By Wailin Wong | It may be a dirty job, but somebody has to speak up for Motorola’s phones.

The Schaumburg-based mobile phone maker has tapped Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” show, as the new spokesman for Motorola’s iDEN portfolio.

IDEN is a proprietary technology used for rugged, push-to-talk phones that run on Sprint’s Nextel service.

“Typically, the work I’ve done tends to take its toll on my phones, and I
end up breaking ‘em on the job,” Rowe said in a statement. “It’ll be
fun to use one that’s not afraid of a little dirt.”

Motorola also said i1, its first push-to-talk smartphone featuring
Google’s Android operating platform, will be available at Sprint this
summer. The device is built to withstand rugged conditions such as shock
and blowing rain, but also features a touch screen and five-megapixel
camera. Pricing information was not available.