An unannounced phone from Motorola with a large touch screen recently cleared the FCC regulatory process for approval. The basic spec list qualifies it as a midlevel device for Sprint, Verizon, or other CDMA-based network operator. Unfortunately, not much is known about the touch-based user interface.I am going to go out on a limb and say that the QA4 -- seen as the "Evoke" on the Motorola Web site over the weekend -- looks a little bit like the Palm Pre. It has a large touch screen on the front with just one button (gee, where did this idea come from?). The QA4 is a slider, just like the Pre, though rather than a full QWERTY keyboard like the Pre, the QA4 has a regular numeric dialpad. It looks a little on the basic side.

Motorola QA4

Design aside, some of the specs packed in the QA4 include stereo Bluetooth, a camera with video capture, aGPS, music player, messaging, Google Picasa and YouTube integration, and support for microSD storage cards. Based on the pictures, it doesn't appear to have a jack for stereo headsets.

One of the stand-out specs is the radio configuration. This phone supports EVDO 3G in the 850-MHz, 1,700-MHz and 1,900-MHz bands. Sprint and Verizon Wireless operate their CDMA-EVDO networks in the 850/1,900 frequencies. The 1,700-MHz spectrum is used for 3G by network providers such as MetroPCS. So where will this phone land? It could go to any -- or all -- of these three carriers.

There is a draft user manual included in the FCC documents, which is disappointingly devoid of any juicy details about how the user interface of this touch-phone will work. Sprint and Verizon each have their own ideas for how their midrange touch devices should work. Will Motorola create different versions of the QA4 for each carrier, or will the carriers have to use a new Motorola-derived interface, such as the one it used for the Krave?

One thing we know for certain, it won't run Android, as the correct button configuration isn't present.

Since it cleared the FCC, we can expect Motorola -- and its carrier partner -- to announce the QA4 in the relatively near future.