i886
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Motorola's i886 for iDEN is running one of the strangest Android builds you've seen
Motorola's i886 for Sprint's IDEN network featuring both landscape QWERTY and standard numeric keypads bowed during CES a few days back for $79.99 after $50 rebate on a two-year contract -- and as we'd observed a while back when we first saw the user's manual, it runs a pretty convincing Android clone UI. Turns out, though, it's less of a clone than you might think: Phone Scoop has discovered that the i886 -- which doesn't have a touchscreen -- is actually running real Android (albeit without the Android Market) accompanied by generic J2ME like you'd find on your average dumbphone. If we had to guess, Motorola took advantage of Android's status as a free, open-source platform here, tailoring it for the i886's needs without worrying about the normal Google certification process that would've earned them Market access -- and given the lack of a touchscreen, we're sure they wouldn't have been able to earn it anyway. From Moto's perspective, it seems like a good way to get a proven, familiar platform without a lot of engineering effort -- they can toss their proprietary platforms and save a little bit of cash in the process. Follow the break for Phone Scoop's video of the i886 in action.
Sprint inks another three years' worth of iDEN infrastructure support with Motorola, 'several' new phones coming in Q1
Even as Sprint starts to dream up ways to sunset its aging (but still popular) iDEN network, reclaim the spectrum, and migrate its push-to-talk customer base to something CDMA-based, there's still a network to maintain in the short term -- and to that end, the company has re-upped its contract with Motorola to keep the system in tip-top shape for at least another three years. Amazingly, this will mean that the network is some twenty years old by the time the agreement is up in 2013, after which they'll either need to be ready with their CDMA replacement (bearing in mind that QChat already failed) -- or we imagine they'll need another contract renewal. Oh, and this won't just be a run-out-the-clock situation, either: there'll be at least some new hardware, with Sprint saying that "several" handsets are on tap for the first quarter of 2011 including the i886 ("stylish," rugged, and landscape QWERTY) and the i686, an update of the i680 with improved waterproofing. Follow the break for the full press release.
Motorola i886 gets FCC approval, earns you dual keypads and iDEN
Motorola's really been branching out with iDEN form factors (and platforms) as of late, a testament to the fact that the aging network still has a niche no other technology can quite fill -- and, as evidenced by Boost Mobile's aggressive moves, customers ready to pay for it. The latest is a dual-keypad landscape slider, featuring your classic numeric keypad upfront teamed to a full QWERTY layout when you slide it open; maybe more interesting, though, is that the UI seems to be a dead ringer for Android -- widgets and all -- except that you don't have a touchscreen... and you most definitely can't run Android apps. All we've got to go on so far is an FCC filing, but we reckon we'll be hearing more soon.
