Motorola's rugged i1 coming to Sprint: July 25 for $150 on contract
By Darren Murph 
posted July 19th 2010 10:22AM
posted July 19th 2010 10:22AM
A solid four months after first seeing thing plastered across half of Las Vegas, Motorola's i1 finally has a date with Sprint. The planet's first Android-equipped smartphone with Nextel Direct Connect will go nationwide on July 25th (via telesales and websites; all other Sprint channels will see it on August 8th), bringing military spec ruggedness, push-to-talk capabilities and a certain ability to withstand all sorts of death grips. Unfortunately, Android 1.5 is a bit of a dinosaur at this point, but it's still a heck of a lot better than that G'zOne Rock you're currently toting. Get ready -- you've got just under a week to scrounge up $149.99 and the nerve to sign another two-year contract. World's First Nextel Direct Connect Smartphone Powered by Android, Motorola i1, Available for Sprint Customers on July 25 for $149.99
Motorola i1 combines military spec ruggedness with the latest in smartphone technology, industry-leading push-to-talk, Wi-Fi and a sleek full touchscreen design
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jul 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Industry-leading Push-to-Talk with access to thousands of Android(TM) applications for less than $150? Now that is taking care of business!
Sprint (NYSE: S) today shared pricing and timing for the world's first Android-powered smartphone with Nextel Direct Connect(R) - it will be available first on Sunday, July 25, through direct ship sales channels, including Business Sales, telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and Web sales (www.sprint.com/motoi1) for $149.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate (taxes & surcharges excluded). It will then be available in all remaining Sprint sales channels beginning on Sunday, Aug. 8.
With more than 17 years of experience, Sprint is the undisputed industry leader in push-to-talk, serving the world's largest push-to-talk community with millions of Nextel Direct Connect subscribers on the fastest national push-to-talk network. More U.S. workers communicate in less than a second with Nextel Direct Connect than with any other push-to-talk service.
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 offers the Android 1.5 operating system, and automatically syncs and integrates office and personal information such as emails, calendar appointments and contacts.
"Motorola i1 is the only Android device to offer Nextel Direct Connect as well as the latest smartphone features and the ability to withstand some of the harshest environments," said Fared Adib, vice president - Product Development, Sprint. "This phone brings a new level of smartphone to our Nextel customers making it one of the most efficient devices to get work done, and our customers who rely on Direct Connect will appreciate this feature-packed phone that doesn't miss on must-have features like Wi-Fi and a 5 megapixel camera."
Motorola i1 enhances the Nextel Direct Connect experience with the ability to view who is calling regardless of what application you are in, whether you are managing your emails, checking your calendar, composing messages or viewing media.
Motorola i1 also offers a variety of robust business and entertainment applications through the Android Market(TM), and when combined with the built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, it provides a great view of what's happening both personally and professionally. Applications like Scan2PDF Mobile 2.0, Unit Converter - ConvertPad and RealCalc Scientific Calculator can help get work done, while staying connected to friends through Facebook(TM) or Tweeting using an easily customizable Twitter(TM) app like Touiteur.
In addition, Sprint partner applications available for businesses on the Motorola i1 include:
* Xora(TM) mobile workforce management solutions provide businesses with real-time visibility into field operations, and helps automate payroll and job workflow processes. The Android version of Xora Time Track(TM) includes new features like photo barcode scanning and signature capture, eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware to support such capabilities.
* TeleNavTrack(TM) uses the latest technologies to make mobile workforce and asset management reliable and affordable for businesses of all sizes. It lets businesses use wireless barcode scanning to track inventory and assets, manage deliveries, better predict arrival times, change schedules on-the-fly and deploy workers. It can also reduce paperwork by allowing the mobile workforce to complete invoices, orders and timesheets on the device.
* Sprint Mobile Locator is a Web-based solution that allows businesses to easily track and locate workers, and view a mapping display on a PC in near real-time using a wireless phone's built-in GPS capabilities.
