Why the Rokr Phone Is An Important Failure

An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian has some interesting commentary on the new iPod cellphone." From the article: "The music-player module works like an iPod - though it lacks the clickwheel that makes its big brothers function so slickly. But overall, the impression is distinctly underwhelming. The word on the streets is that far from being the revolutionary device that will bring about media 'convergence', the Rokr is, well, just the sum of its parts. And that, it seems to me, is the most interesting thing about it."

Well duh...

[shr3k]

A phone based on Al Roker [roker.com] was destined to be a failure anyway.

Re:Failures aren't important for one reason.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple has no patent on innovation itself.

Yeah, that doesn't get reviewed for another month or two.

Re:Mighty Panel

[tourvil]

I wonder if Apple is able to pull such a trick where it uses its Mighty Mouse technology to provide both keypad and clickwheel on the same surface.

Hmm, perhaps the click wheel could function as an old rotary dial... :)

Re:Mighty Panel

[Bastian]

I think I hear a return of the rotary-dial phone in the distance . . .

Re: @*$&*$& 120-pixel column!!!

[theNAM666]

go to this page and click on, "The Convergence Bubble."

http://www.ries.com/Articles/index.cfm?Page=adage [ries.com]

This brings up a pop-up window that is set at 120-point width, in huge text. I am not going to read through a long article in a huge font in a little bitty pop-up window 120 pixels wide. I am not going to bother to change my settings to fix this, much less edit the raw HTML. Ain't that important to read this guy, whatever he has to say, if he can't present his content in a palatable form. Whatever else this guy has going for him, a user interace guru he is not.

Re:Sony Walkman Phone

[rathehun]

And memory stick can provide storage expansion, it came with 512K which is pretty good to start.

So, you get to hear the first 30 seconds of one song? ;)

R.

Re:I love my smartphone.

[sandmaninator]

How about reading /. while in the driver's seat of the car?

Re:I love my smartphone.

[Audigy]

That sounds like a great idea. Give it a try and let me know how it works out.