“Motorola i886 (Sprint)”

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 10:13 AM PST

Specifications

Service Provider: Sprint
Operating System: Android OS
Screen Size: 2.2 inches
Screen Details: 240-by-320-pixel, 65K color TFT LCD
Camera: Yes
Network: iDen
Bands: 800, 1900

Motorola has thrown us all a curve ball. The push-to-talk Motorola i886 ($79.99-279.99) looks just like any number of iDEN cell phones for Sprint's Nextel network: chunky, rugged, and built for hard use. But this phone packs a hidden secret: it's running the first non-touch version of Android we've seen on a handset. (For more on that great leap forward, see our related feature What's Up With the Motorola i886's Android Build?.) The i886 has a few bugs, and it's not a real smart phone. But it's a nice jump in power from earlier iDEN devices in this price range.

Design and Call Quality
The i886 measures 4.6 by 2.0 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and weighs five ounces. It feels tough and rugged in the hand, with plenty of reinforced plastic and a comfy, hard-rubber back panel. The i886 meets military specification 810G for resistance to shock, dust, vibration, extreme temperatures, and humidity. You can't take it swimming, but you can make phone calls in the rain. The 2.2-inch, 240-by-320-pixel LCD looks a little fuzzy, but it exhibits sufficient color and brightness. The Send and End keys are too thin, but I grew accustomed to them over time. The phone has two excellent keypads. There's a fine numeric keypad on the front, and also a slide-out four-row QWERTY keyboard with slightly raised, cleanly separated keys. It's a pleasure to type on, and the key arrangement is excellent.

The Motorola i886 is a dual-band iDEN (800/1900 MHz) device that works on Sprint's push-to-talk Nextel network. There's no Wi-Fi, and beware: Internet access over iDen is extremely slow. Voice quality was very good, with a warm, full tone in the earpiece and clear transmissions to other callers. The speakerphone was wonderfully loud, clear, and powerful, albeit with a touch of hiss at high volume. Reception was excellent; I had no problem pulling in signal inside my house in a rural area of Massachusetts with notoriously sparse iDEN coverage. Normally, I have to drive into town to test Nextel phones, but not with this one.

Calls also sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Icon ($99, 4 stars) Bluetooth headset. The voice dialing app worked fine without training, but not at all over Bluetooth. Battery life was excellent at 8 hours and 29 minutes of talk time. Unfortunately, Android is a power hog in standby mode. Starting from a full charge, most feature phones can last over a week, but this one kept dying every two days even when I wasn't using it.

OS, User Interface, and Apps
The UI and settings menu are exactly what you'd find on an Android smartphone, minus the touch screen. But don't be fooled; the i886 isn't a smartphone. Motorola added support for Nextel-standard J2ME apps, locked down the Android build, and removed Android Market (possibly because Google's specs for Android Market don't support non-touch devices.) Still, what's left is attractive, easy to use, and light-years ahead of Nextel's old sluggish, proprietary OS. Instead of touching on-screen buttons, you use the five-way control pad to navigate. Once I finally convinced myself that there really wasn't a touch screen, no matter how much I expected one, I had no problem navigating the device.

There are plenty of useful features, too. You get Opera Mini, which is an ideal browser to use on Nextel's slow data network, since it compresses pages before sending them to the phone. TeleNav GPS Navigator offers voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions with the appropriate data plan. Android's usual e-mail app handles Web and Exchange accounts, and Sprint added its obligatory NASCAR and Football apps.

Not all was well, though. As to be expected with a brand new OS, some things didn't seem quite right. The first time I booted the i886, I was greeted with a "Sorry – Process android.process.acore is not responding" dialog. The sound effects when dialing phone numbers and taking photos sometimes sounded chopped off; other times, they didn't sound at all. I also ran into numerous other glitches (see next page).

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Sprint Cell Phone

Wednesday, January 26, 2011