If there's one thing we can promise when a Moto starts with "i" it's that it'll be an
iDEN phone, so when you hear that there's an i680 in the FCC, you can pretty much gather what's going on here. Taking a look at the documentation, the newest push-to-talk clamshell out of Schaumburg looks
way different than what we're used to -- but then again, so did the
i9, so we can't say we're surprised to see 'em push the boundaries of iDEN design yet again. It's got a camera of unknown resolution and appears to be pretty well ruggedized (we'd expect no less from your average iDEN set) on account of that beefy thumbscrew holding the battery cover on around back, but it's hard to say when it's launching, so we're trying to keep our excitement level to a dull roar at this point. More as soon as we get it.
[Via
Phone Scoop]
posted Nov 13th 2009 9:03AM
This is called the Submerge, and yes the word, it is rumored it can be under water for 30 seconds.
"Excitement"? o.O I just, last week, got myself out from an i355 and into a Treo Pro, and I'm thankful. The i355 was wonderfully rugged and pretty sleek for a ruggedized phone, but operationally it was pretty close to a disaster. The Bluetooth dropped calls (the primary reason I got rid of it), WAP browsing was useless (I gave up long ago), T9 had a mind of it's own (I guess it's supposed to :p but it's mind was 50/50 *wrong*), etc.
I wanted the rugged but wanted something completely functional, too. I guess I shouldn't complain at a 50/50 bargain.
I'm sorry folks, but this phone looks like it belongs into the smithsonian. Has Motorola not learned anything from its competitors when it comes to design AND functionality? While the Droid deserves compliments as a truly innovative phone capable of holding its own when compared with the iphone, the i680 appear to be a joke and will be run over by same class competitors, even if its priced very low.
I don't care how awesome or what features you have on this phone....It is on IDEN. It's like taking a new 2010 Corvette and dropping a Kharmen Ghia engine into it....