Motorola ROKR E8 music phone

Pressing the music mode button on the keypad, you’re taken in to a straightforward list-based music player as the control keys switch roles. As you’d expect from a music-centric mobile, the usual sort of categories are lined up - playlists, albums, artists, genres and composers. Five lines are viewable on screen at once, though the three-quarter circle FastScroll wheel is a smooth, hassle free way to scroll down lists quickly and easily.

The user interface is familiar stuff too. Track details, any associated cover artwork and a timeline are presented on the display as you play tunes, and you can browse around and click through your song collection using the virtual controls easily enough.

The E8 is Motorola’s first effort at using haptic feedback

You can load up to 2GB worth of songs to the phone’s internal storage, and additional MicroSD card storage can bump this up by up to 4GB per card. The card slot is behind the rear panel, and the battery needs to be removed to swap cards, which is fiddly. As you swap cards, the music library updates your track lists simply, with all music files listed together.

The E8 can be synced with Windows Media Player 11 on a PC using the supplied USB cable, or files can be drag-and-dropped into the phone or card memory – the only USB option if you’re a Mac user. Supported file formats include, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA and WAV.

Bluetooth transfer is possible too, and tracks can be downloaded over the air, albeit chugging along at GPRS or Edeg data rates rather than at faster 3G speeds.