Skip to main content

Motorola Flipout Squares Off with Android Competition

At long last, Motorola has formally announced the Flipout, a stylist square-shaped Android phone featuring Motorola’s MotoBlur interface. Although the phone has been rumored for months—in considerable detail—Motorola’s formal launch dots the i’s and crosses the t’s…and still leaves the mystery of when the device might land in the United States.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

“Flipout merges Motorola’s design heritage with Android to deliver a new take on the typical smartphone form,” said Motorola’s general manager for mobile devices for Latin America South Antonio Quintas, in a statement. “In an incredibly compact square, Flipout fits neatly in your palm, purse or small pocket, making it fun and easy to stay connected while on the go.”

The square Flipout twists to reveal a full QWERTY keypad for email, social networking, and messaging needs. The device runs Android 2.1 with Motorola’s own MotoBlur enhancements, which has been spiffed up to enable users to resize home screen widgets, handle push delivery of personal and business email, and more. The Flipout features a video-capable 3.1 megapixel camera with Kodak Perfect Touch technology for improved image quality and faster tagging and labeling of photos. The Flipout features a 2.8-inch screen with a 320 by 240-pixel resolution, along with integrated GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking, and 512 MB of built-in storage—a microSD slot makes that expandable by up to 32 GB.

Motorola is planning to launch the Flipout in Argentina and Brazil during the second quarter of 2010, with Europe following in the third quarter. It’s not at all clear that Motorola intends to bring the Flipout to the U.S. market at all: the phone would seem to be a natural competitor to social networking-oriented devices like the Sidekick and Microsoft’s new Kin phones, but for now Motorola seems more intent on international markets. The Flipout will be available in a slew of bright colors, including Green, Raspberry, Blue, red, Saffron, White, and Licorice.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Editors' Recommendations

Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Motorola is going to make a big announcement next week
motorola edge 50 Pro rear shell.

Motorola announced an upcoming event on April 16, and from the looks of its teaser, it seems new Edge series smartphones are on the horizon. The company has already introduced the Edge 50 Pro in the Indian market, but two more members of the series have yet to be launched officially, even though leaks have already spoiled the surprise.

A few weeks ago, Evan Blass (@evleaks) shared rumored product renders of the flagship Motorola Edge 50 Ultra. Carrying forward the legacy of the Edge series, the upcoming phone embraces a curved screen, metallic sides, and a leather finish on the rear shell. There are three cameras at the back, one of which relies on the folded lens zoom hardware.

Read more
Samsung’s newest Android tablet is a perfect iPad alternative
A render of the front of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 2024.

Samsung has just launched a refreshed Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) for the U.S. exclusively through Amazon. This comes after Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) internationally.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) is the latest entry in Samsung’s midrange tablet lineup that made its debut in 2020. This newest iteration has the same overall design, S Pen integration, screen, and just 4GB RAM. However, it now has a new Exynos processor and comes with Android 14 right out of the box.

Read more
Android phones finally have their own version of AirTags
Renders of Chipolo's new Point trackers that work with Google's Find My Device network.

Google's new Find My Device tracking service will soon launch with an important third-party provider. Chipolo has announced two new trackers for the service: the Chipolo One Point item tracker and the Chipolo Card Point wallet finder.

By offering these trackers, Chipolo will be among the first companies in the market to provide trackers that work with Google's new tracking network. Google announced its new Find My Device network last year. In short, it's Google's answer to Apple's Find My network. Find My Device can use other nearby Android devices to track your lost phone, item tracker, etc. — just like how Find My uses iPhones and other Apple devices to locate lost iPhones and AirTags.

Read more