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We don’t have much info to go on here besides the photo, but we’ve been told that Sprint could quite possibly be picking up this iDEN-flavored Motorola ROKR for their network soon. If this was 2004, I’d totally sport an iDEN slider. But hey, we’re not exactly the target customer for this so we have no doubts that it might actually do well paired with Boost and a flat monthly unlimited rate plan.

Thanks, Daddy G.!

So maybe the uniquely styled Motorola Clutch i465 wasn’t exactly your bag, and a QWERTY keypad doesn’t interest you much. You’re a simple guy or gal and you just want a basic handset that is compact, can play a song or two, snap the occasional outdoor photo and of course allow you to walkie talkie with the rest of your Boost Mobile-bearing friends. Ta da! Say hello to the Motorola i856, a handset that sports pretty dated fare where major carriers are concerned but as far as Boost goes, it might not be half bad. It doesn’t have the (relative) glitz of the i9 but its compact size, 2.2-inch display, sliding 0-9 keypad, 1.3 megapixel camera, dedicated media key, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD support and of course PTT support make it a definite contender on Boost. Anyone digging it? Hit the jump for some more angles.

Thanks, Captain Donovan McAhab!

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Motorola’s upcoming i465, its first full-QWERTY iDEN phone, is one of those “special” phones that manages to get uglier each and every time that we see it — even in sexed up press shots. But ugly or not, the FCC has given its blessings after the handset successfully satisfied all federal telecommunications requirements. For those interested and intrigued by this device, a user manual was included alongside quite a few photographs. Given that these are the first really detailed shots of the i465, we were quite shocked when we saw its battery cover which looks a bit too much like a piece of plastic that was poorly cut by a drunk person with a circular saw. In fairness however, the battery cover does look rather grip-tastic, something that the iDEN folk tend to like. The only other note — in an image below we can finally see the surface of the keypad buttons and it doesn’t look quite as horrible and pointy as it does from the front. Anyway, hit the jump for more shots (if you can stomach it).

[Via Phone Arena]

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Sunday is a banner day for Sprint which added not only the Treo Pro, but also the LG Rumor 2 and the Motorola Stature i9 to its handset lineup. The QWERTY-slider LG Rumor 2 is available both online and in stores for a rock bottom price of $49.99 after an instant savings of $150 and a $50 mail-in rebate. The Rumor 2, as you surely know by now, sports a QVGA display, 1.3 megapixel camera, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC support (up to 16GB) and a 2.5mm headphone jack. Next up is the Nextel Direct Connect-compatible Stature i9, available for $199.99 after an instant savings of $150 and a $50 mail-in rebate. The Stature has already made its debut on Boost Mobile and offers a 3.1 megapixel camera with flash and auto focus, integrated music player, GPS, Bluetooth and rock solid PTT functionality. Two year contracts apply to the pricing on both handsets of course. Happy shopping!

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That saucy little Motorola i9… It just can’t stop posing for your pals at BGR. If you’re a Boost Mobile customer you probably already know that the i9 has launched in all of its deceptively bulky glory, well, because it’s far and away the sexiest handset Boost has ever seen. What about poor Nextel customers though, don’t they get any love from Motorola’s new iDEN RAZR? Thanks to one of our trusty ninjas we can confirm that this puppy is indeed headed to Nextel — in fact, it’s already slowly but surely making its way to various Sprint stores. As far as availability goes, you’re looking at a March 12th launch and pricing will be $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate . Sit tight, PTT addicts! Hit the jump for a few more pics, including size comparison shots next to a Curve.

Thanks, Teck!

Updated at 5:30 pm EST to reflect price correction — the final price after rebate is $249.99, not $299.99.

We’ve known what the upcoming Motorola i465 iDEN has looked like for at least a month but upon seeing this leaked press release photo, it looks Motorola has succeeded in doing something we think is has secretly been trying to do for years — create a full-QWERTY phone that is uglier than Jocelyn Wildenstein. Specific specs are sparse but we think we’re going to see a VGA camera, Bluetooth 2.0 and that crazy iDEN PTT that so many love. Of course we suppose those bad specs aren’t too big of a deal considering that the main selling point is iDEN connectivity with a QWERTY keypad thrown in for messaging fiends. We can definitely see the i465 being somewhat popular for Boost which still doesn’t have a QWERTY phone in its bag, so we hope Sprint goes that route as opposed to having it compete with the BlackBerry 8350i. Because honestly…

[Via Unwired View]

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A little over a week ago a Boost flyer advertising its new unlimited all-you-eat plan hinted that the i9 was “coming soon”. The wait is now over as Sprint and Boost Mobile officially announced the new Motorola Stature i9. The ultra slim i9 is a mere 15mm thick and sports a touch sensitive exterior flip with ModeShift that changes the exterior keys based upon the user’s current application. The i9 also packs a 3.1MP camera with flash and auto focus, integrated music player, GPS, Bluetooth and, being an iDEN phone, rock solid PTT functionality. The new Moto will be available for Boost Mobile towards the end of February with Sprint getting the device soon thereafter. It will set you back $299 from Boost Mobile without a contract (ouch) and $199 from Sprint Nextel after a $50 mail-in-rebate and a 2 year agreement.

