Motorola Combines Brain With Brawn: iDEN-Capable, Android-Powered Motorola i1

As a great song says, don't call it a comeback, they've been here for years. Motorola has become a fixture in the mobile phone industry, with the RAZR turning the industry into one that made the cellphone not just a tool, but a must-have accessory. The company slipped a bit over the past few years, but since the launch of the CLIQ, DROID and Backflip, it's safe to say that Moto is definitely BCK.

With CTIA kicking off this week, it's no surprise to see yet another Motorola phone on deck. The company has teamed with Sprint, one of the few carriers out there who still support "the chirp," in order to reveal the world's first push-to-talk Android-powered smartphone, the i1. This is one of the most, if not the most, unique Android phone we have ever seen. It looks a lot like a standard touch screen-heavy phone at first, but it's actually super rugged underneath. It combines military-grade toughness with Android's sleek and savvy UI, giving users who need PTT an option outside of those silly looking clamshells that have long since gone out of style.


This iDEN smartphone has a 3.1" HVGA touch screen, Wi-Fi, Opera Mini 5 browser, a 5MP camera, support for Nextel Direct Connect, a microSD card slot, support for Flash 8 and Android OS. Sprint plans to start offering the phone this summer, but pricing has not yet been announced. Brawn and brains? This is it.

Must-have Features and Nextel Direct Connect

With solid body construction that meets military specifications for protection against dust, shock, vibration and blowing rain¹, Motorola i1 is designed for those who work and play hard. It automatically syncs and integrates office and personal information such as emails, calendar appointments and contacts. Key features include:

• Popular business tools such as Microsoft Document Viewer and corporate sync ensure Word or PowerPoint files can be accessed on the go.  
• Message entry is a breeze with both Android standard virtual keyboard and Swype™ virtual keyboards being offered.  
• A 5 megapixel camera with flash, geo-tagging and panoramic capabilities provides crisp photos and clearly displays them on the vibrant 3.1-inch HVGA screen. Video can also be recorded and stored on a provided microSD for sharing or future viewing straight from the device.
• The latest Opera Mini 5 browser enables quick browsing over the Nextel National Network and Wi-Fi. The Android browser allows you to see web pages and Flash 8-enabled sites in full view using Wi-Fi.
• Motorola i1 can be continuously customized with thousands of applications from Android Market™.

Application development information for Motorola i1 is available on the Sprint Application Developer web site at www.sprint.com/developer. Sprint offers developers a free sandbox with iDEN capabilities to test their apps. Sprint is a charter member of the Open Handset Alliance™ and the Sprint Application Developer Program has been providing tools for third-party developers since Sprint first launched the Wireless Web on its phones in 2001.