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CES 2006 Profile: Motorola

Motorola was busy at CES 2006 showcasing a wide array of new products and services for the coming year. Of more interesting note where announcements about a new ROKR music phone, Oakley designed music eyewear and a mini Bluetooth headset.

Motorola’s newest ROKR phone is the ROKR E2. This mobile music handset, which has a projected availability in the first half of this year, allows for easy switching between phone calls and music at the touch of a button. Features include a Linux operating system, built in digital audio player which is compatible with a variety of different audio formats, PC connectivity for loading of music via USB 2.0, a SD memory card slot for expanded memory, built-in FM radio, dedicated music playback keys, Bluetooth support, airplane mode and a 1.3 megapixel camera with video capture.

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Motorola and Oakley also announced a new set of music enabled eyewear. The O ROKR (availability in first half of year) is wired for Bluetooth wireless technology and works with compatible Bluetooth enabled mobile handsets plus wireless stream via Bluetooth from a compatible music mobile handset or portable music player equipped with built in Bluetooth or an add on adapter. The O ROKR uses the Bluetooth Stereo Music Profile, A2DP, to enable wireless music streaming and allows users to switch between music and phone calls at the touch of a button. The new eyewear also has all of the usual Oakley high tech bells and whistles, such as filtration of harmful rays, as well.

Among the other Bluetooth products Motorola announced at CES 2006, the H5 Miniblue Bluetooth Headset stood out the most. Slated for an early half of 2006 release, this headset weighs 0.26 ounces and measures a mere 33 x 41 millimeters in diameter. It is equipped with an in-ear speaker and microphone that picks up a user’s voice through the ear canal and comes with a portable charging base to both recharge on the go and also protect the headset when not in use.

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