Motorola's ROKR E8 is the company's second attempt at the ROKR line. The line started with an absolute abomination of a music handset. Co-developed with Apple, great things were expected of the original ROKR but the phone had a hundred song limit and other features that didn't really make it the desirable music phone we'd been anticipating.

Time has moved on and the ROKR E8 hopes to achieve what its predecessor could not.

Certainly this phone can cope with more tunes. It has 2GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot for adding more storage. There is no 3G, though, which those interested in downloading music over the air might find a bit of a bind.

The ROKR E8 incorporates a feature that Motorola calls ModeShift. Whether or not this cuts the mustard for you is vital, as it is fundamental to how you interact with the handset. Beneath the screen is the usual area dedicated to shortcut buttons and the number pad. Except it isn't.

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When the phone is turned off there are very few markings in this area. A two-thirds circle of white sits around the navigation pad, some raised dots lie on the front fascia, but not much else. All this is set against the black fascia of the phone.

Switch on the phone and backlights identify the number pad. Call and End keys, softmenu keys, a music key and a back key also appear. Tap the music key and it all changes: the number pad disappears and you have forward, back, pause/play shuffle and repeat keys instead. The Call and End keys and softmenu keys remain intact. There is yet another different configuration for camera mode.

The keyboard is a haptic touchpad and so when you press what you want, a little vibration is given in response as well as a very faint sound.

It works well enough and we found it responsive to use. But it is a little annoying that you can't fiddle with music playback until you call up the specialist keys. We tend to prefer the ability to manage tracks regardless of whatever else we are doing with the phone. At least a Hold key on one side of the phone locks all the keys, and there is a 3.5mm headset jack.

We are also a little disappointed at the size of the main screen. At just 2-inches across diagonal corners it looks a little lost in the phone. And the 2-megapixel camera is a bit below par too.

The ROKR E8 is a quirky handset and it does handle its music quite well. But you are either going to love or loathe the ModeShift system. Best to try before you buy and think beyond the 'wow' factor and into longer term use.