Digital Trends

There's been a lot of hub-bub about Apple creating an Apple branded iTunes phone. But Jobs and company have held off, probably because Motorola is swimming at that cell phone end of the iPod pool, first with the poorly received ROKR E1 and now with the higher-profile SLVR L7, which is available through Cingular for $199.99 with a two-year contract. On its glitzy surface, SLVR is a vast improvement over the ROKR. But despite its impressive Nano-meets-RAZR looks, the SLVR suffers from many of the same music-centric limitations as the ROKR -- a 100-song capacity, slow song transfer, mono Bluetooth and ill-fitting headphones using an unusual mini-USB jack. Motorola is admittedly hampered somewhat by Apple-imposed capacity constraints, but Motorola has only itself to blame for some of SLVR's other missed opportunities, which include the lack of a megapixel digital camera. But just how handicapping are these limitations? For most users, probably not very. With few other iTunes/cell phone options, the SLVR's mere existence diminishes its many drawbacks. In other words, it's the only game in town.