Apple finally announces iTunes phone

So, it is a phone. Apple today announced the iTunes phone, or more accurately the Motorola Rokr, which will initially operate on the Cingular wireless network. It's a silver candy-bar-style phone, nice and compact with tri-band capability (Apple announced as a quad-band phone), as well as all sorts of built-ins: a digital camera, stereo speakers, Bluetooth, and of course, an iTunes client. One of the primary navigation buttons is the iTunes button, which instantly gives you access to iTunes. Steve Jobs compares it to the iPod Shuffle--the Rokr holds 100 songs with 512MB of storage (limited to 100 songs), shows up in iTunes' source list, and can be autofilled. Unlike the Shuffle, it has a color screen, so you can navigate pretty easily.

Additional details: When you get a call, iTunes pauses, and when you transfer songs via USB, the USB port is on the bottom of the phone. You also get a pair of headphones with distinctive orange ear pads.

While the Rokr looks like a decent, full-featured phone with a popular and critically acclaimed jukebox client, we were disappointed about the lack of direct wireless download of iTunes Music Store tracks. We're also interested to see what kind of real-world battery life the Rokr can boast.