Motorola remasters Rokr music phone

Not content with simply revamping its Razr, Motorola has updated its Rokr handset - the original iTunes phone - this time bringing it more in tune with the latest Moto look.

 
Motorola's Rokr Z6: front and back

Released in the West next month, the Rokr Z6 ditches Apple's technology in favour of Microsoft's Windows Media - an ironic choice, perhaps, since the Z6 is based on the open source operating system, Linux.

Incidentally, Motorola said it would be promoting Napster as the Z6 music source of choice. A sign of a acquisition to come? Maybe - Motorola's main rivals, Nokia and Samsung, both have music offerings of their own. Would Motorola want to be left out? It's certainly launching a store of its own in China.

The Z6 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge handset with a 2in, 320 x 340, 262,144-colour display; Bluetooth; A2DP wireless stereo support - Motorola also launched the Rokr S9 Bluetooth headphones set yesterday; a two megapixel camera; and 64MB of on-board memory expandable using MicroSD cards.

 
Motorola's Rokr Z6: side ways

Motorola claimed the Z6 has a talk time of 3-4 hours, slightly lower than the Z6m variant aimed at CDMA/EvDO markets - though this model has a lesser, 65,536-colour screen for some reason.

The Z6 goes on sale in China this month, with a wider Rokr roll-out coming in June. The Z6m is sometime in Q3, Motorola said.