14 DAY TRIAL // Although Sprint already launched a portrait QWERTY keyboard Android smartphone recently, the Motorola XPRT, it appears that the carrier has another one in the pipeline.
Leaked one month ago by the guys over at Pop Herald, the device is codenamed Motorola Pax and is supposed to be exclusively available via Sprint.
Motorola Pax features a BlackBerry-esque QWERTY keyboard with keys that have the same form factor as the ones embedded within BlackBerry Bold models.
Furthermore, the phone is allegedly equipped with a dual-core processor and seems to be powered by Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system.
Unfortunately for some, the smartphone comes pre-loaded with Motorola's MOTOBLUR user interface, but this could change by the time the device will be announced.
Not as slim as the XPRT, Motorola Pax comes with a large touchscreen display, which leaves little room for the keypad.
However, it looks like there's plenty of space among them, which makes them pretty comfortable at first glance.
Android smartphones with portrait QWERTY are a bit rare these days and they are mostly tagged as low- or mid-entry smartphones, but it seems that Motorola Pax will be the exception to that.
Apart from the dual-core processor, the device should be fully compatible with Sprint's new CDMA 1X Advanced push-to-talk service that is supposed to replace the old iDEN system.
As we already mentioned above, the Pax is far from being slim, which point to some kind of high-capacity battery or maybe the phone will be delivered with an extended battery.
Other details about the phone's specs are unknown for the moment, but the Motorola Pax might be the device that Sprint plans to launch along with Kyocera DuraMax and DuraCore in Q4.
Sprint stated last week that these two CDMA-based handsets and a third unannounced Motorola CDMA-enabled handset will be among the first to go along with Sprint Direct Connect service.
