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Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone

By | February 18, 2010, 5:27am PST

Summary: AT&T has just announced that they have picked up their first Google Android-powered smartphone, the Motorola Backflip, which will start appearing in AT&T stores nationwide and online this spring.

AT&T has just announced that they have picked up their first Google Android-powered smartphone, the Motorola Backflip, which will start appearing in AT&T stores nationwide and online this spring.It’s taken AT&T awhile to jump on the Android-based smartphone bandwagon. Maybe they can’t place all their bets on just the iPhone any longer. The Motorola Backflip, set to arrive March 7, features Motoblur, a platform dedicated to communication and social networking. Using the power of the Android mobile OS, users will be able to connect directly to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and the Google app collection (Gmail, Picasa, etc.) all from their home screen over AT&T’s 3G network.

For refreshing everyone’s minds, some of the Backflip’s other notable features include:

  • Reverse flip design
  • QWERTY keyboard
  • 3.1-inch color touchscreen display
  • 7.2 HSPA 3G technology
  • Wi-Fi
  • GPS
  • 5-megapixel autofocus still/video camera with flash

Contracts will start at $99.99 (after the $100 mail-in rebate, of course) for a two-year agreement, requiring a smartphone data plan.

Anyone eager to go out and get one this March?

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Topics

Smart Phone, AT&T Corp., Motorola Inc., Smart Phones, Cellular Phones, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
jfreedle2@... 18th Mar 2010
Yawn, a google android device, really. I cannot wait to see history show that google android was a complete and utter flop.
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Looks nice enough
Stuka 18th Feb 2010
It seems to have a nice keyboard. Far better than the Droids from the looks of it.

I wonder if AT&T will allow tethering with it?
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
hippmr 18th Feb 2010
What, pray tell, is a "reverse flip design"?
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reverse flip
mobiloid 18th Feb 2010
When the phone is closed, the screen is on one
side and the keypad is on the back. You flip it
open with a hinge so you can see the screen and
keypad at the same time. (Hold your palms
together and then pivot them at your thumbs so
you can see the back of each hand -- like that.)
It can also sit on a desk that way, with the
screen propped up like a laptop. Also, the back
of the screen is a touchpad so you can move a
cursor around. I don't see how the keypad is any
more exposed than a Blackberry keypad or a Q, or
really, any candybar phone.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
ayush.mahesh 18th Feb 2010
I dont like this design. The keys are going to be permanently exposed to dirt and other wear and tear.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
Bifftech 18th Feb 2010
Keyboard seems well laid out but the real test is how it
feels.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
cybertec 18th Feb 2010
Another stupid, time wasting, junk kiddie phone! It's time these lousy companies like AT&T, Verizon and others get a REAL business phone that performs like it is supposed to do and competes with the "kluggy" Blackberry . Give me easy web access, business email, phone, fast multiple MS Office applications, a decent camera and a working touch screen that handles all running applications at the same time. Until they do this, all the phones are pure crap!
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You're forgetting one thing:
sweffymo 18th Feb 2010
The vast majority of the market for new phones is for the "kiddies." I agree that there aren't really any great business-oriented phones out there, but the fact that many businesspeople (presumably people in marketing and sales who can have whatever they want) are buying iPhones and Droids shows that they are more concerned about the fashion and a good web browser than they do about access to their spreadsheets. This is understandable because spreadsheets are hard to read on a tiny little screen anyway, and it's another excuse not to have to deal with it until they get to a real computer.
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Amen to that - plus
IAFarm2 18th Feb 2010
Plus a usable SD card slot - some of us have to carry multiple vendors' product catalogs and their pdf or Excel order forms with us and update them regularly - along with Gigs of technical data sheets, material safety data sheets, and other tools for technical sales/service - (used to be 3 or 4 "catalog cases full" to lug along) - presently there's no usable substitute for a laptop - but it would sure make things more efficient if there was -- OH and Easy-To-Swap batteries - all that work will suck down the power pretty fast - may not be able to recharge enuf before the next customer needs service
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business phone requirements?
MuleHeadJoe 18th Feb 2010
and, pray tell, why on earth would you use a PHONE for your business email & office apps? Use a PHONE to make PHONE calls ... that's why it's called a PHONE. Seriously, if you need mobile computing, then use a netbook or laptop with an aircard or bluetooth tethering. I cannot imagine why anybody would want business apps ON A PHONE ... I can see web browsing and messaging (text or IM) with the phone as a handy way to quickly find info and communicate when you are on walkabout and don't have access to a better suited platform, but you have to be a masochist or a fool to want to do computer-based work ON A PHONE. At least, that's my 2 cents. happy
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real business phone?
bunkport 18th Feb 2010
Other than touch screen it sounds like you just described Nokia E Series phones. I can run Quick (MS Office compatible), email, mp3, iSilo, camera, all at same time and toggle between open apps with a press of the home key! Mine is the "entry Level" E63, but I'm sure the E71 and others have the same capabiities and more.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
zforray@... 18th Feb 2010
See the video/pictures here:

