# Motorola iTunes Phone Thread



## fryke (Jul 3, 2005)

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000887049175/ ... One ugly bas**rd of the Moto phone and iPod colour interface... On the other hand, it's _exactly_ what one expects of a hybrid of those interfaces...


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## fryke (Jul 3, 2005)

Steve Jobs: "Ugh. That kinda looks, erh, ugly. Like as if you have a mix of analogue and digital. Remember that robot-head from L.E.X.X - THE DARK ZONE? Seven-Ninety? Could you call that phone 790? Thank you."

(LEXX' "790" is a hommage to 'Marvin' in Douglas Adams' H2G2, in a way, and Douglas Adams was a Mac aficionado. So it might all make some strange sense, too. To me, it does. But then it's 03:15h here...) - http://topkool.free.fr/images_seriestv/lexx03.jpg


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## Captain Code (Jul 3, 2005)

It doesn't look much different than any other phone I've seen.  At least it's not that ugly black and green one that was floating around.


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## HomunQlus (Jul 4, 2005)

Not that spectacular as I thought it would be.


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## Shookster (Jul 4, 2005)

Yeah, I agree. There's not really anything new or innovative. They've just added the iPod interface and software to a phone.


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## adambyte (Jul 4, 2005)

I wasn't expecting anything horribly innovative, as we all knew that it was a Motorola phone that works with iTunes, not an APPLE phone.

Looks nice enough to me. I wouldn't mind getting one once the Cingular contract is up, soon.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jul 4, 2005)

I wonder if there will be a software or firmware update for other motorola phones to support itunes. My v635 supports mp3 playback and additional memory up to 256mb. Would be nice to combine it with itunes..


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## fjdouse (Jul 4, 2005)

Not wanting to be a troll but I find it totally uninspiring, am I the only one who just wants a phone to be a phone?  (To me the rest seems like junk to make people keep buying and producing yet more waste.)


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## fryke (Jul 4, 2005)

I've heard some Moto phones actually _can_ be used with iTunes without an update, but they of course don't have the iTunes interface on the phone, then. I wouldn't expect Moto to upgrade older phones with iTunes, since they probably want to create some sales. I mean: That's _their_ interest in this deal, isn't it.


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## Lt Major Burns (Jul 4, 2005)

i got my contract nokia stolen.  it was one of the 3g sets with a 1.3 mp camera, video recording, mp3 player etc (it had a 266mhz processor in it) - and it was the worst phone i ever had.

now i'm looking for a new phone, and i want a camera (to get those moments you always wished you'd bought your camera to ) and i want it to look good, look kinda expensive, but really well designed. like my mac. but i want it SIMPLE! all the phones on the market ATM are the most bloated, slow, big, complex unintuitive turds. horrible. to the point where i don't want _any _of them.

especially not this one - it's hideous. and it's a motorola, so it's the most unintuitve device ever.


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## Convert (Jul 4, 2005)

Zammy-Sam said:
			
		

> I wonder if there will be a software or firmware update for other motorola phones to support itunes. My v635 supports mp3 playback and additional memory up to 256mb. Would be nice to combine it with itunes..



Nice phone. I am somewhat happy with my phone.


I think a better candidate (although not actually a Motorola) would be the SF65, with some variations of course.


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## Convert (Jul 4, 2005)

Lt Major Burns said:
			
		

> i got my contract nokia stolen.  it was one of the 3g sets with a 1.3 mp camera, video recording, mp3 player etc (it had a 266mhz processor in it) - and it was the worst phone i ever had.
> 
> now i'm looking for a new phone, and i want a camera (to get those moments you always wished you'd bought your camera to ) and i want it to look good, look kinda expensive, but really well designed. like my mac. but i want it SIMPLE! all the phones on the market ATM are the most bloated, slow, big, complex unintuitive turds. horrible. to the point where i don't want _any _of them.
> 
> especially not this one - it's hideous. and it's a motorola, so it's the most unintuitve device ever.



Yeah, my boss has the V3 Razr... I LOVE it, for how it is designed. But the motorola software *still* lets it down. Take a look at that Siemens phone. I would love to get it, but my one is just too good... despite the size...


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## HomunQlus (Jul 4, 2005)

I got a Motorola V220. It's not a super-mega-fancy phone. Alright, it has a camera in it and polyphonic ringtones. The polyphnic is already too much for me, and I wouldn't need the camera neither.

