As most of you have probably noticed by now, Motorola is not exactly my favorite company in terms of handheld design and features. But no one can say that it isn't trying. Take the new Motorola Clutch i465 that's due to arrive at Sprint this summer. Are you sick of the Blackberry/Nokia E71 type QWERTY-keyboard designed phones? Tough luck, since this is exactly that: a very similar looking phone with Motorola-type features (as in: sub-par compared to the two above mentioned jewels).

Danny Bowman, president of Sprint’s iDEN Business Unit, declared that “Sprint Nextel Direct Connect customers are used to the immediate communications offered by push-to-talk devices, but Motorola Clutch i465 with a QWERTY keyboard gives those customers a better way to instantly communicate with friends, family and colleagues. […] By combining Nextel Direct Connect with text messaging, Sprint customers have two of the most efficient ways to get business done wirelessly.”

The Clutch meets the US military 810F specifications and can resist extreme temperatures and altitudes, exposure to dust, shock, vibration and solar radiation, as well as Kryptonite and being bitten by spiders. It has a 1.8-inch screen, a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels, GPS sensor and a VGA camera. There's also Bluetooth and Java support and, of course, the Sprint plan that comes with the phone. Too little, too late? Yup, I totally agree!

But perhaps Rick Gadd, vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices, can convince us otherwise, “Motorola Clutch was designed to give serious texters and talkers multiple ways to get the word out. […] With a full QWERTY keyboard featuring shortcut keys, IM-style texting and push-to-talk technology which works like a verbal IM, Sprint customers are able to keep in constant contact, no matter how they prefer to communicate.”

With a two-year service agreement, you'll be able to get the Clutch (if you really, really want it) for 40 USD.


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