Did they actually shrink the screen?

In any case, $199 seems kind of steep for this. You know everyone is going to compare this to that other music phone...

$99 would be pushing it, IMO. With a proper ad campaign, it could sell for $99 on the novelty of the morphing keypad alone. But $199 is way too much, just like the RAZR2 was. I love candybars, and I actually like Motos, but if I was looking for a T-Mo phone the ROKR wouldn't even be on my list, at that price. (I'd get one of the new Nokia candybars instead.) And that's a problem.

[Bryan Thornsberry @ Jun 26th 2008 2:42AM]

agree with will.
im a dealer and this phone wont sell. then, when it doesnt sell, tmobile will continue to pump more money into it by releasing two or three more colors of the same fucking phone. im tired of wasting my money on all these same phones in different colors that DONT sell. and whoever said it earlier was right on the money... seems like everybody i sell a phone to goes straight for the lowest of low end flips. free to twenty dollars. ALL my midrange phones are looked at as nonrevolutionary or too expensive. And the high end phones lack 3G or are missing one or two hard selling features. and instead of spending money to implement 3G, they bank money on tmobile@home, which personally, most of my customers dont have a grasp on what the internet even is, let alone VoIP. tmobile. get in gear.

[Centipede Damascus @ Jun 26th 2008 3:02AM]

You guys are really spoiled when it comes to phones somehow. A 2MP camera, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5MM jack, and 2GB internal storage for 199.99? Gee, that's exactly what the RAZR2 sells for on both AT&T and T-Mobile. A phone that doesn't have all the features of this model.

Seriously, some of you need to actually think about things before you say them.

[Joshi @ Jun 26th 2008 3:23AM]

I know iPhone is like, the cell phone Godwin, but still.

The iPhone 3G is $199. It has a 2 MP camera, a 3.5 mm jack, and 8 GB internal storage for $199. It also has a much larger screen with multi-touch and a lot more third party support. And, oh yeah, it's 3G.

And it's not just the iPhone. You can get any number of PDAs for much less than that. You compare the ROKR E8 to the RAZR2, but the RAZR2 isn't a good deal either - which is why AT&T and Sprint have already dropped it after only a few months.

[raulr @ Jun 26th 2008 12:42PM]

To add to what Joshi said, there's also GPS in the iphone. So subtract 3G, GPS, wifi, larger internal storage, Huge Screen, Great UI, excellent music player, ability to add 3rd party native apps, and exchange support and it's still the same price as the 3G iPhone?

Yeah, I'm sure voice dial and MMS offset those features to have an equivalent price. (plus, remember voice dial and MMS can be added with a software update, while 3G, GPS, wifi, etc can't)

[Cody Peterson @ Jun 26th 2008 3:09AM]

I have T-Mobile and love their service, but yes, their phones are shit.

So, I just use my unlocked sony ericsson k750i on their network and problem solved....

[tiffany @ Jul 9th 2008 7:33PM]

I agree 100%!!!! Ive been with tmobile almost 3 yrs after 8 yrs of hell with nextel and the shitty service i decicded to switch. I love the service but the phone selection is mega shitty!!!!! they really need to step up to the plate and get some better phones in the lineup

[KilgoreTrout @ Jun 26th 2008 3:46AM]

If any company would try to offer this deal in Europe it would be laughed to the other side of the Atlantic

[NightBlade @ Jun 26th 2008 4:14AM]

True.

[w00t @ Jun 26th 2008 5:00AM]

That's exactly why it is at the other side of the atlantic!

[Metkis @ Jun 26th 2008 5:12AM]

MMmmmmm glossy black candy bar.

[tekdroid @ Jun 26th 2008 6:30AM]

do not eat

[Dave @ Jun 26th 2008 1:19PM]

Katherine Boehret reviewed it:
http://solution.allthingsd.com/20080625/motorola-rokr-e8-hip-and-user-friendly/

[MR.Wickwack @ Jun 26th 2008 1:51PM]

T-mobile has good service but it lack of 3G ,modern phone selection sucks. If you want to buy phones for TMO, go to ATT Go Phone site , buy their pre-paid phones, unlock them and swap your sim card.The prices are way cheaper then TMO crap phones, spread the word.

[Jerry @ Jun 27th 2008 1:04PM]

Good view of bad phone

http://hembaba.com/reviews/motorokr-e8-phone/

[azx4442 @ Jun 27th 2008 4:09PM]

i wonder what happened to the motorola phone that could be played like a guitar.... i remember hearing about it at least 3 or 4 years ago...

[Yiona25 @ Sep 21st 2008 3:41PM]

In my opinion..

I highly HATE touch screens.. I have an IPod and when I try to make notes or anything in that nature it is so hard to type something.. You have to watch very closely and try your best not to press the wrong letter..

I like this phone, because it have most of the features I want and need.. Yes, the screen looks small, it dont have other features like the IPhone, and it is kind of high.. But if you think about it most phones that come out are VERY high and people still buy them..

Alot of phones are not cute but why buy a phone just on its look.. MOST of the phones have the same look like every other network phone but have different features.. ( When I say network i mean AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile.. Etc..

This phone fits what im looking for so if nothing comes out sooner or if no one really says something about the phone being bad I WILL BE GETTING THIS PHONE!! SOON!!

I really dont understand whats so wrong with this phone.. Not every phone that comes out will have every single little detail and be beautiful.. Half the features people cry about not having is with a different network or features that people dont use/need or even want.

If you HAVE this phone and it dont fit you then say that and let people know what you didnt like or what happened with it INSTEAD OF crying and talking down on the phone and the network. Alot of phones have alot of problems with them and thats not only with T-Mobile.


If there are any comments, questions, or if there is anything that will actually convince me to NOT get this phone you can email me at ( [e-mail] )