By At first glance the Motorola Backflip doesn’t look like anything we haven’t yet seen – in fact it looks a lot like a Moto CLIQ-Clone. But if that were the case the Backflip would be the ultra-flexible, double jointed, ridiculously bendable version. The phone – which was announced earlier this week – has a unique and appropriately named form factor that you have to see to believe.
We grabbed a Motorola rep who was using the Backflip as their personal device to give us a quick tour of both the hardware and software:
One thing I love about the Backflip might just be a matter of consequence: the 5MP camera is normally positioned on the rear of the device but because of the acrobatics it becomes a front facing camera when it tumbles into an open position. For the “vloggers” out there or folks who aren’t the best at taking self-pics for facebook, this oughta help.
I’m also a big fan of that rear touch pad for web browsing if only to prevent accidental link clicking. Scrolling up and down throughout the page without being visually hindered from your fingers blocking the screen is also pretty nice.
Beyond the obvious benefits you get from the hardware, the Backflip is – as you may have guessed – a lot like the Motorola CLIQ in looks and specs. If you want to talk to others about the device to ask questions or share tips, head on over to our Motorola Backflip Forum!
Kinda iPhone-y from the front (I hate this kind of design).
But a cool concept indeed.
now my question would be, would the camera be able to be used as a webcamera? That would be sweet if it could. Any developer want to look into that?
backtouch is great idea! i hate browsing on my iphone and tapping links i dont want, happens a lot… for the rest of this phone it requires a smarter user, not all tap and go. should be fine for teens obsessed with social networks and who are smart enough to link all their contacts…
I have to admit, I thought this phone would be stupid, but after seeing the video that concept seems much cooler than I thought.
@G8D One thing I like about the iPhone is that the screen is equa-distant(sp) to both the top and bottom of the phone. This makes it really nice for typing in landscape mode. However, on this phone that’s not really necessary because you’ve got the keyboard.
Why didn’t they enable auto-rotate on the home screen? Instead, it seems you have to have the keyboard fully opened.
Btw, that rep reminds me of Miss South Carolina from Miss Teen 2007. “…so you don’t mistakenly click on something as well, so we’ve kind of thought… to try and make it… prevention…”
I have to say, I was really skeptical about the form factor, but after seeing it in practice, I kinda wish I could get my Droid in a thin backflip version (that back trackpad is nice!)
Not to mention the forward facing camera and effectively “free” multimedia dock
this surprised me a lot. actually kinda want the phone. still wondering how protecting the keyboard will work since its always out in the open. i smell a lot of repairs in the future….
“Scrolling up and down throughout the page without being visually hindered from your fingers blocking the screen is also pretty nice.”
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yeah my philosophy of screens is you can look but don’t touch. That’s also why I prefer a real keyboard. I want to use the entire screen.
Did I just see a slide-out HERO @ 3:23?
I think it’s kinda neat.
@ dee, it looks like a cliq w/ a silver bottom instead of black (I think its upside down)
That thing is crazy, I had to go back and watch the first part a couple of times because it looked so crazy when he flipped it open. My first thoughts about the camera were “front facing camera!” and the guy in the video totally called on that one. Someone would be genius to hook up with Skype on that one. I’m thinking it’ll happen eventually, but I really think it’d be cool to get a forward facing camera so you can make Skype calls and use it just like a webcam for video conferencing. It wouldn’t be the best way to conference especially if you’re a business mogul but I would use it just for fun…it’s totally going to go that way in the future, someone just needs to do it well and then market it in a savvy way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrmw7H-jzA heres a link of the camera being used on it the flash seems real bright too bad its for at&t
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWyCjCRkNRk
the first dropped backflip at 0:43 seconds hahaha maked me think how i would want to close it with one hand
Yeah…thing looks kinda dandy. I’m glad I didn’t jive it before it came out
Finally someone builds a camera in that faces both directions, and they don’t even seem to realize the gigantic leap forward they’ve made.
WTF can’t companies realize the world is waiting for good video cell phone hardware, and the only thing missing is a camera that’s easily positioned to point where you want it?
Consider me happy at least that they finally got this close though.
I do wish the hardware were faster, instead of being more last-gen kit.
“Why didn’t they enable auto-rotate on the home screen? Instead, it seems you have to have the keyboard fully opened.”
Neither does the Droid, but I after using it for a while, I realized that this is actually a feature.
When you quickly pull your phone out of your pocket, do you really want your home icons moving all over the place?
Likewise, if you pull the keyboard out on the Droid home screen it knows to switch to landscape mode.
