The Review
We haven't had a chance to fully test this product yet, but we've assembled this helpful overview of relevant information on it.
The Android powered Motorola Backflip features a unique reverse-flip QWERTY keyboard, a 3.1" HVGA screen, and the new Backtrack features that offers a new way to scroll through content.
Many reviews suggest that the most memorable feature of the Motorola Backflip smartphone is its design. Unlike most touchscreen smart phones with an additional physical keyboard, the Backflip is a flip phone instead of a slider so when you flip it the keyboard is at the bottom of the display. Taking photos is a breeze and they will look great with the 5 mp digital camera. The phone is also capable of video recording.
Features List:
-Slide out physical keyboard
-MOTOBLUR
-BACKTRACK navigation panel
-Android platform
-BACKTRACK features
Press Release:
Motorola Globally Introduces BACKFLIP™ with MOTOBLUR™ – Taking Smart in a Whole New Direction
BACKFLIP bends the smart phone rules with a unique reverse flip design and BACKTRACK™ feature for speeding through MOTOBLUR social streams
Jan. 06, 2010
LAS VEGAS – CES – Jan. 6, 2010 – Today Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced the latest addition to its Android™ portfolio: BACKFLIP™ with MOTOBLUR™. The Motorola BACKFLIP, which combines the social saviness and personalization of MOTOBLUR with the multitasking performance of a smart phone, will be available in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia beginning in Q1 2010. The unique reverse flip design makes it easy to enjoy videos, music and photos, and the QWERTY keyboard allows you to blast through e-mails, texts, news feeds, social network messages and more.
“Since introducing our first MOTOBLUR-based device, we’ve remained focused on differentiating the Android experience and bringing it to new carrier partners around the globe,” said Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices. “BACKFLIP maximizes the multi-tasking and multi-functional potential of MOTOBLUR with its unique design elements, making it as smart as it is social.”
MOTOBLUR is Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service created to make phones more personal and socially smart. It is the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM—and automatically deliver them to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it.
BACKFLIP is designed around the MOTOBLUR experience and provides multiple features to keep phone conversations moving. Multi-tasking has never been easier with BACKFLIP’s reverse-flip QWERTY keyboard and high-res 3.1” HVGA screen—letting you see more and respond faster. Navigate quickly and easily through menus and features with the new and unique BACKTRACK™ feature. BACKTRACK is a touch panel located on the other side of the device, offering you a new way to scroll through—the Web, texts, e-mails and news feeds without obscuring the home screen.
The truly original design allows BACKFLIP to create new ways to enjoy photos, music and more. In the reverse-flip, tabletop mode, listen to music or view videos hands free. The digital picture frame mode lets you show off your latest adventures. You can even turn BACKFLIP into a bedside alarm clock for your morning wake up call.
BACKFLIP comes fully equipped with the MOTOBLUR features you know and love. The full HTML browser on BACKFLIP’s 3.1” high-res, touch display will be sure to impress, and, with 3G speed and Wi Fi access, you will never be out of the loop. Android Market™ gives you access to more than 18,000 apps and widgets, so you are free to customize BACKFLIP to your liking. Capture the moment with BACKFLIP’s 5 MP camera with flash and easily upload to your favorite photo sharing or social site. Additional extras such as aGPS and stereo Bluetooth1 make BACKFLIP the complete package.
Finally, MOTOBLUR provides end-users with convenience and peace of mind, as lost devices can be located from a secure personal information portal and even remotely erased if necessary. Then, one user name and password brings back your contacts, messages and connectivity to your previously configured networks and email providers.
BACKFLIP with MOTOBLUR will be available in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia beginning in Q1 2010. For specific regional availability and pricing, contact your local Motorola representative. To experience BACKFLIP, please visit www.motorola.com/backflip.
For more information, product specifications and images of BACKFLIP, please visit Media Center Fact Sheets. For multimedia assets from CES, visit CES 2010 Press Kit. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Certain features, services and applications are network dependent and may not be available in all areas; additional terms, conditions and/or charges may apply. Contact your service provider for details.
1 This device supports Bluetooth A2DP, HSP, and HFP profiles. For Bluetooth devices to communicate with one another, they must utilize the same Bluetooth profile. To determine the profiles supported by other Motorola devices, visit www.motorola.com/bluetooth. For other devices, contact their respective manufacturer. Certain Bluetooth features including those listed may not be supported by all compatible Bluetooth-enabled devices, and/or the functionality of such features may be limited in certain devices, or by certain wireless carriers. Contact your wireless carrier about feature availability and functionality.
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by their proprietor and used by Motorola, Inc. under license. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Motorola, Inc. All rights reserved.
About Motorola
Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to high-definition video and mobile devices, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) had sales of US $30.1 billion in 2008. For more information, please visit www.motorola.com.
Digital Trends’ Cell Phone Buying Tips:
Mobile operating systems
If you decide to go for a smartphone, choosing the right operating system can be an important factor. The big ones are Apple’s iOS, RIM’s BlackBerry OS, HP/Palm WebOS, Google Android, and Microsoft Windows Phone (formerly Windows Mobile). Individual preferences reign supreme here, but Apple’s iPhone iOS offers the widest selection of apps and the simplest user interface, RIM’s BlackBerry OS is less intuitive but powerful and reliable, HP/Palm’s WebOS strikes a nice balance between the two, Google Android is among the most flexible, and Microsoft Window Phone 7 offers a refreshing design but it’s still finding its groove.
Best time to buy cell phones
With all major U.S. carriers announcing new phones around the clock and a dozen manufacturers all working overtime to produce the next killer device, keeping track of all the different models in circulation at any given time can seem like a Herculian task. But this frantic pace works to your advantage: Any time is a good time to buy a cell phone, as long as you keep your eyes open.
Jamie Lendino, a contributing editor at PC Magazine, recommends spotting three or four phones that suit your needs, then jumping on whichever one dives in price first. With the rapid pace of cell phones, you shouldn’t have to rest on your laurels for long. “Remember that ‘old’ in the tech world could mean just a few months from now,” says Lendino. Even the original iPhone, a high-demand handset which originally sold for $600, dropped a whopping $200 a little over two months after launch.
Of course, to take advantage of the most attractive phone deals, you’ll need to agree to a two-year service contract with a carrier like AT&T or Verizon. For potential buyers locked into existing contracts, this could mean riding it out with an older phone for a few more months in order to grab the massive rebates available upon renewal. Always call your provider to see if you might be eligible for an upgrade prior to an existing contract expiring. AT&T, for instance, allows customers with monthly bills over $99 to upgrade after just one year – as long as they’re willing to lock into another two years of service.
Different form factors
Even after choosing between a smartphone or feature phone, you have a lot of choices to make to decide what your phone will actually look like.
A full touch layout like the iPhone has become popular for smartphones, but you’ll usually forgo a hard keyboard as a result. Some smartphones like the Droid 2 or the BlackBerry Torch offer a slide-out keyboard as a compromise, but get thicker as a result, too. Many smartphones also dupe the popular BlackBerry design: small screen on top, small keyboard below.
In feature phones, the flip or “clamshell” form factor has proven especially popular because of its small size and the fact that it protects the screen and keys when closed. Phones with both the screen and keypad on a fixed rectangular slab are typically called “candybar” phones. As with smartphones, you’ll many feature phones with dedicated QWERTY keyboards, which can be handy for frequent text messagers.
Whichever you decide to go with, make sure to physically handle the phone at a kiosk or store prior to buying. Pictures can often drastically misrepresent the size of phones.
Notable Features
The list of features to look for in a phone could fill an anthology, so we’ll run down some of the most important ones.
Cameras appear on nearly every phone these days. Although a quality camera can be great for quick snapshots, few phone cameras are ready to replace a trusty point-and-shoot. The few with variable focus far outperform fixed-focus cameras, which you’ll find on the majority.
When considering a display, pay attention to size and brightness, which will both come in handy when trying to read it in difficult conditions like outdoors in the sun. LCD displays are still the most common, but OLED displays have been cropping up lately as well. They use slightly less power and produce extremely vibrant color, but suffer from poor outdoor visibility.
Battery life often gets buried at the end of buyers’ wishlists, only to lead to disappointment when they realize they can barely go a whole day without recharging. Be particularly careful with smartphones, which can get particularly thirsty.
If you plan to use your phone for playing music or watching video, be sure to check for internal and external storage. If the phone has a microSD slot you should be able to add up to 32GB of additional storage.
