Right on cue, just after the
aptly-timed teaser poster, Motorola signs on just the right dotted lines to make its
i1 push-to-talk Android handset official. Let's run through the specs quickly, shall we? A 3.1-inch HVGA (320 x 480) touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 4x zoom, WiFi, and microSD expansion -- no mention of the processor, so we'll have to find out on our own later. The OS version is 1.5 and,
while there's oddly not a single mention in either the press release of fact sheet, given the official images and unofficial leaks, it's definitely got Motoblur. The browser of choice is Opera Mini 5 with support for Flash 8, and if you're worried about Mother Nature's wrath, the i1 meets Military 810F standards for handling averse weather conditions.
iDEN lovers can pick up the call sometime this summer on Sprint, with price yet to be named.
Update: Motorola's just sent word that the i1 does not have Motoblur, despite the presence of the traditional green call / blue contacts buttons. That begs the question, then, of what exactly defines Motoblur here (is just the Happenings widget missing?), and what Android skin is on the i1 -- the press images here are definitely not showing vanilla 1.5. We're still awaiting a response to that, stay tuned.
posted March 22nd 2010 3:37PM
That wheel-looking thing at the bottom there looks bizarre. It looks unintuitive.
@thejdude
if Motorola just made the screen like 3.7in , this would be my dream phone..
@thejdude even still. motorola managed to produce a not-totally-hideous looking handset!
Well.. the other ones weren't hideous they just looked like they were going to fall apart.
@thejdude : I'm sure it's just a five-way D-pad.
@sshole just another note..
Releasing a new handset with Android 1.5 should be made illegal, with electric-testicle shock as punishment (One shock for each handset sold).
While we're at it, lets all go back to using IE6...
@sshole
don't mean no disrespect but i couldn't help but giggle when i saw "@sshole"
@sshole
... but Windows ME is stuck at IE6
@thejdude
Personally I find having to use two hands at all times unintuitive. Learning all the hidden gestures takes atleast as long trying all the hard buttons...
why did Sprint use IDEN for voice/data this should be a hydrid (Sprint Voice/Data+Direct connect IDEN) IDEN data is slooow
Nice to see they're keeping the OS rev up to date.
Looks pretty to me - and hey, it's got Flash :)
@WntSolstice
What ? You forget Adobe say flash 10.1 require android 2.1 ?
@zetman
It says right there in the post: "The browser of choice is Opera Mini 5 with support for Flash 8"
Flash 10 will be nice, but it will at least ship with Flash support (which sure beats *my* android device)
For some reason the only I took from this is that it has Version 1.5 and I stopped caring. I guess that little PTT button can't work with 1.6 and up...
+ Flash
+ Uh... push to talk?
- Too many buttons
- MotoBlur
- Android 1.5
Avoid at all costs.
@essmithsd Agreed...I'm not to keen on having my touch screen phones with tons of buttons on the front. It is a decent looking device tho.
But seriously another android device rolling out with 1.5? Not even 1.6 for god sakes.
@ThatDudeSolo + Keyboard!
@essmithsd
well, the PTT is great news for people like me who want a nicer phone, but need the PTT for work, etc.
"Push to talk" is the instruction on the mic button of a walkie-talkie, not the name of a feature. The feature is walkie-talkie mode.
Saying a phone "has push to talk" is like saying a plane has "turn handle to release."
I personally like that it has dedicated call and call end buttons. OTOH the HVGA resolution is a bit "meh" by today's standards.
Cupcake? It's running Android 1.5? Fail. Why Motorola? Android 1.5 is so long in the tooth....
The scroll wheel is weird, design is Weird++, But I will buy it anyway for Android + flash
for all the faults listed so far I figured motoblur, a connection intensive web 2.0 skin, on iDen would be the biggest complaint, it's mine anyway.
at the http://now.sprint.com/motoi1/ website it states: "Think out of the box with WiFi access to 1,000s of android app choices".... hmmm are they disabling app store access over iden?
@greyski They are going to HAVE to - iDEN is all of 14 Kbps at most
Let's put it like this: Would you rather...
