Item Details

Motorola BACKFLIP Android Phone (AT&T)

(36 Customer Reviews)

Price: $0.01
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Technical Details

• 3G-enabled, Google Android OS-powered smartphone with MOTOBLUR social networking, 3.1-inch touchscreen
• Unique reverse flip design reveals full QWERTY keyboard; BACKTRACK touch pad for navigation without using touch display
• GPS-enabled; Wi-Fi networking; Bluetooth stereo music; 5-megapixel camera/camcorder; microSD memory expansion; personal and corporate e-mail
• Up to 6 hours of talk time, up to 324 hours (13.5 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, 2 GB microSD memory card, quick start guide, user manual

 

Product Details

Product Weight: 1.33 pounds

Shipping Weight: 0.01 pounds

Model: Backflip

Manufacturer: Motorola

Sales Rank: 710

 

Customer Reviews

Average, at best.,
by L. Lambert, 2010-07-15

I have been a Blackberry user for years, but decided to think outside the box and go Android. The Backflip was the first Android phone offered for AT&T customers and I jumped at it. In hindsight, I should have waited until other options were available. Here are my thoughts:

- Battery: Battery life is horrible. For example, I left the house with 100% battery life and within an hour was at 77% without using the phone once. I have the settings on power saver and have the phone shut down automatically to save battery life as well. It's simply useless battery life.

- Bluetooth: This phone does not work well with my Bluetooth headset (which worked flawlessly with my Blackberry Bold). It sometimes recognizes it and sometimes does not. Which is frustrating when I make a call and discover I am not on the headset but have to use the handset. This leads me to my third problem...

- Handset: This phone constantly cuts off phone calls. There is a feature that is supposed to recognize with the phone is by your head (when on a call) and shuts the screen down so as not to hit "end" or "mute", etc. However, this feature clearly does not work on my phone because it is constantly muting calls and ending them.

- Slow: The phone freezes often and I sometimes have to shut it down completely and "reboot". The Internet is also extremely slow.

- Bulky: The phone is pretty large and heavy and bulky with the keyboard. The keyboard isn't necessary and is actually difficult to use.

On the positive side...

- Features: I love all the apps and features that the phone has. It has a nice setup and is fun to use.

Basically, the phone is decent but it has many bugs that need to be worked out. The next generation Backflip will probably be far superior to this one. As for me ... I will be getting a new Android phone a.s.a.p.

 

Does what I need of it,
by J. Howell, 2010-07-09

First of all, I will say I am fairly new to the smart phone market, so my expectations were for some very basic features, such as: Touchscreen, a keyboard, decent internet, SD Card slot, SMS feeds, facebook, games, and apps. For the most part, it succeeds in those areas although the phone does have a few weaknesses here and there. I've had the phone for about a month now and have pretty much seen what works and what does not.

THE GOOD
- The Keyboard itself is fairly well designed and feels comfortable in the hand. I had no issues with input lag and such.

- Phone is a decent compact size for a Android phone. Most are rather big at times, but this one fits in your pocket OK.

- The internet is fairly decent and works fine with various sites that require you to log in.

- Compatible with many of the Apps I have downloaded. All the major ones work just fine.

- Has Wifi capabilities, so you can connect to a wireless network and not use up your data plan

- The phone itself is fairly sturdy design wise and has survived several falls without any scuffs.

- Can support up to 32GB for SD Cards. It itself comes with a 2GB SD Card which you may want to update when you get it.

- It can charge when it is dead and has no problems with USB Charging on the PC when it is like that.

- The battery itself is fairly decent. Depending on what setting you have it on, you can either use it up to 1-2 days on max settings with semi-heavy usage, and 5-7 days on standby on low power settings with a fair amount of usage. Recent updates have also helped cut down power consumption.

- The youtube app works just fine and does a decent job of streaming the videos.



THE BAD
- You pretty much need to have Motoblur for updates. Also, if you do it wrong the first time, then you will need to do a factory reset and reconfigure your phone. Had to do this once so I could get updates.

