Where to go next for the iPod mobile phone

• Read full article
• Share this article
• Related articles

With rumour of a Motorola ROKR E2 phone on the horizon we look back at the dubious success of the original ROKR and speculate about what Motorola could do to make the next generation of the iTunes phone a hit.

After the relative failure of the original Motorola ROKR E1 mobile phone, rumours are surfacing that Motorola are planning to release a second iteration of the ROKR line of handsets.

The response from the mobile phone and technology trade press was an unimpressed one. They were expecting a phone with additional features which were at least the equivalent of Sony's first to market walkman phone the W800i, i.e an additional radio option and most possibly the most important selling point of the phone - a high quality two megapixel camera. Clearly the lack of a radio and standard VGA camera left them cold, and even the magic touch of the apple brand with all the fanfare of the launch couldn't bring them round.

On this note it seems the Motorola haven't yet learned their lesson as, from what little we know about the ROKR E2, the camera on the handset is still a long way behind the rest of the industry at just 1 megapixel, while some pioneering handsets such as the Sharp 903 are starting to feature 3.2 megapixel capable cameras.

However as bad as the response from the press was, none of this seems to matter too much to companies like Motorola as long as the handset is popular with the public, unfortunately it was bad news on this front as well with few consumers snapping up the handset leaving stores with shelves full of the ROKR E1. Recently some stores have been offering the ROKR E1 with completely free line rental for the entire length of the contract. The best deal at the time of writing this article is a free ROKR, free minutes and free texts to what amounts to a little under £2 per month. Check out all the best deals available on the ROKR E1 best deal quick list.

So what don't the public like about the ROKR? iPod's continue to fly off the shelves and one with a phone function and camera should logically sell well too. Well the most likely culprit of the ROKR's failure to impress the public is the look of the handset.

In many cases iPods aren't actually the best mp3 players on the market, they can't play the popular WMA music format and even iTunes is missing some features that other digital music programs have but the thing that really impresses is the image of the iPod, thin and sleek - anyone would be proud to show one off.

If we take a look at other handsets on the market at the moment the new NEC i-mode enabled device - the NEC 343i stands out as looking strikingly similar to the new generation of iPod's and at just 13mm thick and 95 grams is of similar dimensions too.

The other major design feature of the iPod is it's "wheel style" navigation, however even this has been a feature of mobile phones in the past with the Nokia 7280 featuring it on it's "lipstick style" design, however though useable the feedback from most users of this Nokia was that they would have liked a keypad as well.

So the technology is out there to create a true iPod phone, so Motorola, if you are listening - how about making the ROKR E2 look something like this?

OK, a two megapixel camera may be difficult to fit into this exact design but considering the improvements that Motorola have made in the even thinner Motorola RAZR V3i it's certainly not out of the question in our opinion. I'll keep my fingers crossed for one of these magically appearing in my christmas stocking!