ROKR Rocks. Review on Motorola MOTOROKR E6

Before I start my review on Moto ROKR E6, some clarifications. I recently wrote a review on VLCC(Very Large Cheating Center) and one of the esteemed readers of MS wrote the comment for the same that I have lots of easy money to blow off. So I want to clarify that I earn money by working as hard as anyone else in this world. I am clarifying this because, after reading this review, the same beloved user may come back and comment that how do I spent money on health clubs and mobiles.

Now, lets start with E6 Review.

I was thinking of changing my phone since sometime and was not able to decide on any particular model. But, my attraction was towards Nokia N72 or N73. The main purpose was, to have very good music capability, since I spend more than 2 hours per day in office bus to commute to office. When I compared N72 with E6, I almost immediately decided to go for E6. I bought 2 E6 mobiles(myself and my wife, we always have same models so whenever I buy a mobile; I always buy 2 sets of same model). I bought 1 E6 premium model(with 2 GB memory card and S9 BT snoop) and another one normal model but exchanged the memory card with 2 GB SanDisk card for extra 400 bucks. I also got a Bluetooth headset(mono) free with the phone(after negotiations) so the entire deal was for Rs 23, 400/- (for 2 E6 phone both with 2 GB cards, 1 Motorola S9 snoop and 1 Bluetooth headset). Here is the breakup –

Motorola E6 Premium edition(with 2 GB Card and S9 snoop) 13, 000

Motorola E6(1GB Card and no Snoop)                                       10, 000

2GB SanDisk card in lieu of 1GB Card                                               400

Free 1 Bluetooth headset(Mono)

Its been 2-3 weeks since I have been using this mobile and I can tell you by my experience that this is the best mobile for this price range. The screen is very bright and touch sensitivity is excellent. It looks bit heavy compare to other phones(120 gms) in this range(90-105 gms) but for the screen size it has, it is worth. Another good part is its QWERTY keyboard to type SMSs and other information. If you find its QWERTY keyboard bit inconvenient because of key size, you have another option of using the handwriting keypad which is pretty decent. Though, it might take some time for users who are not used to of handwriting recognition devices.

Camera - The 2 MP camera give decent picture but don’t expect that this phone can replace your normal camera. Also, the zoom is not much of use as the picture quality with zoom is blur. Overall, for normal operations, the picture quality is good.(and remember, it does not have flash, so you can not take pictures in dark).

Business Card Reader - The camera has in built business card reader. I would say, the accuracy of BCR is almost 70%. For rest 30% you need to manually modify the information captured from the business card. But again, a good feature to quickly capture the information and store it in contacts list.

E-Mail - The phone can send and receive e-mails which is a good feature(though not unique as most of the phone have this now a days).

Memory - The Phone has 8 MB use memory and this is where I think the phone needs some improvement. 16 MB(or ideally 32 MB) memory would have been a treat for this phone. If you download and install some applications, make sure you install them on memory card otherwise you may run out of phone memory very soon. Keep your phone memory for contacts, notes, calendar items, call records and other data.

OS - The phone runs on Linux OS which I feel much more robust than Microsoft OS but the problem you might face is, there are not many applications available for this phone. This phone runs on JME(Java Micro Edition). If you are a techie person, it is not difficult to write some applications for this phone. You can download MOTODEV Studio from https://developer.motorola.com/ and start writing the applications. If you want to download some applications for this phone, look for some applications at https://getjars.com and https://motorolafans.com

Battery - Battery life is normal and there is nothing much to appreciate about that. Some tips to save the battery life are - Reduce the screen resolution, switch off the Bluetooth when not in use, set the screen light turn off time to 10 Secs and when last but not the least( and I know we all know this), when battery is low, don’t play and game or listen to the music:)

The Battery can be charged with the wall charger(supplied) or with the USB cable(also part of the standard pack). The battery indicator is poorly designed. It has only 3 bars and most of the time the information about the remaining battery life is wrong. You need some experience with this phone to properly guess the battery life remaining.

Design - The phone has very stylish design. Though, its a music phone but design wise, you will not feel odd even in board room meetings(where most of the people prefer business phones over music phones)

Music - The phone has in-built RealPlayer which can play MP3/MP4 music files. But again, this can not play many video formats. If you want to play most of the video formats, install ZMPlayer( http://www.motorolafans.com). On normal wired headset, the volume is low but its pretty OK when you use the S9 snoop to listen to the music. Again, ZMPlayer can solve the volume problem as well if you don’t have S9 snoop.

I would have loved to see some application to password protect the folders or some wallet application where you can securely store your confidential information. Some of the such applications are available on net(such as CellSafe available at https://motorolafans.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3870&d=1179183735) to download but most of them have bugs or not properly tested so don’t rely on them.

Now, little bit about the Motorola S9 Snoop. This is a perfect headphone for this phone. You can receive calls and listen to the music. The snoop works great when you are not moving but gets disconnected sometime when you are moving. The snoop has a great stylish design and the sound quality is awesome.