Motorola today expanded its ROKR family of music products with the introduction of the ROKR E8 mobile device.

Using ModeShift technology from Motorola, the quad-band GPRS/EDGE Motorola designed ROKR E8 presents users with only the controls they need, at the time they need them, instantly transforming from music player to phone with the touch of a button.

When powered off, the surface of ROKR E8 is smooth, with no visible keys. Power on the device and it presents a virtual numbered keypad on the front surface. With one "press" of the virtual music key, the phone keypad disappears and control keys for the music player - play, pause, fast forward and rewind – appear in its place.

Using vibrating haptics technology, the device provides the tactile feedback consumers expect from a traditional keypad, providing confirmation they have pressed a virtual key.

ROKR E8 also marks the debut of the new FastScroll navigaton wheel from Motorola, a variable-speed touch control that lets consumers easily scroll through all of the content stored on the device. With a gentle slide of the thumb, the wheel quickly scrolls through your music (music mode), contacts (phone mode), calendar (phone mode), or multimedia (imaging mode) content. Information is easily viewed on the landscape 2.0” QVGA display.

In music mode, music can be enjoyed on the built-in speaker, with a compatible Bluetooth enabled stereo headset, or through a wired headset plugged into the 3.5mm jack. ROKR E8 also helps consumers discover new music with a built-in FM radio and support for Song ID

The 2GB internal memory can store up to 1,500 songs, and the external memory is expandable up to 4GB with an optional microSD card. Music transfers quickly with USB 2.0. The device is compatible with Windows Media Player 11 on the PC, which also provides access to more than 200 online music stores.

Summary of key features in ROKR E8:

• Dimensions: 115 x 53 x 10.6mm
• Quad Band; GPRS/EDGE class 12
• Weight: 100 grams
• Battery: 970mAh
• Display: 2.0” QVGA 240x320 262K TFT
• ModeShift technology transforms the device from phone to music player to imaging device with thetouch of a button
• FastScroll navigation wheel allows for scrolling through songs, contact and image library with theslide of a thumb
• haptics technology provides tactile response when a virtual key is pressed
• 2GB internal memory;
• external memory support up to 4GB capacity
• Microsoft music ecosystem support
• 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, stereo Bluetooth wireless technology (A2DP)
• 2.0megapixel camera with 8x zoom, multi-shot feature, video capture and playback
• Airplane mode to play uninterrupted music in the air
• MIDI, MP3, AAC, AAC+, Enhanced AAC+, WMA, WAV, AMR-NB, Real Audio (RA) v10
  Crystal Talk technology
• Full HTML browser 
• Connectivity: Stereo Bluetooth Class 2, USB 2.0 Hi-speed, GPRS Class 12, EDGE Class 12

The ROKR E8 is expected to be available in Q1 2008.