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(TM) 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, and video can also be recorded and stored on a provided microSD for sharing or future viewing straight from the device
* The Android browser allows you to see web pages and Flash 8-enabled sites in full view using Wi-Fi, and the latest Opera Mini 5 browser enables quick browsing over the Nextel National Network and Wi-Fi
With the new Sprint Free Guarantee, the most robust satisfaction guarantee in the wireless industry, customers can try a new line of service with Sprint for 30 days. If they aren't completely satisfied with Sprint during that period, they can cancel service and return their device to be reimbursed for the device purchase and activation fee, get the early termination fee waived, get a full refund for monthly service plan recurring charges incurred and get all associated taxes and fees waived.
In addition, Sprint will waive the restocking fee for new customer exchanges as part of this policy. Refund excludes usage not included in the plan, premium content, third-party billing and international charges.
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(TM) 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.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, and is the first and only wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless and instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
I didn't know sprint carried the G'z one..
@bunit they dont
does this thing even have WiDen? that web experience has to be awful even with Opera browser
@clos1084 I know they don't that's why I put the ... They should have made a reference to a nextel phone since this is on a different network.
@bunit
Android 1.6?
Shame. Shame.
@MGore32 1.5 Actually...
@brokensticks
That deserves another "shame."
What about the Epic 4G? Sprint!
1.5? Bahahahahahaha
@mark29 You just stole words out of my mouth.
@mark29
Perhaps this phone isn't intended for people who read tech blogs? Push to talk has always been marketed towards blue collar/construction types.
@mark29
Right? I mean seriously, there is absolutely no reason 1.5 should be the shipping firmware on that. What the hell is Motorola thinking? Google outed 2.2 over a month ago (not that I expect this to ship with 2.2) and they are using a firmware that wasn't even cool anymore last November.
@Slick google needs to make it u cant use anything 2.0 or less
Sadly, I must say.. This phone was a letdown for me. I was expecting more.
Of course I can only say so much simply because I'm an EVO 4G owner
@andriodgeek5487
Dude I feel the same way cause I work in construction n I wanted that phone but I also own an EVO n wow HTC set the bar high
@andriodgeek5487 Lol, you're an idiot. Your comment is the equivalent of a person with an Alienware laptop saying... oh that EEE netbook can't game.
@Evster88
Well said...some people need to read the posts better. If a phone with the size and specs of a EVO4G was made into a rugged version, it would cost a mint. Just have a look at the cost of Panasonic Toughbooks compared to your average lappie.
What about Nokia Siemens buying Motorola's wireless structure?
@Torrasque Motorola will be keeping the iDEN division, I believe.
Android 1.5?!?! Are you efffing kidding me? Not that I would ever buy this phone but that is inexcusable... How can any carrier sell a new phone with such an old version of the OS?
@MobileAllstar and at that price point, too.
Android 1.5... Another MotoFAIL
The positive side: it does not have any of the blur-crap
@Zigmar
Actually, it DOES have MotoBlur. It's just toned down big time. It's actually similar to the same MotoBLUR that is on the Droid and Droid X.
i am curious as to what the screen is made of, is it anymore more rugged than gorilla glass?
As interesting as this is since my company is a sprint/nextel subscriber and we heavily use the nextel radio on our standard motorola phones and 8350i blackberries. This i1 seems like a letdown. my understanding from our sales rep is this thing is still 100% iDen, AKA extremely SLOW data, like GSM GPRS kind of speeds. They should have made this a CDMA/iDen hybrid so it could have gotten some 3G data. The old Android version is a letdown too.
Am I the only person that, Android version aside, thinks this phone looks really cool?
@Wezzuz
It does look nice.
Finally, Bear Grylls can get an android phone.... rugged!
@AstroSeven Rugged for his stay at the hotel as soon as the cameras are off, right?
I have a friend who has had this phone running on Boost for a few weeks now, yet it's just coming out? It's his only Android experience, so he thinks it;s the greatest thing since sliced bread, if they ever put Froyo on it he will probably have a stroke.......
Dammit, someone take 1.5 out back and shoot it dead!!
1.5 ??? really motorola??? guess newer android is too complex ... the i1 users can join the Cliq and Cliq XT users in "stuck with no new apps" hell.
@darthgault
Why is everyone blaming Motorola? Did the original Droid come with 1.5? No. Did the Droid X come with anything less than 2.1? No. The same WOULD have been true here, BUT instead Sprint insisted that anything more than 1.5 was "overkill". Really? Because Sprint (which continues to lose 500K post-paid iDEN subs every quarter) somehow suddenly knows and understands the iDEN culture and user base? No.
