Replace Your Cellphone

In the third quarter of 2005, Nextel released the Motorola i850 in the United States market. Since Nextel has been known for their two-way radio features, the i850 is a perfect match for the service provider. Initially selling the unit at $300 with a Nextel plan, it was liked by many busybodies who enjoy the push to talk (PTT) capability on a mobile phone.

The i850 measures 88 x 51 x 28 mm and weighs 120 grams. It’s a clamshell type model with an external extendable antenna. The included Lithium Ion battery can last for 2.75 hours of talk time, or 70 hours of standby time. The Motorola i850 has two LCD screens, the external one in monochrome blue display at 96 x 32 pixels. When flipped open, the inner LCD screen is 176 x 220 pixels and displays over 262,000 colors.

The phone is enabled with Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) technology from Motorola. iDEn allows users to enjoy the luxury of mobile phone calls, radio communication, pager and data/fax modem in one handheld device. The side of the unit has a PTT button for two-way radio communication. If there is no network available, i850 owners can use it as a walkie-talkie within a range of up to six miles. There is also a group connect feature, where one can use the walkie-talkie function and talk to 20 people all at the same time.

Messaging is not a hassle with the help of the i850. It is capable of Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) format. Text input becomes easier with an included T9 dictionary. The i850 also has a calendar and voice memo.

As your Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), the i850 has great phonebook organizing skills. It has a phonebook capacity of 600 entries, and each entry can have up to 7 contact numbers plus an email address. Each contact can be marked with picture ID, voice tag, and ringer ID. Calls can be made via voice dialing. The phone also has alert modes like polyphonic ring tones and vibrate mode. Custom ring tones can be added, as the i850 supports mp3, WAV, and MIDI format files.

The Motorola i850 has a 0.3 mega pixel camera with 4x zoom than can take photos at 640 x 480 pixel resolution. Photos captured on the camera can be used as wallpapers and screensavers, or attached to MMS messages. The camera has functions for adjusting light and photo quality, as well as a self-timer from 10 to 20 seconds. Files and photos can be sent to a personal computer (PC) with the PC sync feature. The i850 is also USB compatible.

For the fun lover, the Motorola i850 has built in Java games (Zuma, Aces Hold ‘Em, and Blockbreaker) and applications, but more can be downloaded. The phone package comes with stereo headsets so users can listen to songs on the i850. The inside LCD screen is also compatible for web browsing or watching live TV feeds, depending on the subscription.