Initial Impressions – Motorola Backflip

My History

The Backflip is different from any phone I have ever owned. Here is an overview:

• Motorola Bag Phone (15 minutes a month on the original plan, originally bought for my Mom)
• Various Nokia phones
• A Sony Ericsson bar phone that was shaped like a fish (blue)
• Motorola V551 (not as cute, but better than the RAZR IMHO)
• Samsung Sync (kept this one for 2 1/2 years, really liked it)
• LG Xenon (for 28 days, returned and traded for the Eternity)
• Samsung Eternity (my previous phone)
• Samsung Impression (my wife’s phone)

So I am no cell phone rookie, but no pro either.

Using the Backflip

Smooth, responsive screen.

My last phone was a Samsung Eternity with a resistive touch screen. If you are looking for an inexpensive feature phone the Eternity or the Samsung Impression (with a hardware keyboard and a much better looking screen that the Eternity) are great choices. But after using the resistive touch screen on the Eternity the screen on the Backflip takes a much lighter touch. The description that comes to is is smooth. The Eternity feels rubbery in comparison.

You can swipe quickly to get to another screen and this gives you a lot of real estate to use for your workspace.

The Keyboard

The keyboard is big. I am guessing that this is what the designers at Motorola was aiming for when they put it on the outside of the phone. All that normally blank space filled with keys (and a camera lens).

The keyboard represented the opposite adjustment for me after using a virtual keyboard. The keys take a much more definite press than the taps of the virtual keyboard. I was afraid of typos, but the more that I use it the more I see that I am a lot more accurate with it.

I have to remember to press firmly and I am getting faster with it every time I use it.

Backtrack

I love the track pad. My fingers just seem to land on it naturally and I use for scrolling through long lists and while reading long pages on the web. I especially like for reading because I can scroll slowly, never stop reading, and my hand isn’t blocking my view periodically

User Environment

AT&T Bloat

As a long time AT&T user I am used to ignoring the bloat that they put on the phones. I am also not a social networking user. So all of the social networking stuff and any shortcuts or widgets relating to AT&T paid services were deleted from view. They still exist, like bad children sent to their bedroom, but I don;t have to look at them.

A Blank Canvas

After clearing the bloat I had acres of space to fill, which I did with the help of Android Market. I will be writing reviews of the apps and widgets I have installed in another section.

Google Search

If you were to do a poll about the issue upsetting the most internet users right now it might be the use of Yahoo as the default search on the Backflip.

Here is what I did:

• Navigated to Google in the browser
• Bookmarked Google
• Put a shortcut to this bookmark on my home screen

If I want to search Google it is one press away.

I will bet that a google search widget will appear in the Android Market very soon. There was never a need until the Backflip.

Hardware

OMG, the keyboard is on the outside!

Yes it is. So is the keyboard on every candy bar type phone ever made, including the Blackberrys.

I don’t really notice the keyboard when the phone is closed. The edges of the phone are raised to protect it when laid on a flat surface. The biggest danger to the keyboard, I think, would be to drop the phone onto something hard and sharp. Any phone is in danger of breaking if it is dropped. The chances of damage to the Backflip may be increased because both sides have critical part of the phone mechanism exposed.

The keyboard is a sealed membrane, no gaps between the keys. It appears to be pretty tough, but I’m not going to drop test mine.

The Hinge

The hinge is about two inches long (50 mm). It is solid and has no play. Mine has loosened up a bit in the three days I have used it. I wonder what type of mechanism is ued to keep the phone in the closed position (spring?).

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