At CTIA 2010, Sprint and Motorola unveiled the first Google Android smartphone for Nextel and, to our surprise, it's quite slick. Check out CNET's hands-on photos here.
Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
Announced at CTIA 2010, the Motorola i1 is the first Google Android smartphone for Nextel. It is expected to ship during the summer, but neither a specific release date nor pricing was revealed at this time.
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Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs
Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs," was at CTIA 2010 (pictured here with IntoMobile's Will Park) to introduce the Motorola i1. Rowe's show takes a look at some of the toughest and dirtiest jobs in the nation; jobs for which people need rugged phones. Like many of Nextel's handsets, the i1 meets Military Specifications 810f so it can withstand dust, shock, vibration, rain, humidity, fog, and more.
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Android 1.5
The Moto i1 runs on Android 1.5. It's disappointing that the phone doesn't ship with at least Android 1.6, but Motorola said that it wanted to develop the phone's iDEN capabilities on an established platform. Though Moto said the i1 can support over-the-air updates, the company would not comment on future software updates.
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Direct Connect services
The Moto i1 is the first Google Android device to support push-to-talk capabilities, specifically Nextel's Direct Connect services, so you can instantly chat with your contacts. Direct Connect also includes Group Connect, International Direct Connect, Direct Talk, Direct Send, Group Messaging, and Next Mail.
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Left side
On the left side, you'll find the push-to-talk buttons and a volume key.
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Right side
On the right, you get a camera capture/activation button, and a MicroUSB port.
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View from the top
The top of the device has a lock button and a 2.5mm headset jack.
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Display and user interface
The smartphone features a 3.1-inch HVGA touch screen. The display is sufficiently sharp and bright and has a built-in proximity sensor and accelerometer.
The i1 does not use Motoblur software, so you get more of a traditional Android user interface with three home screen panels and widgets, including ones for the Direct Connect service.
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Navigation controls
Below the display, you also get your standard Android navigation controls: Home, Menu, Back, and Search. In addition, there are Talk and End keys and a five-way D-pad.
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Keyboard
The Motorola i1 has a traditional Android keyboard as well as a Swype keyboard. Swype lets you spell out a word by dragging your finger on the keyboard from letter to letter. Swype's algorithm then does its best to figure out what word you're trying to input, and it actually works really well. We've become fans of Swype and often prefer it to the traditional virtual keyboard.
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Opera browser
In addition to the Android WebKit browser, the Moto i1 comes preloaded with the Opera mini browser. There's no support for the pinch-to-zoom gesture, but you can double-tap the screen to zoom in on a page.
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Camera
The smartphone offers a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash, 4X digital zoom, and video recording. It also has a panorama mode and geotagging capabilities.
