New Republic members will also be offered a new model handset, the Motorola Defy XT ($249). Original subscribers were issued an LG Optimus S phone. The subscribers with the LG phone can upgrade to the Motorola model for $149 or get free service from the carrier for the rest of the year.

The Android-based Defy XT has a 3.7-inch display that's water-resistant, dustproof, and scratch-resistant with its Corning Gorilla Glass display. In addition, it has a 1Ghz processor, a front-facing VGA camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing shooter with auto-focus, LED flash, and 4X digital zoom, as well as a 1650 mAh battery optimized for longer life.

What the Deft XT doesn't haveand neither did the LG modelis support for multimedia messaging (MMS) and an automatic handshake from WiFi to cellular service. When Republic members stray from their WiFi connection in the middle of a task, the transition to cellular must be made manually. Morken said Republic is working on enabling those services.

The Deft XT also runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), not the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Morken hopes to change that in the future. "Part of Republic's mission is to be the best and the first to market with the latest version of Android," he declared.

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