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June 25, 2008 12:03 PM PDT

Motorola Rokr E8 to land at T-Mobile

by Kent German

Motorola Rokr E8

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola's Rokr E8 will go on sale July 7. The phone will be available with T-Mobile for $199 with a two-year service contract. As you might remember, the Rokr E8 debuted five months ago at CES where it won CNET's Best of CES Award in the cell phone category and the People's Voice Award. Its main attraction is a "ModeShift" keypad that morphs depending on how the handset is used. As you shift from phone to music to imaging modes, the backlight on the control changes to illuminate only the relevant buttons for your current function.

Other features on the sleek candy bar handset include a Linux/Java OS, support for Windows Media Player 11, a large (2-inch) 262,000-color display, 2GB internal memory, stereo Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Moto's CrystalTalk technology, an external memory card slot, a 2-megapixel camera, a digital-music player, quad-band world phone support, and a 3.5mm headset jack.

We'll have a full review of the Rokr E8 by tomorrow, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out our hands-on look from CES with video.

Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
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by supesguy June 25, 2008 12:43 PM PDT
C'mon... $199 for this? With a two-year?

$199 is not that much for a great phone but the little pseudo-touchscreen trick this phone has isn't that interesting to command that price. Less than $100 seems about right.

Love T-Mobile service, hate their phones. I wish they'd change that.
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by dbtwin28 June 25, 2008 2:38 PM PDT
I agree totally. I love T-mobile!! You get the most for your money, but their current phone choices really suck.
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by TripletDaddy June 26, 2008 4:39 AM PDT
Features seem cool and up to date but how will it handle? The thing with cool phones like this are batterys that dont hold a charge correctly and also Im a person that is hard on his phone as of being a father on the go all the time my phones get banged up more so I like great features like this but Im wondering if it will hold together for the money you pay out for it
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by angry jubu June 27, 2008 2:52 AM PDT
*Love T-Mobile service, hate their phones.*

Amen to that. I get 1500 minutes for $40, but I want to get a smartphone, and their selection sucks. Of the new crop coming out over the next several months, it's a pretty safe bet that none will be picked up by T-Mobile. I don't want to be married to AT&T for two years, so it looks like I'll have to spend $500 on an unlocked phone in order to to stay with T-Mobile - which makes me so angry that I don't want to stay with them any longer! So now I don't know what to do.
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