Irvine, Calif. –
Sprint’s
prepaid brand
will launch the industry’s first iDEN-network Android-based phone on June 20
through Boost-branded stores and Best Buy stores at a tentative price of
between $349.99 and $399.99.
It will be the
world’s first Android smartphone with push-to-talk (PTT) capability, Boost
said.
The phone,
unveiled at this year’s CTIA convention, is the Motorola i1 with 3.1-inch HVGA
touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Swype-equipped virtual QWERTY keyboard, and iDEN-network
push-to-talk capability.
The device is
built to military specifications for protection against dust, shock, vibration
and blowing rain. Other features include5-megapixel camera with flash,
geo-tagging and panoramic capabilities. It also comes with provided 2GB MicroSD
card, support for 32GB memory cards, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, Opera Mini 5 and Android
browsers, Microsoft Document Viewer, Microsoft Exchange server compatibility,
Google Talk IM,
Boost Mobile
stores, which are owned by master agents but Boost-branded, number roughly
1,000. Best Buy locations number 1,100, and Best Buy Mobile stores number 80.
