Digital Trends

Motorola i880 January 9th, 2007 | by Stewart Wolpin

Features and Design

Outside, the i880 looks simple enough. On the front flap there are three blue backlit music transport buttons and camera buttons sit between twin speakers and a generously apportioned 1.25-inch color LCD screen. The camera lens with the video light and self-portrait mirror are above the screen. Volume toggle and the walkie-talkie Push-to-Talk (PTT) key are on the left spine (fine for thumb control when holding the phone in your left hand, inconvenient if you hold it in your right). The microSD slot and 2.5mm headphone jack are on the right spine, along with a "quick-flip" button that pops open the top flap. On the top spine next to the stub antenna are the speakerphone button and the music stop button.

Inside, the characters on the matte black keypad keys are cool-blue backlit, but are hard to read in dim conditions after the backlight goes out. The main menu access button is not the "Up" key on the flat navigation/function array, despite its location just below a menu icon on the screen. Instead, the menu access key is counter-intuitively located on the far left. Fortunately, you can correct this annoyance by reprograming each navigation key to access whatever function or application you want. The 2.1-inch (176 x 220 pixel) 262k-color screen is bright and colorful and makes a fine camera viewfinder.

On the lower chin of the phone, bracketing the numeric keypad, are a second set of stereo speakers that pump out even more volume than the top flap speakers.

The i800's MP3 player plays non-DRM MP3s, AAC, and AAC+ files, but that's a tease. There's no data cable included (a $29.99 accessory), so you'll need an alternative indirect method, such as flash card reader, to transfer songs to the phone (we tried copying MP3s and AACs from a Mac onto a microSD card, but the phone wouldn't play them). And why, oh why, Motorola, since you included an MP3 player on such an obviously advanced phone, didn't you also include stereo Bluetooth? There is standard headset Bluetooth, however.

Motorola has added on other unique features to the i880, like Agion Antimicrobial protection, which protects the painted areas of the phone against the spread of microbes on the phone's surface. Essentially, if we correctly interpret the Agion explanation card included with the phone, this treatment protects the phone's paint job against bacteria. We didn't even realize this was a problem.

Amongst i880's other features are GPS, enabling location-based services; Java for games and apps, available for download from Nextel; voice-activated dialing; a calendar and memo pad; and hearing aid compliance and text-to-speech for the vision-impaired.

Image Courtesy of Nextel