Motorola launches the Debut i856, a not-totally-ugly iDEN phone

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Just a bit over a year ago, we were tearing into Motorola for launching the i776, the ugliest iDEN (Push-to-talk) handset we’d ever seen. A good few months later, they launched the iDEN Clutch ; while it wouldn’t take home any beauty pageant tiaras, it was a huge step up from the monstrosity it followed.

Now it seems that Motorola has really started to get this iDEN phone thing down – which, considering that iDEN is their technology, probably shouldn’t’ have taken this long. With that said, Motorola’s new Debut i856 for Boost Mobile is a slider with a bit of visual charm, layered on top of a 1.3 megapixel camera, Stereo Bluetooth, microSD, and GPS. It’ll set you back $169 (this is Boost Mobile, so no contracts) – and if that means you’re the only contractor on the block with a phone that doesn’t look like it’s from another planet, its probably well worth it.