If I buy a phone, it should be able to, well, be able to make phone calls. Yeah. That's it. That's for me the sole reason of a mobile phone. I don't need an MP3 player. I don't need iTunes on my phone. For that I got a 20 Gig MP3 player, and I got a digi cam, which takes pics at better quality than a phone, well and for the rest, I got my laptop if I'm on the road.

To integrate all these things into a phone is nice, and it's somewhat cool, but useless.


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## fryke (Jul 4, 2005)

Well, that clearly depends on people's different needs. I for one need a great today-view and calendar, I need a decent contact view and always-better E-Mail and SMS handling. Series 60 and Series 80 do those well - albeit with third party software for some tasks. But I can tell you that no Moto phone does those tasks well for me.

But the thread's about _this_ Moto phone and the iTunes integration. I guess if it's basically handled like an iPod shuffle from iTunes, I think that's great. If the interface from the mobile is much like an iPod (besides the missing wheel), that's great, too. Now if only Apple would offer iTunes integration as well as an iTunes player for Series 60/80 phones as a 3rd party application for those phones... It'd certainly be doable. It doesn't seem like the phone has iTMS integration, right? (The songs must be in iTunes on the PC/Mac.)


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## CreativeEye (Jul 4, 2005)

I've got a samsung D500 which has and mp3 player, 1.3mp camera, short video recorder and quite a bit of memory (not sure how much exactly but i have over 200 pictures and around 20 mp3s as well as all my messeage / contacts etc).

this was one of the first 'true convergence' phones - where there was a leap in the level of technology in a small (and i mean small!) device. the camera is a god-send, sure - the quality isn't as great as my 5.1mp digi cam but it's more than good enough to capture moments of 'nights out'... samsung have also just developed a 2.1mp camera - the first digi cam i ever bought was around 4 years ago and that was 2.1mp and was considered a high end consumer cam - and samsung have also said that in a year or so they could be upto 5-6 mp  - if thats true - and if they can image handling, memory - and true camera capabilities into a small device that is a phone - then i wont need to buy a new stand alone digi cam if the quality is comparible. as a consumer you dont really need to go over 5mp.

the d500 also has a good mp3 player - and i can say that it actually never gets used. simply because of the non-standard headfone jack and the headfones you are then tied into by samsung - which are awful. put in a standard jack and better handling of the quality of sound -  and music control - and it would get used more. the fact that the d500 has an mp3 player where music is transfered from your computer either by cable or bluetooth also leads me not to pay much heed to the idea that carriers dont want to carry the fone because they want to handle and get money for those tracks. then again - here in europe we get a MUCH better service from carriers than our US counterparts who tend to get locked out of every decent feature of their fones - and are then forced to pay extra to make the most of them.

 - back to the fone at hand - i get the feeling its just a test fone to see how the software works - i think even jobs himself would think that its an ugly fone and would want to have itunes on the higher end and better looking fones 'as standard' - with maybe firmware updates for other fones. the PEBL fone which not only looks great but is innovative in operation and design would be the ideal fone. if no-one has yet seen it - the motion for opening it is like a cross between a slide / flip phone - this is the type of phone jobs / ive et al would fall in love with...

right now all this is is just a pretty front to handling mp3's... made to look like itunes - and thats all it is unless you can have enough memory for playlists, itms etc - also - will the fone update playlists as an ipod will when you 'rate' tracks etc?

i think the 'real' apple input has been in getting the tech into the new phones - making sure that theres no intereference on the headfone jack from the phone (as there are on phones with standard jacks) - so that sound quality is king...

at the end of the day - i've already got a phone that plays mp3's - so unless these new fones do something remarkable (more than just syncing with itunes on my comp) - then its going to be a stuttering start for something that could have promised so much... i'm due for an upgrade in a few months - and so far the best fone i want is the updated SE's - as the camera quality is fantastic - and its a given that the interface on SE's is brilliant too.


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## fjdouse (Jul 4, 2005)

HomunQlus said:
			
		

> I got a Motorola V220. It's not a super-mega-fancy phone. Alright, it has a camera in it and polyphonic ringtones. The polyphnic is already too much for me, and I wouldn't need the camera neither.
> 
> If I buy a phone, it should be able to, well, be able to make phone calls. Yeah. That's it. That's for me the sole reason of a mobile phone. I don't need an MP3 player. I don't need iTunes on my phone. For that I got a 20 Gig MP3 player, and I got a digi cam, which takes pics at better quality than a phone, well and for the rest, I got my laptop if I'm on the road.
> 
> To integrate all these things into a phone is nice, and it's somewhat cool, but useless.


