Mobile Phone :Motorola Backflip Review

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:21:08 +0000

Just when you thought that every possible design for a mobile phone has been tried and tested, along come those great mobile innovators, Motorola, with a unique look at a QWERTY device, with the recently announced Motorola BackFlip, a powerful smartphone running on the Android operating

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Just when you thought that every possible design for a mobile phone has been tried and tested, along come those great mobile innovators, Motorola, with a unique look at a QWERTY device, with the recently announced Motorola BackFlip, a powerful smartphone running on the Android operating system.

So, let’s start with the design, BackFlip by name and BackFlip by nature, the QWERTY keypad on this device is located on the back side of the phone. The phone opens by folding out, bringing the QWERTY keyboard out and under the screen. Another unique option here is on the back of the main display is a touch navigation pad, as found on laptops for controlling the mouse. So, holding the phone, with QWERTY keyboard displayed, in two hands, you can navigate the main display and move the highlighter over applications and the mouse when browsing the web. In practice this works really well, and despite the peculiar styling is actually very comfortable and practical.

Motorola are going to be busy this year with many Android devices, and it is good to see them once again bringing innovative, quality handsets to market. Aside from the design, there is a lot to admire on the BackFlip, with a whole host of interesting features, and an impressive spec list. We’ve already touched on the Android feature, the BackFlip shipping with Android version 1.5, also known as Cupcake. This is the version the HTC Hero currently operates on, but the news in the last week with the talk all about the Nexus One is the latest version of Android OS, 2.1. Thankfully the BackFlip is not ‘out of date before it launches’, as Motorola promise that version 2.1 will soon be available for BackFlip owners to upgrade to.

Like most Android devices, connectivity is king, and the BackFlip has all the means available for connecting to the web. Full HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps is included, plus Class 12 GPRS and Class 12 EDGE. WiFi is included, plus the phone also has Bluetooth with A2DP support for stereo audio streaming. The device has a MicroUSB connector, to allow easy file transfer to/from a PC via a data cable.

The BackFlip is a good size for a smartphone, measuring in at 108 x 53 x 15mm, and weighing 133g. The TFT capacitive touchscreen supports up to 256,000 colours, and measures a healthy 3.1 inches, with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. Running over the standard Android OS is the MotoBLUR UI, as found on the recently released DROID, which has live widget support, allowing for auto feed updates for services such as weather reports and news headlines.

One of the areas where Android devices have been poor in the past is with imaging, so to resolve this Motorola have equipped the BackFlip with a 5.0 Megapixel camera, with autofocus and an LED flash. Thanks to the built in GPS receiver there is also support for Geotagging. The GPS receiver also lends itself to the location applications, helping with SatNav navigation via Google Maps, as well as helping you get info on local services via third party apps such as Yelp and Aloqa. The camera on the BackFlip is also enabled for video recording, with the handset able to capture video clips at HVGA resolution, at up to 24 fps.

The BackFlip is a capable media device, with a solid media player. Various file formats are supported, such as MP3, AAC and WMA9 for audio, and MP4, H.263, H.264 and WMV9 for video. There is ample storage for media content on the phone; the BackFlip has a total internal memory capacity of 2GB, with a memory expansion slot that can take MicroSD cards up to 32GB in size.

As you would expect on an Android phone, the BackFlip tightly integrates with all the popular Google services, such as Google Maps, Google Mail and Google Talk, to name a few. There is also support included for Picasa, and also Photobucket, allowing you to instantly upload pictures to your web account directly from the device. And of course, the usual favourites of Twitter and Facebook are also included.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All round then, the BackFlip is a solid device, and is set to swell the increasing numbers of high class, powerful Android devices available to buy. The BackFlip comes in a classy looking Platinum Silver colour, and is expected to market during Q1 2010.

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Mobile Phone :Motorola Backflip Review