Pretty cool concept and form, but did you notice that super lag in loading those widgets when he came back to the home screen? Maybe its motoblur slowing it down…
I thought this was a gimmick of the worst kind when I saw the first reports of it and brushed it off. Now that I see it function in real time, I don’t understand all the criticism, because the form factor is TRULY original and enables so many uses that other over-powered, but still orthodox phones (eg nexus one, et al)do NOT, like possible video-calling or video conferencing, and the trite alarm clock feature is pretty cool, too. I can now say the only legitimate criticism of this phone is the software: it needs to ship with Android 2.1 (as promised, but never guaranteed LOL) and ATT needs to stop stripping it of innovative Google features in order to please partners Apple and Yahoo. If this phone can be hacked to run with T-Mobile’s upcoming Android 2.1 OS with Motoblur (the soon-to-be-released update for the Moto Cliq) that is NOT stripped of Google’s native OS apps, this just might be the perfect cell for me because I don’t need nexus power on the go and much prefer this phone’s unique potential and features inherent in the innovative form factor.
this is a cool phone and i am sooo getting it tomorrow!
Ordered this phone waiting for arrival seems very neat….so cant wait to put it to use…Does anyone know if you can make Skype calls with this phone? I will note my comments once mine arrives and I have used it atleast a week or so.
Thanks
You can use Fring which is an alternate option for skype but it does work.
Received my backflip…definitely has been hard to adjust to from the blackberry bold..very sensitive to touch and certainly not something you should try and use while operating a motor vehicle (but I guess no phone really is) I have gotten so many people really impressed with the look and touch screen/keyboard combo option which is what sold me on it. Takes awesome pictures which is a big deal for me…I am still very green on what it can do..any help is appreciated. @ Melissa thank you I will check fring out @ D-man yes I share the question with you on the auto rotate not an option find it strange.
i had my backflip since july 8th, 2010. i must say, it is a wonderful phone so far. i don’t want to compare it with other phones, because, of course, there are better and more advanced phones out there. but i must say, the BACKFLIp is good enough for me. i enjoy its facebook interaction on the home screen, and news features, it updates almost every minutes. the SMS, calling, camera is also great. also, i heard from a specialist that the phone screen is made from some special glass, that’s very hard to get scratched, so i am not getting a screen protector or case to protect it at all. and as my only interest for the BACKFLIP after iphone 4 came out is the video calling or facetime ability, and just today, i found softwares that can do video calling on backflip, such is amazing!!!
also, the phone is unlockable if u don’t like AT&T, the wireless on internet is wonderful. i must say, the BACKFLIP is a unique design, which is different than any other phones in real as of today!
BOSCO: What is the name of the video calling software that you used with your Motorola Backflip, I will like to take a look at it. I will appreciate a link to it too.
Have had my backflip for about a week now and simply can’t put it down! I’m very interested to see what 2.1 will give us … no skype ap yet, and google video-voice hasn’t gotten it together, so am downloading fring now as I write this. The forward facing camera is one of the features I bought the backflip for.
I also thought it had the capability to ‘be’ a hotspot, but ended up downloading a tethering ap (pda net) which works great, but again looking for 2.1 to resolve that.
Don’t understand all the misunderstanding around the auto rotate feature on this thread … it’s an option – just has to be turned on. I have found this device to be extremely intuitive and easy to use. I doubt that motorola/at&t didn’t know what they have with this flippy camera design — I just think that the politics of bandwidth and loyalty take time to iron out. They’ll get there. I was surprised to see that Skype hadn’t developed an app yet, but oh, well.
Overall, just thrilled …
Alert – Alert …
as stated above, just downloaded Fring, set it up and immediately got a notice that, well, here:
“Note: video calls are currently disabled on your phone due to device limitations”
What the heck is that???? I smell a rat … No Skype (they have it for every other smart phone!), no Google Video/Voice … Now this …. hmmmmmmm I wonder if anyone knows what’s really up? eeessshhhhhhh
Hi, I can say the only legitimate criticism of this phone is the software: it needs to ship with Android 2.1 (as promised, but never guaranteed LOL) and ATT needs to stop stripping it of innovative Google features in order to please partners Apple and Yahoo. If this phone can be hacked to run with T-Mobile’s upcoming Android 2.1 OS with Motoblur (the soon-to-be-released update for the Moto Cliq) that is NOT stripped of Google’s native OS apps, this just might be the perfect cell for me because I don’t need nexus power on the go and much prefer this phone’s unique potential and features inherent in the innovative form factor.
For those of you who don’t knw it yet, Androind 2.1 is now available for free downloading on the motorola site!! It is pretty cool, although I think it has slowed down my backflip a bit. The new features are awesome though. You can now download Skype (for calls and chat only). I downloaded Fring and enabled the video option, but not sure how I can video call my friends. Do they also have to have Fring??
@ Amara
Apparently an android version of skype will be available for the Backflip shortly. I’m looking forward to it.