A year ago, "innovation" and "iDEN" were two words we wouldn't dare use in the same sentence -- but in the age of
i9s and
8350is, the landscape has changed just a bit. That's not to say we'd dare consider switching from CDMA or GSM to the old-school PTT airwaves, but hey, it's good to know the Nextels and Mikes of the world are still getting theirs in 2009. This year should see the release of the Motorola i465, the very first iDEN Moto to score a QWERTY keyboard -- and no, it's not Windows Mobile or anything fancy like that. Instead, it seems they'll be taking the low-tech route by grafting a full keyboard onto a dumbphone, a strategy that's really caught on with many of the world's carriers in the past year as they've looked to boost messaging revenue with cool, affordable phones geared toward a younger segment. It's got Bluetooth 2.0 and a lowly VGA cam, but other than that, specs, release dates, and target carriers are all a mystery to us -- so if you're in that curious group of folks who text and push-to-talk like monsters and can't tolerate anything out of Waterloo, keep your eyes peeled.
posted Jan 27th 2009 9:03PM
KILL IT WITH FIRE!!
I love fire.
I don't think fire can kill it. If I follow my fifth edition Dungeon and Dragons elemental encyclopedia correctly, casting a elemental spell on another creature of the same element will magnify the creatures own abilities by 3 folds causing a cataclysm of unworldly events and in turn also cause you to loose 5 mana points. We must use purified Clearly Canadian drinking water to destroy this MF!!!
fugly.
understatement of the decade.
DO NOT WANT!
ugly as sin
congratulations motorola for your great work of releasing the 1st fugly phone (or most fugly) for YEAR 2009!!!
It is not ugly! I repeat, it is NOT ugly! Because no ugliness in existence could go even half as far as this phone. it is probably the only thing on earth that makes Paris Hilton look like an Angel.
Yeah, This phone is a PHB (Paris Hilton Beautifier), Baby!
That is the ugliest phone ever. What were they thinking............
What you fail to realize is that the entire front of the phone is a touchscreen designed to look like a physical phone... guessed they fooled you...
It is also almost 2 dimensional it is so thin, they had to photograph the phone from the front or you wouldn't be able to see it.
This is big people... to bad engadget linked to the wrong story, and got all the facts wrong...
This makes a great gift from Jetthro to give to his newlywed bride cousin Sue-Ann. Hell, the PTT gives 'em mighty edvantage when transport'n those new batch o' munshan..
Th-the keys...ha-have a pointed surface?
The Tome of Infinite Rage has just been opened.
Seriously... those keys look like they actually hurt to type with. Who's idea was that?
Ya, looks like Motorola is taking steps towards actually making the Dethklok cell phones. Next version of this will grow spikes. Then, they will dip it in chrome and drop a skull on top.
Brutal
Maybe they should have called this the razr. Maybe the "Papercut"
Ouch I just got pinched! damn it.
I think i just puked
I know I did. Just a little, in my mouth.
Is it 2005 again?
I Wish
:-(
if it tethers, i want...some low class losers, like me, use boost's $10 mobile "broad"band on their eee pc's
i think i'm the only one
This is why Sprint's Nextel unit is losing customers. Who the hell wants that ugliness?
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Nice work Motorola, after seeing RIM, Apple, and several others design beautiful yet functional smartphones....you are telling me that this is all you came up with????? Did Hasbro or Willy Wonka design this? And, the 1980's called, they want their low res screen back.....hahaha!! No wonder why this company is going under. Hang it up Motorola, you're done!!
Did I just go back in time to 2000? That's one ugly phone for 2008.
News flash homeslice... it's 2009 meow.
LOL. Thanks for the catch.
With Boost's new $50 unlimited everything plan, I'm willing to bet this thing could get some wings. Although it's not the most attractive thing I've seen, it's certainly not the ugliest. This will certainly hold over the text message hungry teenagers.
