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.
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 yearsold 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.
Looks like the Motorola i1 Android set (not pictured above) will stand as the highest-end Nextel phone ever — Sprint just announced that it’s phasing out the iDEN network sometime in 2013 as it begins a new four to five billion dollar network enhancement project called “Network Vision.” We’ve expected this for a while — the Sprint / Nextel merger has been beset by subscriber losses and rumors of a breakup for years now — but this is the first time we’ve gotten a date. Sprint’s rolling out push-to-talk on its own network to support its 10.6 million Nextel customers, but we don’t have a schedule for that yet. Sprint’s also announcing vendors for Network Vision: Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, and Ericsson will each handle a region and be tasked with expanding and fortifying Sprint’s existing 1900MHz 3G network while buying 800MHz, 1900MHz, and 2.5GHz spectrum for future use. Interestingly, Sprint’s definitely hedging its WiMAX bets a little — it can upgrade its new gear to LTE with swapping in a baseband card and issuing a software patch, which certainly gives the company some 4G flexibility should Clearwire not pull things together. We’ll see what happens — the underdog’s making some moves.
Echoing sentiments of Sprint’s senior VP of networks from last month, CEO Dan Hesse has said that the company will be saying goodnight to its aging push-to-talk network — iDEN — that it inherited from its Nextel acquisition several years ago, “just like 1G was shut down.” Of course, the difference between 1G cellular and iDEN is that iDEN still holds a very unique position in the wireless marketplace: even though it sucks for data, it’s really the only popular, successful way to route push-to-talk over a cell network of any kind. To that end, the company is actively soliciting bids to build out CDMA 1X Advanced right now, which may allow the company to have another go at moving its PTT services over to a CDMA-based technology (the first attempt, QChat, already failed). In the meantime, Hesse says that the company is putting most of its marketing efforts into attracting customers to its CDMA airwaves, not its iDEN ones, in the hopes that they’ll be able to smooth out the transition and free up iDEN spectrum for other services. It’s had a good run, hasn’t it?
CDMA2000 isn’t getting any younger — but it’s a spring chicken compared to iDEN, a network that has remained the de facto standard for push-to-talk fanatics against all odds, surviving occasional challenges to the throne and Boost Mobile’s desire to dip its toes in the CDMA waters from time to time over the past couple years. It can’t live on forever, though, and Sprint’s senior VP of networks has dropped some new knowledge this week on how it plans to address the issue. The crux of the strategy — which spans seven to ten years on Sprint’s roadmap — involves deploying new base station equipment that will be considerably more flexible, capable of running anything from CDMA to WiMAX to LTE with little more than a software tweak, and increasing the power output on those base stations which will allow the company to reduce the total number of towers it operates and overcome some of the reduced building penetration seen in the higher frequencies. Somewhere along the way it’d like to move its iDEN customer base to a CDMA-based PTT solution — something it already tried (and failed) with QChat — and refresh its CDMA footprint with 1X Advanced, which is considerably more efficient for voice and should allow the company to generally make better use of its spectrum. With Sprint’s relationship with Clearwire in a somewhat strange place right now, a robust network strategy that can survive on its own two feet if necessary seems like a wise idea — and freeing up iDEN spectrum for more modern technologies is probably a good place to start.
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.
Motorola already offers the Clutch if you’re looking to get your text on through Boost Mobile — but what if you want that oh-so-rare combination of full QWERTY plus a clamshell form factor? That’s pretty hard to find regardless of carrier or network technology, but it looks like Moto is going to deliver with a phone called the Rambler featuring a 1.3 megapixel cam with video capture, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, and not much else — in other words, like most Boost devices, this one will be pretty low-end. More on price, release date, and specs as we get it.
If you thought the aging i290 was about ready for replacement, we’ve got some great news for you — the updated i296 is upon us. It’s an ultra-basic device by any measure, seeing how it lacks a camera, music player, and web access, but if you’re just looking for a marginally stylish way to get your chirp-chirp on, this might be a decent way to do it. As with many (if not most) iDEN devices in recent memory, the candybar is mil-spec 810F compliant for dust, shock, and vibration resistance, and it runs just $59.95 contract free — let’s see you try to get that kind of a deal on a smartphone, eh? Follow the break for Boost’s press release.
Since the Android-powered i1 was originally announced for Sprint’s Direct Connect service, you might’ve assumed that it’d be the first to get a hard launch date — but subsidiary Boost Mobile is breaking that news first for some reason with the announcement today that the phone is coming June 20 in Boost retail stores plus Bust Buy locations. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but Best Buy had previously teased it for $350, so we wouldn’t expect this to be a cheap purchase; then again, you’ve gotta remember that it’s coming at you contract-free. Not like you’ll be unlocking it and taking it to another iDEN network either way, right?
Look, the i1 isn’t that spectacular of an Android phone, we know — but to the iDEN crowd, this represents just about the coolest thing that has ever happened to the network. This shot we’ve received today seems to indicate that the phone will be available by direct ship on June 6, just over a week from today, while it’ll “launch into the rest of the sales channels” on July 11. We’re not sure why there’s such a gap there, but at least you should have some way to get it in just a few days’ time. Interestingly, Sprint is pointing out that the phone “may appeal to customers that may not have previously thought of iDEN as an option,” so expect the i1 to get marketed beyond the typical rugged, outdoorsy crowd that usually dominates Direct Connect. Everyone excited?
