Sprint’s upcoming Motorola i9 comes out of hiding

What do you get when a rambunctious RAZR and a ROKR in heat are left along in the same room? You’re looking at it. The first taste of Motorola’s next generation RAZR has finally been caught in the wild and it should be making its way to a Sprint store near you sooner than some might have thought. Last week we saw the Motorola i9 RAZR pass through the FCC and now your old pal’s at BGR have managed to score a few action shots of the i9, well, making its way around some guy’s basement (damn, that’s a lot of drinks dude). In spite of the fact that this is yet another RAZR from Motorola, it actually looks pretty sweet. It was only a matter of time before ModeShift found its way to Moto’s skinny clam shell and now that it has, we kind of want to play with it. Soon people, soon. Hit the jump for two more shots.
Thanks, djSD!





is it sprint or iden
That inside screen sure looks small. What a waste of space.
This one is IDEN. Pretty nice looking for a Nextel too…
Yeah what in the world…the outside screen almost looks bigger than the inside one!
They’re about the same size, and once again, the external will be a touch screen, like the V9 and VE20.
OK, so I just saw the other comments about this but wtf, i’ll post too. Because the very first thing I thought when I saw the shots with the flip open is how incredibly small the inner screen looks, especially with that huge space they could have used. FAIL
coming out with a iden phone is useless im with sprint I can see if iden was up graded to like iden-3g
why would moto put a sexy device like this on the most unpopular network. great strategy moto NOT!!! how about lose the iden and move to at&t or verizon as regular phones!!
Anyone care to make some bets on pricing for this?? I’m going to say three-fiddy with no rebate on a two-year. V9 style.
The die-hard iDEN users do need devices too… Motorola owns all the rights to iDEN and makes the majority of the phones for it, it’s one of the areas where they’re very successful.
Ok, BGR show us the 8350i, its the only blackberry not to hit spy shots status yet! Date of release and pricing would be nice too!! Nov 11th I heard for launch as I just registered for the training.
They’re only successful because as you said they’re the only major player in iDEN–the only other one being RIM With their occasional Blackberrys.
They need to devote most if not all their resources on markets and companies that have a future. Since when have we heard that Nextel, much less Sprint, is rapidly gaining customers??
iDen is Motorola technology…so they’re gonna support it til the death.
Moto has let other companies like RIM and Sanyo and LG buy iDen transmitters to put into phones for the Nextel network…its smart as hell for them to support iDen. Who better to make iDen phones than the people that created the technology, come on it isn’t rocket science.
Motorola needs all the money they can get- iDEN isn’t the fastest-growing business (in fact it’s shrinking), but it’s a profitable one for them, so why not milk it while it lasts? It seems like the form factor and features of this phone (Modeshift, front touch, etc.) are all fairly standard from Moto’s designs elsewhere, putting them in an iDEN handset can’t have been too difficult for them.
ive head this is a hybrid phone. voice runs on sprint cdma, and the walkie talkie on iden!?!??!
@ radar_one
The only other company besides Moto to make a true iDen device is RIM as far as I know. The Nextel phones to come out by Samsung and LG recenty are CDMA devices and are only compatible with NDC via EVDO Rev A… Or Q Chat devices if you will. I do agree however that iDen is still a viable solution for some customers out there and it would be dumb of Sprint to ignore the large iDen subscriber base by not offering them new devices… Dying network be damned.
this is why moto is where its at…
i dont think they got technology to go beyond 2″ LCD LOL
Mark this down. December 2nd.
Are you saying 12-2-08 release for the i9? Are you sure?
well, that probably is the bestest looking device to EVER hit the iDen network.
Moto has been making some really nice Iden phones lately. They are getting smaller with more features.
Forget about the stupid Moto phone. Is that Jager on tap in the background. Give me some! That sweet liquid comes out at around 15F and will hold upto 3 liters of godsent goodness. Great picture.
Sprint is the most hated on . But no one can touch the internet speeds or the 100 dollar plan . No one matches the tv or the nfl network , we are the first to stream live football . What you gotta say now ?
anyone heard a release date. Will it be this year or next?
Gee! I dont know why Motorola is giving Sprint this sexy phone? Maybe it cuz THEY’RE ROLLING OUT THEIR 4G NETWORK! SUCK IT AT&T!