Motorola said hello to Linux and goodbye to Apple with its new ROKR E2 phone today, an update to the first iTunes phone that fixes many of the ROKR's problems—but lacks iTunes.

The ROKR E2 comes in black and white versions and looks a lot like the rounded ROKR E1, which was much-criticized for its slow song transfer speeds, poky interface, and artificial 100-song limit. But it breaks free of all of those limitations. The E2 transfers music at speedy USB 2.0 rates rather than USB 1.1; takes Secure Digital memory cards up to 2 GB with no limit on songs; and runs a new Linux-based operating system. Motorola has released Linux phones in Asia, but this is one of the first we've seen for the US.

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