The Rugged Motorola i1 Might Be Headed for Sprint Next Month

Sprint has promised to start offering the Motorola i1 this summer, but hasn't specified exactly when. A new unconfirmed report reveals Sprint's launch date of this ruggedized Android OS smartphone with PTT, as well as its price.

The i1 is a very business-oriented model, and was developed to be an Android OS-based phone that users could take onto a job site.

It will debut on June 20, according to information leaking out of Sprint, and will sell for $150 with contract.

Overview of the Motorola i1
This will be a smartphone for getting work done. It is going to be the first Android OS smartphone to offer Nextel's Push To Talk (PTT) service, and will use this carrier's iDEN network for voice and data, and also offer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The i1 will meet military specifications for protection against dust, shock, vibration and blowing rain.

It is going to run Google's Android OS, and therefore will be capable of getting e-mail from a wide range of business and consumer sources, including Microsoft Exchange.

This device is going to have a proprietary user interface layered on top of Android, but this won't interfere with its ability to run the thousands of third-party apps in the Android Market.

Other Details
The Motorola i1 is gong to have a tablet shape with a 3.1-inch HVGA touchscreen.

Users will be able to browse the Web with the Opera Mini 5 browser over an iDEN or Wi-Fi connection, but the standard Android browser will work only over Wi-Fi. This is to compensate for iDEN's rather slow data transfer speed.

The i1 is going to include a 5 megapixel camera with support for both video and still images and a microSD memory card slot.

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