Trust me, the Android 1.5 is all because of Sprint, and only Sprint. Simple as that.
this is obviously not for the technical user. or for some one who wants a super kick ass phone that does everything they dont need and more.
"The planet's first Android-equipped smartphone with Nextel Direct Connect...bringing military spec ruggedness, push-to-talk capabilities and a certain ability to withstand all sorts of death grip"
like a commentator mentioned, these phones are probably going to appeal to the person who more then likely works at a job where they need A) push to talk capabilities and B) needs the phone to be rugged enough that when they happen to drop it at the site they're at, it wont break into delicate little pieces.
if you have to use Nextel's push to talk and dont want to use those ugly bulky nextel phones, then this would be the perfect match between solidness and modern technology.
haha im sure the contractor isnt goign to worry too much about which OS update he/she running.
@audrywienerdog
Ugly, bulky? Wow...that may have been true of Nextel phones in the past (say pre-2009), but wake up already. There have been some seriously nice Nextel phones launched in the last year or so...the BB 8350i for one, the i9 Stature for another. And even the i890 is a great phone, with a very slim form factor. If you're going to criticize anything, it's the lack of 3G data speed, but NII Holdings is already fixing that with upgrades to the iDEN network by upgrading to HSPA+. Sprint could (and should) do that too, but then how do they explain the superior speeds on iDEN when the company clearer only wishes to promote its own CDMA network?
This is not the first time this has appeared, its been available on boost for a while now @399.99 (though only through dealers not on their website)
As far as them shitting it out as android 1.5 it makes no sense, it all goes back to "old world" thinking in terms of carrier/manufacturer/retailer.. They are still living in a world where things move at a glacial pace, where OS is either not relevant (featurephones/dumbphones) or where updates are widely spaced and largely designed around new/different hardware (windows mobile/symbian/blackberry)
This is the same deal as samsung getting deer in headlights look when questioned on the behold2 firmware updates etc. None of these manufacturers where ready for "moving target android" hell not even HTC who has been the most responsive (i know i know not saying much) in terms of smartphone makers.. has largely failed to deliver updates in a timely fashion..
All because in the carrier/manufacturer world.. these are not "updates" but rather "upgrades" and reasons for you to buy a NEW SHINY PHONE rather than update your old one.
That said.. at some point in time google, the hardware vendors, and the carriers are gonna have to make a decision on updates/timeframes/supported versions of devices.. or the entire android bubble will rapidly burst and become "the dumbphone OS of choice for carriers who like to brand things" rather than a *cough* smartphone OS *cough*
Someone posted that the "contractor wont care what OS version he is running" that is likely true, however he will care when he cannot download any apps at all because App vendors refuse to support outdated phones and 17 versions of the android stack just because moto is lazy.
@pple is poo
This is available prepaid on boost mobile. It is sold at best buy currently.
Too little, too late, too ugly.
@flea925
LOL, stupid. It's not ugly at all.
anyone know if its been rooted?
ugly, I would like to see more moto phones perhaps like the ones with high specs like verizon or the moto backflip not some shitty boost mobile phone
You can get one with Nextel Mexico already:
http://nextel.com.mx/Equipos/i1.htm
The problem, folks, isn't Motorola...it's Sprint. Motorola introduced the i1 last year to the MIR iDEN network (think Israel) and it had Android 1.5 back then. Motorola has been quoted stating that they've already issued upgrades to the MIR's version of the i1 (it's called the Opus One there) and it's running Android 2.1 already. NII Holdings and SouthernLINC all have this phone and it is operating using 2.1 as well.
Only Sprint insisted on putting 1.5 on it because, and I quote here from a Sprint employee, Sprint "didn't want the i1 to take away sales from the HTC Evo 4G." Really? They appeal to two completely different sets of users! Why would Sprint even begin to think that the i1 would compete with the Evo 4G and vice versa? Because they're both Android? Give me a break. Sprint purposely took its time releasing this phone and has given no real reason aside from it wants to see iDEN post-paids leave. It's as simple as that.
@emaildejan
Business as usual.
@pple is poo
Apple listen the phone cost 350.00 prepaid .
this phone should be killed faster than the kin and any other dead phone
I can't wait to consume data like it's 1999.