Motorola ROKR E8 Music Phone's Trick Backlit Keypad
As a rule I think Motorola's trying-too-hard product design is eclipsed only by their insultingly unhip commercials, but I've got to hand it to them on the ROKR E8: the backlit keypad, which fades out the numpad and fades in the music controls when you're in the music playing software is pretty rad. I'll be sure to take advantage of that the next time I'm in the subway holding an impromptu rave, since that's who Motorola seems to think their customers want to do.
Motorola lanceert ROKR E8 en RIZR Z10 (Dutch) [GSMHelpDesk.nl via UnwiredView via Gizmodo]
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It's a nice idea, particularly if you're into the whole Star Trek TNG interface aesthetic (even the Motorola logo seems like the conjoined offspring of the Star Fleet one), but what's happened to all the talk of a Linux-based OS?
They still release several phones a year that run some flavor of Linux, but a decent OS with a Motorola interface over it is still a Motorola phone. It's one of the few instances I can think of where I'd actually prefer a Linux interface over a commercial one.
Judging from a cursory Google search, it's running a Java interface on top of Linux. I'm surprised they're making a follow-up to the original flop. Hopefully this model won't combine iTunes lock-in with a terrible interface.
In most cases, the UI is dictated by the carrier that the phone is designed for. From what I understand the interface is what makes the phone slow as the carriers have no desire to optimize it--they just want something consistent.