Motorola i296

Motorola i296

At $49.99, the Motorola i296 is one of the cheapest push-to-talk cell phones on Sprint's Boost Mobile network. It's lightweight and rugged, but that's about all it has going for it. For users looking for the cheapest prepaid push-to-talk device possible, it'll do, but everyone else should look elsewhere. I had higher hopes for the i296, if judging only from its looks: it's cute, and it looks solid. It measures 4.6 by 1.9 by .5 inches (HWD) and weighs just 3 ounces, but it feels durable, as it should - the i296 has been ruggedized to meet military specifications for dust, shock, vibration, and more. It withstood a five-foot drop just fine. The phone is made mostly of matte black plastic, with a shiny black plastic band framing the screen and keypad. The 1.8-inch display offers just 128-by-160 pixel resolution, which makes everything look grainy. I quite liked the keypad, with its raised, easy-to-press, cleanly separated keys. The selection keys above it work fine too, though the main selection key, a big, round button smack dab in the middle of the phone, is curiously large. I would've preferred some of that real estate being used to beef up the size of the tiny cursor keys next to it. Navigating the phone's simple UI felt a bit sluggish. Texting, however, was fine.