In case you're not familiar with Boost Mobile, it's Sprint's prepaid system. Boost runs on the old Nextel network (now owned by Sprint), which is nationwide but focuses on major cities and Interstate highway corridors rather than rural areas. However, the network uses the iDen technology, making it incompatible with non-Nextel phones. iDen allows for easy walkie-talkie connections—that famous Nextel "chirp"—but suffers from very slow Internet data speeds compared with those of modern 3G networks. (According to Sprint, the i9 will also soon be available on standard Sprint Nextel plans.)
A gigantic slab of a flip phone, the 4.7-ounce i9 measures a broad 2.1 by 4.1 by 6 inches (HWD) when closed and more than 7 inches long after you crack it open. Much of that real estate is consumed by screens: The 2-inch, 320-by-240-pixel color screen on the outside is surrounded with "mode-shifting" action buttons that appear or disappear depending on what you're doing, while the inside screen is a bit bigger, at 2.2 inches. The i9 also has a huge keypad, although I found the large keys flatter than I'd prefer.
When we reviewed the flip Motorola RAZR2 V9, we lamented that the major carriers didn't take advantage of its external screen. That's not a problem here—you can do a lot without opening the phone. Kick the i9 into camera mode and the front screen becomes a viewfinder. The mode-shifting command buttons let you turn on the flash, switch to video mode, or open your image gallery. You can also fully operate the music and video players with the handset closed. But because the phone can do so much while it's folded closed, there are a plethora of buttons—more than the usual number—on the sides of the phone. You'll find controls for the speakerphone, volume, walkie-talkie, and the camera, as well as a hold switch and a user-configurable Smart button.
Given the i9's price of $300, buying it simply for its voice performance would be overkill, but it does well in this regard, making both voice calls and Nextel push-to-talk (PTT) "chirp" calls, with PTT calls connecting instantly and sounding quite loud. There's no noticeable background hiss in the earpiece, unlike on the less-expensive Motorola i335, and voices sound quieter but more well rounded. Transmissions over the microphone sound fine, although the phone fuzzes out voices a bit while blanking out background noise. Although it sounds loud and rich, the speakerphone shows some distortion at top volume, with transmissions sounding a bit hollow. Ringtones are insanely loud, which I've come to expect from a Nextel phone. Voice dialing uses the primitive recorded-tag method rather than the superior speaker-independent system. Talk time, at around 5 hours, is solid.
The i9 is Boost Mobile's finest music and videophone, though admittedly, that's not saying much. It's the carrier's only phone that supports microSD memory cards (our 8GB SanDisk card worked fine) and the only one with a proper music player. You can drag and drop AAC, MP3, or WMA music files onto a memory card or sync them over from Windows Media Player using a USB cable (which is not included). They'll play back loud and clear through the speakerphone or through stereo or mono Bluetooth headsets. Playlist data doesn't sync, but you can create your own playlists on the phone. There isn't a standard headphone jack, so you'll have to track down a micro USB–to–headset adapter if you want to use wired headphones. The i9 uses the same adapter as the RAZR2 V9, which is available for around $15 online.
The 3.1-megapixel autofocus camera isn't the best out there, but it has the highest resolution you'll find on one of the carrier's handsets. It takes somewhat fuzzy, hypersaturated photos with an odd color cast. The video mode records smooth if noticeably dark 320-by-240-pixel videos at 15 frames per second (fps). The LED flash isn't especially bright, but it'll light up a face in a club. For video, the i9 plays 320-by-240-pixel MPEG-4 or WMV video in full-screen mode and syncs with Windows Media Player 11. Contrary to the spec sheet, our test phone couldn't handle H.264 files. And it won't play iPod-formatted videos—they're too big.
But it's when you get to the Web that the i9 becomes markedly less appealing. This is to a great extent the fault of Boost Mobile: Its data network is now the slowest in the nation, offering only half the speed of dial-up, and its basically unusable WAP browser takes poor advantage of the i9's large screen. You can send SMS, picture, and video messages, but that's about it. Boost has various Internet-enabled applications on many of its other phones, but they weren't available when I tested the i9: no Loopt, Hookt, e-mail, IM, or GPS navigation. There weren't even any games I could download. Some of that software is on the way, but at Boost's glacial data speeds, it won't likely be a smooth experience.
At $300, the Motorola Stature i9 is $200 more expensive than any other Boost Mobile phone. But you're getting the only Boost phone with removable memory, a capable MP3 player, and a 3MP camera—and you're also getting the best-looking handset of the lot. It's hard to justify the huge difference in price between the i9 and the rest of Boost's product line, but it's also hard to deny that you're getting a lot of exclusive features.
Spec Data* Price as Tested: $299.99 List
* Service Provider: Sprint, Boost
* Operating System: Other
* Screen Size: 2.2 inches
* Screen Details: 320x240 TFT LCD external color screen; 2.2" 320x240 TFT LCD main screen
* Camera: Yes
* Megapixels: 3.1 MP
* 802.11x: No
* Bluetooth: Yes
* Web Browser: No
* Network: iDen
* Bands: 800
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