A: Download a 2 MB file over ~14 Kbps - 20+ minutes...
- OR -
B: Download a 2 MB file over a WiFi connection - 1 minute at the most?
Any mention of Boost Mobile? As a relatively inexpensive prepaid Android handset to be used mostly for making calls, listening to music, and surfing over WiFi (in other words, as a cell phone duct taped to an iPod touch or Zune HD) it could be interesting. On a Sprint contract? No way.
@chandler Most likely it'll be on-contract/unsubsidized only but it shouldn't be much to slide a Boost SIM into the device and get 'er going like they can with the iDEN Blackberries.
It's strangely attractive... Very Motorola. Well, nice to see Moto gaining confidence again!
what is push to talk?? Push to answer a phone call? Aren't most phones like this?
i'm missing something here i know it...
@hulahoophugs
It's like a walkie-talkie type thing. Press and talk to someone without dialiing. Nextel was (in) famous for this. You may remember people walking around with handsets that had this annoying ass chirp before they proceeded to bark back and forth over the handset like inconsiderate idiots.
@hulahoophugs it's that walkie talkie thing they show in some of their commercials. it's really stupid cause you're still billed the same, but only one side can talk at a time like on walkie-talkies.
@hulahoophugs Push to talk is what Nextel started back in the day where the phone can work similar to a walkie talkie for quick communication between two or more parties.
@hulahoophugs Push-to-talk or coast-to-coast walkie-talkie.
Businesses love it as they can use group dispatch features much like old-school 2-ways - it's a modern walkie-talkie, if you will that works anywhere you want to be.
I hope this supports MotoTALK mode however - allowing you to go "off network" within a 6 mile range just like an old school walkie-talkie.
@whySoSerious
Your description of push to talk was much better than mine. Kudos
@whySoSerious
I guess I'll be one of the people you'll hate when I use my Direct Connect (aka PTT). And I'll happily let it be heard for miles just to tick people like you off. :)
The use of this term is another example of ever-growing stupidity. "Push to talk" is the instruction on the mic button of a walkie-talkie. It's an INSTRUCTION, not a name.
The feature is walkie-talkie mode.
@Information Central
You sound like the tards who bitch about calling the iPod Touch "iTouch." It's an accepted term, time to get the hell over it and move on.
my question is wheres the Supersonic...?
looked awesome till i saw 1.5? With the others getting 2.1 this month, maybe next, why would they do that?
iDEN network is apparently to slow to support the data transfers from the app store that you have to connect via wi-fi. iDEN Data Speeds are 19.2kbps with an average of 13kbps
Looks nice. I'm afraid of how much it might cost though. And MotoBlur +1.5...
Hmm to me 1.5 is quickly becoming outdated.. Kinda like IE6, why support a dying version of an operating system when there are phones with 2.0 and 2.1 coming out. At least give it 1.6 for God's sake!
When are these guys going to figure out that PTT is locked and owned by NexTel's iDen Technology......i know Sprint owns them......All major carriers have tried the CDMA and GSM version of PTT and decided to sell it in backrooms nowadays.
Please Stop It, focus on making voice quality on your network better!!!!
Beside the PTT looks like a decent phone.
better then nothing
Does anyone actually LIKE Motoblur?
ANYONE at all??
Seriously, what is the friggin point of stuffing Motoblur down our throats??
@Johnny Rockets
Agree. At least they should give us the option to uninstall the program.
What a waste of that awesome wallpaper.
@onlymyrailgun That wallpaper looks like it was made in 2003 by an uber-nerd teenager
@dragonfli Yeah IDEN's slaoow, and afaik WIDEN was never fully rolled out (not that it's edge speed and multi slot latent data's that much better) :)
@greyski It rolled out to a point but then was disabled in 2005 during the Great Rebanding(tm) to give more cellular traffic to iDEN users.
And even then wiDEN wasn't advertised too much - and it was only usable on some phones via hacks - namely, Radio Service Software.
wiDEN was ~90 Kbit/s and iDEN today is about 14 to 19. I could pull 9 Kbps tethered... and I have the speedtest from a while back to prove so.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/372465062.png