Republic Wireless starts shipping the modified Motorola DEFY XT for its $19 monthly service

Republic Wireless offers unlimited talk, text and web for only $19 a month. The carrier, which exited beta last month, has started shipping the modified Motorola DEFY XT units that cost $259 and are required to use the service. How can Republic afford to hook you up with no limits for just $19 a month? Because the service uses Wi-Fi whenever it is available and when it's not, the phone automatically switches over to Sprint's 3G pipeline.

The carrier originally tried using a modified LG Optimus One before deciding to switch to the Motorola DEFY XT. The device is equipped with a 3.7 inch screen made of Gorilla Glass. The 480 x 854 resolution leads to a decent pixel density of 265ppi. Under the hood is a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A. An enhanced Adreno 200 GPU crunches the graphics and 512MB of RAM is on board. There is 1GB of native storage and a microSD slot can expand that by adding up to 32GB of additional capacity. The 5MP camera on back captures video in 480p at 30fps while the VGA front-facing camera takes self-portraits and enables video chat. It is also dust-proof, scratch and water-resistant.

For those wondering how often they will be able to use Wi-Fi with the plan, Strategy Analytics recently found Wi-Fi in 61% of U.S. households. The real question is how much Wi-Fi service is available on the road.

source: RepublicWireless via AndroidCentral