Agreed, I just see no point in it, it seems like features just to _attract_ rather than a function based on _need._  Perhaps I'm becoming a Luddite as I get older but I'd find a tin opener, or nail clippers on a phone far more useful.


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## Veljo (Jul 4, 2005)

fjdouse said:
			
		

> Not wanting to be a troll but I find it totally uninspiring, am I the only one who just wants a phone to be a phone?  (To me the rest seems like junk to make people keep buying and producing yet more waste.)


Amen to that.


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## AdmiralAK (Jul 4, 2005)

ummm...aren't all motorolas ugly ?


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## Shookster (Jul 4, 2005)

I completely agree with the people who say that a phone should just be a phone, but it's easier to carry around one phone than it is to carry a phone, an MP3 player and a camera for example. I'm one of those minimalist people who prefer multi-function devices to lots of individual ones.


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## Randman (Jul 4, 2005)

U g l y


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## Quicksilver (Jul 5, 2005)

i feel sick! who designed it? what a rush job!

Why does'nt Apple create an iPhone that syncs with iTunes music store and .mac etc?


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## Lt Major Burns (Jul 5, 2005)

probably for a similar reason they don't make a multi-button mouse. because no-one knows why.

i want a stylish, intuitive, attractive, powerful phone.

(my last was powerful, but not enough for it's feature set - it was, at the time, the most powerful phone ever, with it being 266mhz. but in everyday use, it felt slower than any phone i've ever used.)


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## Quicksilver (Jul 6, 2005)

Somone should start a petition. Not that it would really help us. The motorola phone ruins the whole Apple image and branding. Is apple really that scared to jump into moto/mobile territory?


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## fryke (Jul 6, 2005)

It's Motorola's phone, of course. Can't really ruin Apple's image and branding... And there are those who are used to Moto's phone designs and happen to like them. Those won't mind the addition of iTunes.


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## Shookster (Jul 6, 2005)

This could just be a prototype, of course. A petition would be a bit over the top, to be honest. It's a lot easier to show companies how much you dislike their products by simply not buying them.


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## Lt Major Burns (Jul 6, 2005)

less "need-more-sunlight"-level geeky, too


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## moav (Jul 6, 2005)

Last I heard Apple has been activeley working with motorola for almost a year now and in fact the razr phone was a joint coperative effort of apples designers and motorolas guys. So, Tomorrow will be a special day in everyones hearts... someone let the bat out of the bag to early sir john.


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## fryke (Jul 7, 2005)

Today, in a Swiss "SMS-Guide" booklet, I've seen the E790 mentioned. The picture looked _very_ similar (also pearl-white) but without the iTunes button. The text for the phone mentioned it would be available in July 2005 and one specialty was "compatibility with Apple I-Tunes" (sic!). I guess an announcement can't be too far away.


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## Lt Major Burns (Jul 7, 2005)

the V3 is hideous IMO. yes, it's thin, but it compromises virtually every other aspect of the phone's aesthetics doing this. it's overly wide, and that 'blob' is disgraceful. the mirrored keypad is tacky, and there's tiny buttons on the _side_ of the thinnest phone in the world!? if Jonothan Ive had a hand in that, i'll eat my hat (and i have dreadlocks, so my hats are _manky_)


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## CreativeEye (Jul 7, 2005)

This will be best on the V6 Pebl - 

its strange that a few months Motorola had a flash presentation of the fone - but its now vanished... but if you google the name you can find images of it...

its a great looking motofone...


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## fryke (Jul 7, 2005)

The PEBL's just a rounder Moto flip-cover phone. Nothing to do with either the E790 or iTunes as far as I can see...


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## CreativeEye (Jul 7, 2005)

well thats the thing - i get the feeling that the E790 is being used a test machine - or that we'll see a revamped E790. 

when it launched it'll need to be launched in a big way- not on a fone that's pretty darn bland and 'normal'.

the Pebl actually uses a totally new way of 'flipping' open - its a smooth self-flip' motion - sure its rounder - buts it has innovation in its design and form - more of a 'wow' factor when released...


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## fryke (Jul 7, 2005)

Hm. While I agree that the E790 isn't the greatest phone (see first post...), I don't think they'd release a 'test machine'. Dunno. And as I said, the Blob, erh, Pebl, is not an iTunes-enabled phone according to all available information, whereas the E790 _is_. The icon in iTunes _also_ looks like a normal candybar design.