Wood. Knot.
wow! look at this piece of junk!! do we really have 2009 already??!
wow, seriously so ugly and so sad for motorola!
Motorola: unexciting phones since 2005
Hm, well, on one hand- that phone is terrible... I mean, it's not like the design is outdated like most of Motorola's design, it's just outright ugly...
But on the other hand, iDEN users basically don't have a choice- if they want a full QWERTY, but don't want a BlackBerry (presumably BlackBerry still requires certain plans on iDEN like it does everywhere else), they have no choice but to buy this phone, so why should Motorola waste the resources trying to make it look halfway-decent or have any features beyond the bare minimum? Anyone left on iDEN this long probably has no option to switch to another provider (for whatever reason), or they would have done so already.
Laugh all you want but you will not believe how many PTT people will have this phone. I know it's not how high tech this crowd likes to rock, myself included. Still, whatever you think this thing will sell a ton-count on it, whether you think it is fugly or not! Sprint Nextel will sell a ton and wait if Boost gets it with their unlimited 50 buck plan-it will be fulgy genius...
No crashoverride, no.
It will never happen.
I just refuse to belive that anyone will want to to be seen anywhere with that monstruosity and be the butt of of all jokes , or even that someone will want to see himself in a mirror with it and loose any selfrespect.
Much , much better a 20 years old, 20th hand star tac (my first phone); because there's nothing wrong with needing a cell phone and not being able to afford one, but there is a lot wrong with having zero taste whatsoever.
wonder what happen ...they were the company to have when the razr came out..now they are just a company of Fugly cell phones..
lmao
is the economy so bad that they can't design something that is appealing to the eye.
lmao
the phone is ugly ok
Damn you ass heals fast for you to laugh it off twice in one comment.
I would like to comment on the looks of this phone but I am speechless.
If I have to see that phone one more time I'm going to explode.
So they're slapping a QWERTY keyboard on an i870 (and cruddy-ing *down* the camera from 1.3 MP to VGA)? "Innovative" certainly is not the word to describe this phone. But make it not have to "download" text messages, which - oh - is how the ancient iDEN network obsoletely operates (and don't tell me to turn on the settign that makes it happen magically), and I might look at it in the Sprint store.
kirf
keepin it real fugly
Holy shit, that is an ugly motherfucking phone. Seriously. Someone pushed that out their balloon knot.
I can't believe the that nobody pointed out the irony of a text machine coming out on Nextel, their text messaging is absolutely terrible, messages come hours late, and you have to download every new message! I can see a nextel blackberry, but this? Come on....
Hahaha, not mention when texts fail to download, and are lost forever.
I really miss PTT, but I sure don't miss EVERYTHING else about Nextel. I hope when Nextel dies, somebody else will come out with good PTT service, on an android smartphones and nice minimalist dumbphones. Talking on the phone is such a waste of time, Push to talk makes a lot of sense for lots of jobs.
From what I can tell by looking at the screen, its crafted from left over razr parts, with an obvious desire to be an HTC Dash.
Is this 1999?
Party like it is.
That is HOT. Hot like a fresh dookie.
how can the designers of this phone be satisfied!
no wonder Motorola isn't doing well!
my boss loves the push to talk, in concept, but the execution is crap. other phones have PTT but seem to not be supported by the phone carriers ... theres always speed dial, since phone quality is slightly better than PTT on iden.
Fortunately he got a 'new' nextel blackberry. (which will never have a sip client ... i hate it already...)
i carry a crap nextel that looks like a childs toy because i still have to... i carry an e71 because it's pure wifi and the nextel doesnt work at my desk reliably.
there was a motorola branded keyboard add on for their shitty phones way back but it wasn't permanently attached with cheezy looking plastic and the buttons were better.
my favorite thing about nextel is the way you find out you have voicemail... when the person that left it calls to see if you got the voicemail from them 2 weeks ago.
I think it looks perfectly ugly.