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-BACKFLIP-with-MOTOBLUR-US-EN?localeId=33
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
rghvc196 18th Feb 2010
Until Google gets its email app working properly, I wouldn't get one. I have an Android phone and have yet to be able to empty the "Trash" folder of emails without having to delete the account and set it back up. Also, since I have set it to leave the messages on the server, it keeps downloading the same messages even after I have "deleted" them from the phone. My Blackberry wasn't perfect, but it had the email app working well.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
mattsquire 18th Feb 2010
android email & email sync sucks.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
alpster1 18th Feb 2010
First off, the keyboard is a one-piece membrane with good spacing, raised keys, and no place for "guck" to collect or water to damage.

Nope, this is not a business machine, It won best at CES because its a texter/social networker device and it's really, really good at that.

The Blur service gathers all your social stuff and yahoo, gmail, etc.. and pushs it to your phone in more or less real time. All this stuff gets diplayed on two "live" widgets, Happenings and Messages. You simply flip through them to look at Tweets, status updates,texts, and email, then answer them on the fly. No seperate apps, no logging in to facebook.

If this doesn't sound like the way you use your "phone" this device is probably not for you. However, for the millions of (mostly younger) customers that want a physical keyboard and instant access to their social happenings, its a really cool phone.
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This might be a nice android phone, but ATT is a dead end for me
ilyab 18th Feb 2010
I have been with the company for 8 years, and my wife for 3. Her i phone can be slow as dial up at loading pages, and it isn't a signal issue.

The network while it has its problems is not as bad as people claim dropped calls are rare for both her and I; however, in my opinion based on my experience the customer service at the stores is kind of like walking into a Bay-Ridge car dealership. You feel like you dropped the soap in a prison shower.

I will be leaving to go else where as soon as my contract obligation ends. I also think HTC builds better android phones even without KB because they have more experience in it.
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
bobinbc 18th Feb 2010
AT&T screwed me once and will not get a second chance no
matter what they bring out to market.
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sorry duplicate comment
ilyab Updated - 18th Feb 2010
duped comment I can't find a way to remove it.
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A Google phone on Every carrier
T1Oracle 18th Feb 2010
Eat that Apple :P
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
theewizard@... 19th Feb 2010
$99 per month for the contract ?

or do you mean $99 cost with a (2) yr contract which sounds normal
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Keyboard - compared to Sidekicks
ncmacasl@... 20th Feb 2010
I would really like someone who has used a T-Mobile Sidekick to tell me how the BackFlip keyboard compares. The Sidekick is known for having THE BEST keyboard in the smart phone biz and since they are no longer being made (thanks, Mircosoft!) would the BackFlip make a suitable replacement - especially for those of us who were spoiled by the Sidekick's keyboard.

Some reviews say the keys are TOO BIG (I find that hard to believe) and others have said they are hard to press down on.

Some of my former Sidekick-using friends have gone to other Android phones and love the OS, but none are thrilled with the keyboards of the Cliq or the G1. I am hoping this one is a bit better!
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RE: Motorola Backflip to be AT&T's first Android-powered smartphone
jfreedle2@... 18th Mar 2010
Yawn, a google android device, really. I cannot wait to see history show that google android was a complete and utter flop.

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