Android elders must be staring at this one in disbelief. Looking down at it for all we know, measuring it up. What about the BACKFLIP? We guess it’s exactly the kind of gadget to stare back, humble but defiant.
Android was a life-saving blood transfusion for Motorola. Not only did the MILESTONE put them back on the map – it gave them a license to experiment. They didn’t think twice to take it. So here we are, watching the BACKFLIP do the robot dance. This one is no ordinary droid, though at first it might look like a faithful follower of the G1. QWERTY keyboards fell out of Android favor soon after the G1 but we’re witnessing a strong comeback, much credit for which goes to Motorola.
So, QWERTY it is but the Motorola BACKFLIP wants to have it its own way. So much so that it doesn’t seem to care what you think. Unique as in “shame no one thought of it before” or in a freak of nature sort of way, the BACKFLIP won’t leave you indifferent. It’s got a one-of-a-kind form factor written into its name but the whole backflip thing seems to serve a higher purpose than simply drawing attention to an otherwise ordinary package.
It all makes sense once you’ve used the BACKFLIP for a while. The uniquely folding full QWERTY keyboard, the BACKTRACK touchpad and the capacitive touchscreen are all there to put you in control. It’s an unusual phone to interact with but in a good way. On the inside, premium connectivity options are standard here, but the earliest Android version does sound underwhelming. It has the social-networking-centric Motoblur on top and that makes sense in a QWERTY-enabled midrange smartphone. More importantly though, the promised Android upgradeability makes the BACKFLIP likely to stick around.
Key features
- Unique form factor and sturdy build quality
- Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support (7.2 Mbps HSDPA)
- 3.1" 256K-color 320x480 pixel capacitive touchscreen
- Android OS v1.5 (upgradeable to later versions) with MOTOBLUR UI and Live Widgets
- Folding four-row QWERTY keyboard
- BACKTRACK touchpad at the back of the screen
- Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor; 256 MB of RAM
- 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
- CIF (352 × 288 pixel) video recording @ 30fps
- Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
- 512MB storage, microSD slot, bundled with a 2GB card
- Accelerometer and proximity sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
- Noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone
- Office document viewer
Main disadvantages
- Poor sunlight legibility
- No multi-touch
- One-finger zoom works only on the BACKTRACK touchpad
- No smart and voice dialing
- Limited camera features, lens on the QWERTY keyboard
- No free GPS navigation solution
- No Flash support for the web browser
- No FM radio
- No DivX and XviD video playback
- Below par audio quality
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