Motorola Triumph for Virgin Mobile hands-on (video)

We're live here at Motorola / Sprint's press event in New York City, and while most of the folks are swarming around the newly minted Photon 4G, we wanted to give some love to the Motorola Triumph, the first Moto handset to land on Virgin Mobile's network. While the 4.1-inch, Froyo-packing phone and its 2GB of storage might seem ho-hum to spec junkies, it's a shockingly solid option for a prepaid carrier. And it comes Motoblur-free! How many Photon 4Gs have that to say for themselves? Take a stroll past the break for a tour, and see why we think the Triumph could actually be a pretty solid score for those who detest strings and fine print.

Update: Looks like it's coming in July, per Virgin's site.
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Although the Triumph has a 4.1-inch (800 x 480) display, it looks more expansive in person, largely because the glass extends from edge to edge, barely leaving a bezel. For anyone who's ever handled a Droid, the Triumph should feel familiar -- it's decked out in that same soft, rubbery finish that makes it easy to grip. It's also surprisingly light for a phone with this size screen. The trade-off could be that it has a 1400 mAh battery inside, as opposed to the Photon 4G's 1700 mAh, but we'll see if that's the case once we get one of these guys in to review.

You'll notice as you tour the device that for better or worse, the sides are pretty clean. That means while you've got a volume rocker, 3.5mm headphone jack, a lock button, microUSB, and mini HDMI, you won't see a dedicated key to launch that 5 megapixel / 720p camera. As for the screen, it's no qHD display, to be sure, but in our brief hands-on time with it the colors looked vibrant and the viewing angles were decent, too. (Actually, you can be the judge of that, as you watch our video.) The display is as responsive to taps and swipes as you'd want it to be and... did we mention this thing comes free of Motoblur? Picking up there here handset and seeing just a few Android widgets is pretty refreshing, and we can't help but hope that this soon becomes the norm rather than the exception.

So, is this enough to swing you over to the world of contract-less plans? Only you can call that one, but for people already sweet on prepaid, this looks like a mighty strong option. We won't know the price until closer to its "summer" launch date, but for now, enjoy the hands-on photos and video walk-through.

Update: We swapped in a fresh, sharper-looking video. Have at it!