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## CreativeEye (Jul 7, 2005)

the pebl hasnt been released - so i guess info about itunes on it would be scarce - bit i can imagine that of the new phones that they say they will be releasing with itunes on - its got to be one of them.

also - i think those icons are bound to be fairly generic for now - until there are more of these moto/itunes fones on the market.


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## brianleahy (Jul 7, 2005)

It'd be amusing to have a phone with an iPod's click-wheel -- that would let you use the click wheel like the dial of an old rotary phone.  ;-)


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## Stridder44 (Jul 11, 2005)

Ok is anyone else here not impressed by this? I mean an iTunes compatible phone, big deal? It sounds about as groundbreaking as podcasts....

It's not that I don't like the idea, it's just Im sick of all the hype this phone (and the podcasts) are getting, when both concepts have been out for years.


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## Lt Major Burns (Jul 11, 2005)

i bought the V3. it's _so_ awful, as an OS. it shows what a difference an OS makes - it'd be a bloody fantastic phone if it had Nokia's series 40 installed instead. are there any even partly usable 'nixes for phones yet? i would seriously consider doing that to it. physically, i can't fault the phone

adding itunes wouldn't make any difference to it, other than taking ages booting the iTunes Java applet up, and adding yet another OS inconsistency to it. it might raise the overall quality of the phone by just being there though. no, just kidding. as it stands, the V3 has 5.4mb of memory. 

yes MB. 

it's like 3 floppys. 

or 2 mp3's


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## Convert (Jul 11, 2005)

Yeah, I looked at the V3, but I had my V600 at the time, and didn't expect to see a change in the OS. I was right. So I got the Sony Ericsson P910i, which is good. I love it. I currently have a 512mb card in it, along with 64mb built in. It's huge, but still... it's brilliant. I love the stylus, and get this - IT HAS LEMMINGS!!! It's good.


EDIT: Take a look at the Sharp GX15. Video capture... and... get this... *1.8 MB!!!*


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## symphonix (Jul 11, 2005)

> Not wanting to be a troll but I find it totally uninspiring, am I the only one who just wants a phone to be a phone? (To me the rest seems like junk to make people keep buying and producing yet more waste.)



I agree completely. I'm pretty close to going sans-mobile at the moment, as my T610 now has a dead battery that won't hold a charge, and in the two months I've been going without a mobile phone because I'm too busy to get it fixed, I've actually found life in general to be better, not worse. I think I might even fix it up and sell it as I just can't be bothered carrying a mobile phone anymore.


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## JereBear (Jul 26, 2005)

I agree with that as well, I enjoy texting every once and a while, but that is the only feature that I realy enjoy.

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## lilbandit (Aug 14, 2005)

Things have gotten a little daft in Ireland, This phone (discontinued model) is going for big bucks on the second hand market. The biggest daily paper did a feature on it a few weeks ago. Gist of article was that people are fed up with smart phones, cameras, wap, gprs, 3g, colour screens etc. etc. when all they want is a simple phone with good battery life and an easy to use interface. My last phone was a nokia 6600. It was slow, battery life was very average and it was hard to see the screen in sunlight. Bring back the 6310!


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## AdmiralAK (Aug 15, 2005)

I know that retro phones are also making a comeback 
Anyone remember the banana phone? (the phone from the original matrix)

I wish that my 8890 was still functional 


As for the moto iTunes phone - I must say that this is typical "cold" motorola design - nothing has changed. I think Apple should have gone with Nokia or SE to design phones. Hopefully Nokia and SE versions of the iTunes phone will be made, or at least have iTunes on new "music" phones that are coming out (Nokia N91, SE W800 etc)


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## fryke (Aug 15, 2005)

I don't think Apple had _any_ say in designing Motorola's iTunes phones. They're just the software provider...


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## Gig' (Aug 16, 2005)

brianleahy said:
			
		

> It'd be amusing to have a phone with an iPod's click-wheel -- that would let you use the click wheel like the dial of an old rotary phone.  ;-)



Getting close to your wish on the iPods like click-wheel but only for the korean market http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_10037.html ::sleepy::


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## Zenzefiloan (Aug 19, 2005)

Just spotted this:

http://www.mobilegazette.com/motorola-rokr-spotted.htm


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## Gig' (Aug 19, 2005)

Kalimera (sorry about the spelling)

FYI the subject is being discussed here : http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229094


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## Zenzefiloan (Aug 19, 2005)

That was very well spelled.


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## fryke (Aug 19, 2005)

Threads merged...


