Sneak Peek: Since Boost Mobile calls Orange County home, the Irvine prepaid wireless provider wanted to give its neighbors the first look at the new  Motorola Debut i856w, a phone targeting women that comes out this week.

It’s far from the fanciest phone out there and the female-friendliness appears limited to subtle swirly designs on the back and front. But it’s also a thin, sleek phone — and Boost’s first slider phone, says the company. (And it’s Motorola’s first slider phone using the iDen Walkie-Talkie technology).

Some features: a music player, threaded text messaging (shows the history of messages from the same person), 1.3-megapixel camera with video capture and playback on the phone. There’s also stereo Bluetooth, Walkie-Talkie, removable memory slot (up to 8 GB microSD card), speakerphone with voice-activated dialing, and it’s GPS and web enabled if you purchase the service. More details at Motorola’s i856w site.

The phone starts shipping Nov. 11 for $149.99. For those unfamiliar with Boost, once you buy the phone, you then buy minutes when you need them. There’s no monthly contract for the phone. Boost is part of the Sprint phone company.

It’s not the first time Boost has built special phones for women. Three years ago, staff designer Gina Scollick prettied up the Motorola i835. And during an office tour, I spotted several female friendly phones. Check it out at “New ladies line from Boost Mobile.”

More pics of the new Motorola Debut i856w (click to enlarge):

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