Nextel I776 Phone Views
At the fall CTIA show in September, Sprint assured us that it was not forgetting its Nextel fans. The carrier promised that by the end of the year it would release four iDEN-only phones for the push-to-talk-loving masses. We've already reviewed the Motorola i365, we're still waiting for the already announced Motorola i576, and we know that an iDEN BlackBerry is on the way. That leaves the new Motorola i776 as the final model in the quarter. Offering an attractive silver-and-burgundy design, the i776 offers all the usual Nextel refinements even if it's ... Expand full review
At the fall CTIA show in September, Sprint assured us that it was not forgetting its Nextel fans. The carrier promised that by the end of the year it would release four iDEN-only phones for the push-to-talk-loving masses. We've already reviewed the Motorola i365, we're still waiting for the already announced Motorola i576, and we know that an iDEN BlackBerry is on the way. That leaves the new Motorola i776 as the final model in the quarter. Offering an attractive silver-and-burgundy design, the i776 offers all the usual Nextel refinements even if it's not encased in rubber. As with many previous Nextel handsets, the displays aren't the sharpest around, but the i776 remains an easy-to-use phone with decent performance.
Design On one hand, the Motorola i776 has the same extendable antenna and tiny external display that you'd find on almost any other Nextel handset. But on the other hand, it strikes new design ground by sporting a slick surface and a silver-and-burgundy design. It's also compact (3.39 inches tall by 1.8 inches wide by 0.8 inch thick) as Nextel phones go and relatively lightweight (3.56 ounces).Of course, the trade-off is that the i776 lacks the rubber sidings that are a Nextel trademark. But even so, it manages to have a nice feeling in the hand.
The i776's display is small and rectangular. Though we're used to such a display from Nextel, it doesn't mean that we approve of it. It shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and numeric caller ID, but the onscreen text is tiny. Also, while it supports 64,000 colors (96x40 pixels) it won't work as a viewfinder for the camera and it won't support photo caller ID. Two indicator lights for the Bluetooth feature and new messages sit above the display. They're almost invisible when unlit. The camera lens sits at the top of the phone minus a flash and a self-portrait mirror.
Nextel I776 Phone Images
