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Recently former Sprint COO Len Lauer confirmed that Sprint will soon be selling highly coveted Motorola handsets such as the Q and "members of the RAZR family." Those RAZR-derived phones aren't the same old RAZR V3 that have shown up everywhere else. They will be new models, including the KRZR K1m, and most likely the SLVR L7c.

We can now bring you a first glimpse of the K1m for Sprint. While the specs and hardware of the K1m remain unchanged since our coverage from the Moto launch last month, the Sprint software is completely different than what we saw before.

Although Sprint doesn't force manufacturers to run the exact same software on all their phones as Verizon does, Sprint does require all of its hardware partners to install certain applications and meet certain criteria. Every aspect of the K1m - from the home screen to the deepest settings menu - has been customized to meet Sprint's requirements.

The new home screen offers customizable D-pad shortcuts that have been the hallmark of both Sprint and Motorola phones for some time. Sprint has never allowed customization of the soft key shortcuts, and that trend continues here. What is new is that the two soft key shortcuts are now Contacts and Music instead of Favorites and Contacts. The Music key goes to the Sprint Music Store player (and not the Media Player which allows you to play music manually copied to the microSD card).

The main menu is not Motorola's traditional 3x3 menu. Instead it is Sprint's 3x4 layout with new cartoonish icons that have a style similar to those seen in previews of Windows Vista. The menu can be displayed in a traditional grid or list view, as well as a new tabs view that allows you to cycle through all the choices by moving left or right on the D-pad.

The actual choices in the main menu remain nearly unchanged at the top level. Not only are all but one of the items the same, but they remain in the same location as well. The only difference is in the center column. The Missed Alerts application has been completely removed, and alerts are now indicated by the more traditional alert icons and messages on the home screen. Instead the Call Log has been moved down to the default position in the center and a Bluetooth shortcut has been added at the top.

old main menu layout

Some of the applications look completely new, both for Motorola and for Sprint as well. Those that aren't new have at least undergone a facelift. Options and Settings menus are now laid out better, and it's not exaggerating to say they're some of the clearest we've seen on any phone to date.

Menus have been simplified to 3 types, each of which are clearly implemented. There's a simple drop-down menu, a menu that need more explanation (usually a drop-down or thumbnail chooser), and a cascading menu. They are each organized fairly well in each application. The build we received was incomplete, and certain applications such as the Bluetooth menu are still using Motorola's old style, but this too will be updated before the phone launches.

new options menu style

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