Tech Specs

Hardware

Display

Connectivity

Processor

Storage

Rear Camera

Software

Interface

Sensors

Battery

• 8.0

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  Reviewed by rendang (Currently owns)

  January 7, 2012 10:43 pm

  I came from a Palm Pre (portrait QWERTY slider, 3.1" 320x480) running webOS on Sprint's network..

  This user review takes in to consideration that I'm not looking for the biggest, baddest flagship phone. I was looking for something with good battery life, a solid build, a physical portrait QWERTY keyboard, and most importantly available on Sprint.

  Battery life:
  The Admiral has a 1860mAh (typical) battery, larger than iPhone, Photon, Evos, etc. which lasts a full day (12 hours) on one charge, with 4 email accounts, 2 calendars, Facebook, WhatsApp, ~ 1 hr of voice calls, 2+ hours of web surfing.

  Solid build:
  The Admiral is Mil-Spec 801G for dust, vibration, shock, extreme temperatures, solar but not water (although all ports have rubber covers). Also has Gorilla Glass and the bar form factor means no wobbly sliders to deal with!

  Physical portrait QWERTY keyboard:
  Portrait QWERTY keyboards allow for one handed typing (can't do that with a landscape QWERTY). The Admiral keys are spaced just right and have a good feel, no problems with double pressing. I'm disappointed that the numbers are arranged on the top row instead of grouped in a grid, so it makes it harder to input numbers. Also, the letter O (number 9) share a key right next to P (number 0) and I've hit 9 by accident so many times when trying to enter the number 0, just because my eyes are drawn to the more prominent letter "O" (number 9) key. Also wish the ALT and uppercase keys were switched so it's easier to capitalize letters, and long presses would bring up the ALT symbol.

  Another nice thing about a physical keyboard is the ability to start bringin up a contact's name, application name, web search directly from the homescreen instead of having to bring up a dialer or launch the app drawer and scroll for what you're looking for. Unfortunately, I've found that while it works great with contacts, it is inconsistent with apps and may not sometimes list the app. Another problem is lag, I've found that contact actions sometimes don't respond immediately and the phone freezes for a few seconds (as the action is performed in the background).

  Other good:
  Call quality is extremely clear and loud.
  Display is BRIGHT and crisp but don't expect AMOLED-like results found on flagship phones.
  Dedicated notification LED alert.

  Other bad:
  Android capacative buttons (menu/home/back/search) do not register sometimes.
  Phone lags at times despite having a 1.2GHz processor.
  DC (Direct Connect) contact bug that doubles ALL contact entries, including non-DC numbers.
  Wifi stuck turning on at times, requires a power-cycle to fix, may take it in.

  Wishlist:
  Better rear facing camera that can take decent photos in anything but sunlight.
  Forward facing camera (for skype, etc)
  A slight screen size bump while keeping the form factor would've been nice
  World phone capabilities

  The Breakdown

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  • 10

  • Design 8
  • Display 8
  • Camera(s) 6
  • Reception / call quality 9
  • Performance 7
  • Software 6
  • Battery life 9
  • Ecosystem 8

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• 9.0

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  Reviewed by chirp_84 (Currently owns)

  January 1, 2012 06:56 pm

  I was disappointed by David's formal review. He didn't seem to understand that us Nextel users require direct connect. It is sad that this device is being compared to an iPhone, GSII, or Razr. It isn't meant to compete with those flagship devices - noteably the reviewers think it is THAT capable, which is saying something. David did provide some vanilla details. I wish he would have used it for a couple weeks before writing an article about it.

  Let's compare apples to apples. I owned an i580, i1, & i686. Because being able to chirp is a mandatory feature in a phone to me. There are many others out there just like me. Sprint is cancelling the Nextel service. That doesn't mean no more chirping, that means no more iDEN network. I hope all future direct connect phones are as good as the Admiral. There is no other chirping phone with a 5 MP camera. There is no other chirping phone with Android 2.3. Unfortunately there is another chirping phone with a 3.1" display - the i1, which sucks. And there is no other standard phone anywhere that gives you 1860 mAh in the battery. I think David owes us a better review.

  The Admiral had some chirping issues in the first few weeks but a software maintenance release update hit my phone and now I couldn't be more pleased. It is just crazy to me that I can still chirp as reliably as my i686 but now have 3G speeds and all the features of a true smartphone. Not that i1 crap Motorola was calling a smartphone a couple years ago with Android 1.5 on it.

  I posted another review on Sprint's website under the same pseudonym that I didn't want to repeat here, but I hope it helps.

  The Breakdown

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  • Design 9
  • Display 10
  • Camera(s) 10
  • Reception / call quality 9
  • Performance 9
  • Software 7
  • Battery life 10
  • Ecosystem 9

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• 8.0

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  Reviewed by Caduceus (Currently owns)

  December 20, 2011 10:19 am

  This is a great phone: I love bar phones with keyboards. The display is clean and crisp however because it is not the standard size of most Android phones some apps may not display properly although I have not run into this on any of the apps I use (including Lexi-Comp). I don't take many photographs so the camera is much less important to me but I would say that the camera on this phone is typical of most phone cameras, good enough to capture a moment but not something that is going to allow you to be a photo journalist. There is a dedicated hardware camera button which is nice but it still takes a few seconds too long to launch the app. The call quality is excellent everyone comes through loud and clear and the speaker phone is great too.Performance wise the phone is very responsive but there are some quirks, there have been multiple times when I was trying to swipe and the phone thought I was trying to tap. But overall this is an improvement over my previous phone (Palm Pre -). I largely chalk up most of my complaints about this phone to the operating system and likely whatever skin Motorola put on top of it. It is really difficult to find some menu options and settings but once you do this is a powerful device that can be customized just about any way you want it. The apps more than make up for any shortcomings the original software might have has since there is an app for just about anything you could want. I have yet to run out of battery with this device after about a week of decent use. The lowest I have gotten before charging at night is around 16%. This phone also charges faster than any other phone I have used, I don't have exact numbers for you but the power management on this device is very impressive. All in all I would recommend this device to experienced smartphone users who don't mind having to search for options and settings in exchange for a device that can be customized to fit their needs.

  The Breakdown

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  • 10

  • Design 7
  • Display 8
  • Camera(s) 7
  • Reception / call quality 9
  • Performance 7
  • Software 7
  • Battery life 10
  • Ecosystem 8

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