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## Gig' (Aug 22, 2005)

while we wait to see it for real

others are creating some very interesting designs which are a lot more appealing to me than moto or the nokia n91 ...

http://www.t3.co.uk/nested_content/gallery_assetlisting_navigation?root=197113&result_page=4

http://applele.exblog.jp/2176122/


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## fryke (Aug 22, 2005)

Yep, those look nice. Sadly, Motorola isn't really great in product design - and Apple seems reluctant to enter the mobile phone market themselves. They sure would be able to make my next mobile phone... :/


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## DJ Dylan (Aug 22, 2005)

Not so spectacular looking, but the iTunes capability is awesome.


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## CreativeEye (Aug 22, 2005)

those are obviously good looking concept fones but the ones that will more than likely carry itunes (the rokr and pebl) are 'real' and are great looking fones!

the question is why the release of the actual handsets alone have been put back? motorola as a company certainly wouldnt put back the release date simply for a third party app to be pre-installed - the revenue they would lose from not releasing the handsets to carriers would be to great. its like apple holding back on releasing a new peice of hardware because a software company that supplies one of the pre-installed peices of software was not ready to ship it yet... whether the carriers are having trouble with the whole itunes concept or not - motorola would want their hardware on the market asap.

so is there a motofone that will be the 'motopod' that the world hasnt seen yet?...
are either the rokr or pebl going through some design changes?...

also - the best thing apple could do long term is to actually make a version of itunesmobile that can be downloaded as an app for any modern fone - acting as an interface for playing and managing tunes - as well as installing the full itunes on the users computer as the central management point... from there they have the perfect springboard for other fone manufactures to say to apple - 'our customers love using itunesmobile - so we now want the full version - the same as motorola...'


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## CreativeEye (Aug 22, 2005)

and after my lengthy rant!...

check this out!

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Motorola-E790-iTunes-phone-gets-FCC-approval-article-a_661.html


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## Satcomer (Aug 23, 2005)

There was just a article on the E790 at CNet.


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## mi5moav (Aug 29, 2005)

Hopefully this is it...


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## symphonix (Aug 29, 2005)

Haha. How are you supposed to make phone calls?

I'd say this most definitely isn't it. I won't go into the reasons too much, as we've seen them before, but they include the fact that the agreement with Motorola is to produce an iTunes equipped Motorola phone. Oh, and the fact that the mock-up poster has the wrong font and design elements not typical of Apple.


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## mi5moav (Aug 29, 2005)

You are absolutely right...


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## gerbick (Aug 29, 2005)

The fakes are getting better... yes they are.


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## symphonix (Aug 30, 2005)

Yeah, very stylish and smart. But take a look at where the microphone is positioned on that second pic. :-D hee hee


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## Gig' (Aug 30, 2005)

Its not really new then if you look at my post here and personnaly I would prefer the one shown in the t3 link,  more masculine I guess


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## Gig' (Aug 30, 2005)

some fresh ...... news will it be e790 or e680i ? and Apple special music september 7th 

http://backstage.ilounge.com/index....e-big-media-rumors-and-itunes-phone-number-2/

http://www.macosxrumors.com/articles/2005/08/29/special-music-event-on-september-the-7th/


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## fryke (Aug 30, 2005)

That e680i-based rumour is, well, the author of the article says himself that there's been a lot of strange rumours flying around. His is one of them.


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## Gig' (Aug 30, 2005)

guess we have to be patient and wait to see which one comes out.

IMO the e680i more mac lookalike but just noticed the back picture shows usb 1.1 ! it would be a technology step back


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## fryke (Aug 30, 2005)

I also don't see Apple porting iTunes to linux for this... And the speculation in the article goes as far as Apple developing a mobile phone OS for Motorola. *cough*...


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## Lt Major Burns (Aug 30, 2005)

as far as i'm concerned, it's still a motorola. so my money is not going there.  i currently have a v3 razr, and it's an _awful_ farce of an OS.  everything is difficult on it, and it all seems backwards. nothing is logical, and add to that a very difficult to read screenfont.  i will never buy another motorola.  nokia, i fear however, will never be associated with apple. regardless of their common ground (success, challenging industrial design, logical well thought out, attractive OS, general squarepushing etc) something is obviously never going to happen,  their complete incompatibility with iSync being a good indication


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## fryke (Aug 30, 2005)

"their complete incompatibility with iSync" - I think that's not Nokia's fault, actually. The phones _are_ compatible. At least the Series 60 and Series 80 phones. Some need a hack (see my signature), but others are supported. I think it's Apple who doesn't add the device entries into their lists... Quite simply, actually, but someone's sleeping - and I guess that's Apple.


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