The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Motorola releases three new ROKR mobile phones - the EM25, EM28 and EM30

Motorola has expanded its ROKR portfolio with the introduction of three new music-orientated mobile phones. The ROKR series is currently led by the Motorola E8 and all three devices seem to borrow something from its design. The new handsets are Motorola EM25, EM28 and EM30. Each of the phones have been modified slightly to attract a different kind of customer. The EM30 is a standard bar shape that has been equipped with Motorola’s ModeShift technology; the EM28, a flip phone with “sonic features” and finally the EM25, a slider with FM radio sharing capabilities.

The EM30 ROKR uses Motorola’s ModeShift technology to illuminate and morph the keypad according to what mode you are set up in. One moment it’s a phone as the keypad is illuminated by a blue light, and the next it’s a music player as the light turn’s red making only the music controls visible. I’m not usually one to be taken in by small party tricks like this however I must admit that as with the E8 I think that it is a very clever way of separating the two main uses of the phone. Other music-oriented features include FM radio with RDS, compatibility with Windows Media Player 11, stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The MotoROKR EM30 is further equipped with a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks support, Motorola CrystalTalk technology, which I can say from personal experience does improve call quality and a 2 megapixel camera without auto focus. A microSD memory card slot is also on board capable of supporting cards with capacities of up to 8GB. Unfortunately there’s no UMTS support but that’s expected bearing in mind the suggested low price point.

The EM28 ROKR is the flip phone of the pack. Again it has the same music based features such as stereo Bluetooth and standard 3.5mm audio jack. The FM with RDS completes the music set and it comes with broadcast recording and an innovative FMShare feature. FMShare allows you to share your favourite FM stations with a simple text message.

The Motorola EM28 ROKR also packs quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support with CrystalTalk, a 1.3 megapixel camera, which may be the one slightly disappointing feature for a modern mobile phone and a 1.8-inch 65K colour TFT display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.

In terms of music the ROKR EM28 allows users to control their music using touch-sensitive keys that appear “only when they’re needed”. An external screen on the front of the phone shows the name of the artist and song whilst the track is playing. The EM28 also boasts a 3D sound effect for pretend surround-sound and an audio equaliser with 11 equaliser pre-set music genres, including rock, reggae and pop. Users can also boost the bass up to nine decibels. Overall this is a high performing music phone with many pleasing little features. Depending on your taste in design the EM28 maybe the best in terms of performance and sound quality.

And finally, the Motorola EM25 ROKR, with dedicated music key. It has dual-band GSM/GPRS support with CrystalTalk, one-touch access to the music player, stereo Bluetooth, a standard 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD memory card slot (up to 2GB), and 1.3 megapixel camera. The slider phone also offers the new FMShare feature found on the other two in the collection.

The EM25 offers a genuine music-player experience, including immediate access to your stored music library or built-in FM radio with Radio Data System (RDS) technology. Also similar to Sony Ericsson’s already established TrackID, Motorola have introduced SONGID which basically does exactly the same thing helping to identify songs and artists easily. Indeed they may have taken the idea from Sony however that doesn’t take away the fact that it is a very useful feature for those irritating times when a song is driving you crazy, playing over and over in your head and you just can’t think what it’s called.

The ROKR EM30 is expected to launch first in Taiwan then in other markets throughout the year, while ROKR EM28 and ROKR EM25 will be available much sooner in Europe. Personally I like all the small features that differentiate the three but my favourite would have to be the EM30 purely on the design and the mood changing keypad plus for a music phone the camera is slightly better than its competitors which is an added bonus.