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Since then, Republic Wireless has upgraded to the slightly more modern Motorola Defy XT as its flagship smartphone model, and has changed to allow unlimited calling, texting, and data over Sprint's nationwide network, for the same $19/month price. Now the North Carolina-based startup is dropping its last restriction; the doors are open for anyone to preorder up to four Defy XT phones, "and they'll begin shipping in mid-December."
The Motorola Defy XT is designed to be dustproof and waterproof, with rubber bumpers covering each port and an unlocking switch keeping the back cover sealed. Its specs are decidedly last year's; powered by a 1 GHz, single-core processor, it often shows Kindle Fire-style lag when swiping between home screens on its 3.7 inch display. It runs 2010's Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with no OS upgrades announced, and it doesn't have much room to store games and apps, although it comes with a 2 GB microSD card.
Republic Wireless' low monthly fee is partly made possible by its Hybrid Calling technology, which is basically an app that loads on startup and lets you make calls and send texts over Wi-Fi. Call quality is generally good, although it depends on how good your Wi-Fi connection is and how many people are streaming video over it while you're trying to make your call. You can switch off Hybrid Calling by disabling Wi-Fi, if you want to make calls over Sprint's network instead; this happens automatically if your Wi-Fi signal drops, which has the effect of hanging up your call.
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