Review of Motorola's unique BACKFLIP Android smartphone for AT&T

Motorola BACKFLIP

Motorola BACKFLIP

Motorola BACKFLIP

Motorola BACKFLIP

Motorola, a company that has seen better days, has largely placed its corporate bet that the Android smartphone operating system is going to be a big winner. As such, the company has put out an impressive number of Android-powered smartphones in the past 6 months. The BACKFLIP for AT&T, the subject of this review, shares much in terms of hardware specs and software with other MOTOBLUR-equipped Android smartphones from Motorola, like the CLIQ and DEVOUR.

That's certainly not a bad thing, as we've found those devices to all be quite capable. But there is one thing that the BACKFLIP, as its name implies, does very differently. Its unique reverse folding clamshell form factor provided Motorola with an opportunity to do some things differently this time around. Read on to see how it all turned out.

Physical Aspects

The Motorola BACKFLIP features an interesting industrial design, thanks to that reverse-folding clamshell form factor. It is a good looking, if nontraditional, phone. The 3.1-inch, 480 x 320 pixel (HVGA) capacitive touchscreen^(INFO) display dominates the front of the phone, and sits above 3 touch-sensitive controls for menu, home, and back. The touch buttons work very well, but are still prone to occasionally being activated by a finger that loses its way while handling the phone. The display is bright and crisp, and the touchscreen itself is quite responsive, seeming better than the one on the similarly equipped Motorola CLIQ.

In its default folded state, the 4-row QWERTY keyboard serves as the back of the device. The keys are made of a solid plastic membrane that keeps out dust and pocket lint. The 5 megapixel camera and its LED flash sit in the bottom left hand of the keyboard, and are therefore facing away from the user when the phone is folded, like a traditional camera, but face towards the user when the phone is opened up for making use of the QWERTY keyboard. This makes self-portraits and the like very easy to shoot.

The keyboard itself has left me unimpressed, though. There is actually too much room on the keyboard for my liking. One's fingers need to travel a lot further to type out a message on the BACKFLIP than would be required by Motorola's other QWERTY keyboard-equipped Android smartphones. On top of that, the keys themselves have a relatively poor feel, owing largely to that plastic membrane that keeps out all of the dust. I personally would have preferred a more compact keyboard configuration that included a d-pad controller of some sort, as is found on the CLIQ and the DROID.

Since the BACKFLIP lacks a d-pad, Motorola placed what it calls a BACKTRACK controller on the rear side of the display that can be manipulated with a fingertip while the keyboard is in use. The small rectangular patch functions just like a trackpad on a laptop computer would, converting dragging motions and double-taps into scrolling and clicking. It works well enough, but my large hands continually activate it by accident, wreaking havoc on whatever task is at hand. Thankfully it can be disabled entirely in the BACKFLIP's settings.

When left in a semi-open position, the unusual reverse-folding design of the BACKFLIP allows it to be used as a desktop clock, much like the Motorola DROID does when placed in its charging dock. In fact, when opened up in this way and placed on a flat surface, the BACKFLIP will automatically launch the clock application so that the phone can be used as a desktop clock (assuming you plug it in). The semi-open position also makes the BACKFLIP great for watching movies while the phone sits on a desktop.

The Motorola BACKFLIP features a metal battery cover that is exposed when the phone is opened up, and it has a nice design on it. The cover can be removed to access the battery, the SIM card slot, and the slot for the microSD^(INFO) memory card, which can be swapped out without having to remove the battery.

There are a few hardware controls and buttons on the BACKFLIP. A power switch sits up on the top edge of the phone next to a 3.5mm headphone jack. The power switch can be long pressed to bring up a menu for toggling airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the phone's GPS system. The right hand edge of the phone, when closed, is where you will find a volume control, an uncovered micro-USB power/data port, and the dual-stage camera shutter button. All of these things work quite well, in my experience.

In fact, everything about the BACKFLIP's design is very solid. Nothing is loose, there's no creaking, and the phone feels up to the task of heavy messaging. The fact that it only weighs 141.7g (5.0oz) and measures a respectable 112.5mm x 53mm x 16.5mm (4.4in x 2.1in x .6in) adds further to the good feelings I have for the hardware design as a whole. It's just some of the details, like the feel and layout of the keyboard and the decision to use the BACKTRACK for navigation, that leave an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth.