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Cingular, Motorola Offer iTunes-Enabled SLVR Phone

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 at 1:30 PM - by Staff

Cingular and Motorola on Tuesday announced that the new iTunes-enabled SLVR cell phone is now available. According to a Reuters story, the companies decided to adopt a form factor that's sleeker than the iTunes-enabled ROKR, which was considered a failure when it launched last year.

"The first thing that's going to attract people to this phone is the form factor," Steve Lalla, Motorola's general manager for mass market products, told Reuters. "We think it's going to start with the design and consumers will double-click to look deeper at the features."

Like the ROKR, the SLVR can only hold up to 100 songs in its iTunes jukebox, and the music must be transferred from a computer. Cingular has yet to offer music downloads over its cellular network, unlike its rivals. The SLVR also offers a VGA camera with 4X zoom, as well as the ability to shoot video clips.

The SLVR is US$199.99 with a two-year contract.


The SLVR, with iTunes

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:55 pm

This one looks much better, I'll give it that.

Too bad it's only for Cingular uers. I'm getting pretty sick of this "certain phones for certain providers" thing they're all doing. Does it actually work? Do people REALLY go through all the trouble and penalties involved in switching cell phone companies just for a certain kind of phone? I know I would never bother.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:18 pm

Yeah, it looks nice, but Cingular is a second-rate network compared to Verizon, at least here in California.

iTunes phones being exclusive to one carrier only really limits their appeal for me.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:21 pm

Well isn't it more along the lines of Cingular is the only provider who has actually been willing to offer iTunes enabled phones?

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:22 pm

I guess the country really is segmented because Verizon here in the Central States is a fourth-rate player.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:28 pm

Here on the East coast Verizon is the first rate network, by far.

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fultonkbd said:

member since 02 Mar 2004 with 123 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:33 pm

Now that is a good looking phone. If signing a contact you shouldn't have to spend so much for a phone. For me it's one or the other, buy the phone and no contact or go with a contact and get a free phone or at least a steep discount. But any way, I think the phone is cool.

I never had Cingular, but I had AT&T before Cingular snatched them up and it was horrible here in the midwest. (Northeast Ohio) Could never get a decent signal and the customer service was horrible.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:04 pm

It costs *cough* HOW MUCH? A CONTRACT? For HOW LONG? Uh, no. There is NO WAY on God's green earth i'm going to shell out $500+ a year for two years for A FREAKIN' PHONE. Get real.

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:14 pm

Biff wrote:
Well isn't it more along the lines of Cingular is the only provider who has actually been willing to offer iTunes enabled phones?

It's possible, but everyone does this stuff to attract customers. I suspect that's what's happening here too. Like, there's a pink RAZR phone if you have Verizon, and a magenta one if you have T-Mobile. Everyone else can only get silver or black. I hear there might be a blue one too...I'm sure it will only be available for some other company.

It would be like Apple selling white iPods that only worked on Macs and black ones that only work with Windows.

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macslut said:

member since 03 Sep 2004 with 61 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:33 pm

It's $199 for the phone when you sign up for a 2 year contract, not $199 per year for two years.

What I want to know:

Is it USB 2.0?

Can you use standard headphones (to listen only of course)?

Is it Podcast and Audiobook aware?

Those are my big complaints about the ROKR (along with the poor camera, which still sucks on this one).

Everyone is commenting on how much better this one looks. Well, it's black/thinner and I guess that's better, but I hate the keypad and specifically it's lacking a dedicated iTunes button.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 279 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:32 pm

Guest wrote:
It costs *cough* HOW MUCH? A CONTRACT? For HOW LONG? Uh, no. There is NO WAY on God's green earth i'm going to shell out $500+ a year for two years for A FREAKIN' PHONE. Get real.

Well, in fact, you are buying that phone at $1,160 plus tax!!! That's the money you're paying over two years for the cheapest qualifying plan. Now, on the other hand, if you are one of those few who actually use up all those minutes, then there's a chance that it might be a decent deal for you. For the rest of us, $40 per month for the 5000 minutes we'll never use is just plain highway robbery. In other words, we're buying a half-baked iPod phone for over a thousand bucks!

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:29 pm

^ Everyone seems to be forgetting that you're getting phone SERVICE along with the phone.

And Cingular does have 'rollover' minutes, so you don't lose 'em if you don't use 'em.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:53 pm

yeah I think someone didnt get it right. $199 for the phone with a 2 year contract. Could get a $39 contract with that. So its comparable. All new phones are pricy when they come out. Also comparing iTunes to vCast is rediculous. The audio quality off of vCast is horrible and you cant move the songs around. where as you can use your own music on this phone and not get stuck with whats available at $2 a song. I have an iPod so have no need for this phone, but I see its usefullness. Plus it looks better than the rokr that reminded me of the old nextel.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun May 28, 2006 3:23 pm

I don't have cingular or any of the services that offer it. Is verizon going to offer it because other wise its not going to be my next phone.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun May 28, 2006 3:26 pm

I would buy the razr but I kind of like the whole itunes thing its better that if I can get a phone that has itunes enabled then I get a phone and a ipod for one price.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:44 pm

Guest wrote:
yeah I think someone didnt get it right. $199 for the phone with a 2 year contract. Could get a $39 contract with that. So its comparable. All new phones are pricy when they come out. Also comparing iTunes to vCast is rediculous. The audio quality off of vCast is horrible and you cant move the songs around. where as you can use your own music on this phone and not get stuck with whats available at $2 a song. I have an iPod so have no need for this phone, but I see its usefullness. Plus it looks better than the rokr that reminded me of the old nextel.
I have never had a vcast phone, but I agree. My friend has a pink slvr, and I love it, but I think she has Cingular. I have Verizon, and I personally like it a lot better. I would really like to have this phone, but I also have an iPod nano. Of course, it would be easier to have a thin phone instead of an iPod AND my fat phone. Besides, it's really cute in pink!

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