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If you are a texting fiend on an iDEN carrier, Motorola has an upcoming phone that will provide relief for your tired T9 typing fingers. Sometime in 2009 Motorola is expected to release the i465, an iDEN handset with a full front facing QWERTY keyboard. The inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard gives the candybar phone a slight bulge at the bottom but the ease of typing presumably outweighs any un-attractiveness this extra girth provides. The i465 runs a plain jane feature phone OS with Bluetooth 2.0 and a VGA camera. The specific release date, specs, pricing and potential carriers are still unknown but Sprint looks to be preparing to make a run with Boost this year so don’t be surprised if the i465 pops up.

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For those of you clinging to your iDEN network with dear life, you probably never thought this day would come. Well, it has, and we’ve got some live pictures of Sprint’s BlackBerry 8350i. One of our ninjas took some time out to photograph one for us and gave us a quick rundown. Here we go:

• The 8350i has a 2.5mm headset jack, not a 3.5mm one, and it comes with a 2.5mm headset in the box.
• Ships with the much beloved plastic holster, not the leather holster we’re accustomed to.
• There’s a small size difference. It’s around 2mm taller and 1mm thicker than the other Curves (8300, 8310, 8320, 8330).
• The PTT button can not be reassigned as a convenience key.
• Instead of using the same battery as the Curve, the 8350i uses the BlackBerry 8800-series batteries.
• The side keys are now black instead of being chromed
• We were told the device isn’t a real beast in terms of the signal department. “It can’t get a stable signal to save its life once it boots up”

If that’s not enough for you, we’ve got all the snapshots in the gallery. Just make sure you’ve got your hardhats on, this thing screams CAUTION.

Click on over to our Sprint BlackBerry 8350i gallery!

All you Sprint iDEN users that are clinging to your aging Blackberry 7100i may want to head over to Sprint’s website and sign up to receive availability information on the upcoming Sprint Blackberry Curve 8350i. Be realistic. Duct tape, super glue, and a boat load of batteries can only go so far to keep a dying phone alive. The new Blackberry Curve 8350i offers Wi-Fi, GPS, and iDEN-based push to talk in a semi-rugged BlackBerry Curve casing. Sounds nice doesn’t it? All you guys (or gals) that like to drag your phone in the dirt, drop it off a platform, or get it wet on occasion, need not apply as the 8350i doesn’t meet military standards for dust, shock, or water. This is still a Blackberry, not a Sonim.

[Via IntoMobile]

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Although the winner of the Barack Obama Veepstakes is still a secret (not for long), Motorola is proud to announce that it is the official two-way radio provider of the Democratic National Convention. Why the Democrats are still using two-way radios, we haven’t quite figured out … but Moto tells us that the “mission-critical communication hardware” will include more than 900 iDEN (read: Nextel) Push-to-Talk units to connect the members “smoothly and efficiently”. We guess we won’t see Joe Biden toting a Curve around Denver while clutching a Louis Vuitton bag on CelebrityBlackBerrySightings.com!

What would the world do without BGR? Well, you’d probably have a lot less broken AVAYA phones, less screaming, and just all around happier wireless executives. Oh well. We just got our hands on Sprint’s ‘08-’09 roadmap, and there are definitely some goodies in here if you are a current Sprint subscriber. First up is the BlackBerry 8350i. That’s right Nextel-lovers, you’ve got a new phone to play with coming soon! Contrary to other online images of the device, it appears this BlackBerry does not have the hideous external antenna. The BlackBerry 8350i will have Wi-Fi, a 2 megapixel camera, GPS, and run OS 4.6 out of the box! Look for a Q4 release on that bad boy. For the rest of the goods including more lack-luster phones than you can count, hit the jump folks!

As you can see, the BlackBerry 8350i is based on the Curve (obviously), but you’ve got to love that internal antenna now. Wi-Fi and GPS make this the dream Berry for Nextel users. Also, you’ll be able to grab a camera-less version of the 8350i so you can play nice in restricted areas. Holla!

Let’s break down the roadmap a bit:

• The first that looks to be coming out is the Motorola i950
• Launching in early Q4, there’s the Motorola i576 and the Motorola i776
• In mid-to-late Q4 there’s the BlackBerry 8350i
• Coming up around Jan-Feb, we’ve got the Motorola “Monolith” which is some sort of entry-level SureType-type device, what looks to be a Motorola V8-type phone, and a Sanyo iDEN/GSM handset
• Later on in Q2, there’s a Samsung music slider phone, a military-spec “Immersion” phone by Motorola, and the Sanyo Pro410.

Here are the super-large handset images, followed by a couple more slides…