- The Phone is locked down and you can only put apps on via the Marketplace. This is more AT&T then Motorola, and that might be lifted at some point with a update.

- The search bar is currently for Yahoo only with no ability to change it over for Google. Once again this was a AT&T decision and might change with the Android 2.1 update.

- The actual phone part can be weird. Accessing a keypad during calls for computer operators can be annoying and trying to answer calls when the phone is off can be a bit hard due to you having to use the touch screen to pull over a tab to answer it. This can be a bit wonky and I am not sure if there is a way to turn it off.

- Some of the Apps pre-installed from AT&T or Motorla are semi-useless. Happenings fails to work most of the time and it is better to get a app for the social site you need (Like twitter or facebook). AT&T Navigator is $9.99 a month and $2.99 for a day pass, so you will be forced to use that until Android 2.1 for GPS. Motoblur is very limited as far as options go and can be a bit glitchy to deal with.

- While video recording is OK, The camera is very blurry and does not do well at all in a low light setting. Even with a flash, the images still come out blah. It is OK for stuff that you do not need a lot of quality on and out in the daylight, but it will not replace your digital camera.



THE NEUTRAL
- When you get the phone out of the box, the phone can be a bit slow at times. After I installed the Task Manager app and the two updates the phone had, the speed has increased quite a bit and isn't as clunky going to other screens and the internet is slightly faster.

- Currently the phone is running Android 1.5 with Android 2.1 coming out in Q3 2010. What this means is you will be missing the free GPS capability, live wallpapers, Flash for websites, and such until then. However, even on 1.5 it still does fairly well and can download major apps off the store.

- Because of the design of the keyboard when it is closed, it looks fairly ugly on the back. You also need to do this for pictures that are not self-portraits. The front looks fine though and kinda nice.

- Game options are limited, but that is more the android market being very limited then the fault of the phone itself. Game speeds range from decent (2D games) to a little lag (3D games with not much happening) to very laggy (More recent 3D games meant for newer android phones). None of them are unplayable though, and the recent updates might help.

- The Marketplace does not show what the game looks like and requires you to go online to see what it will be like.

- The tracker on the back is fairly useless and does get in the way. For example, you might touch it while using a App or website and open something you might not want. For general navigation, it does OK if you do not feel like using the keyboard or touch screen, but you can not use it while it is closed (Which is stupid, since it is the only time where it may actually be useful)

Ignoring the bad press it has gotten, the Backflip is the Black Sheep of the android market: it is one of the few AT&T Android phones and the only one with a keyboard. Depending on what you want out of it, this might not be your phone. People who use their phones more for checking their email, going on facebook, seeing the weather or just need basic apps will get use out of it. More tech savvy people that may want to have a big screen for the internet/youtube and more speed will instantly scoff at it and say it sucks.

It, however, does everything I need of it. It is a small phone that does the internet, youtube, and apps just fine and the keyboard helps when typing email, text messages, and just navigating. When AT&T does start to get Android phone that has a pull out keyboard, then this phone will become obsolete, but for what I need it for, it will last me until I decide to upgrade again (Which is usually 2 years or so).

 

The little things cost too,
by Yvonne Conley, 2010-07-05

I bought this phone on father,s day 2010 . I prefered it over the Apple IPhone G4 which turned out to be a better choice for now. Before I upgrade my cell phones, I do alot of reading on what I like about the chorse. I want all my feachers to work no matter how small are large. First I was told by Motorola Android support then by at&t sales teck that my Audible touch tones and Audible selections worked, but were very low. There's no adjustment setting that i've found so Android support walked me through a master reset,NO RESULTS. AT&T sales rep . says only the display models work, and it would be the same if i get an exchange WHY. I've did research to find out Android 1.5 is to be upgraded to 2.1 When and what's the difference, please let me know. The phone is grate i like it very much, but the little things are payed for too. Beware.

 

Don't buy this if you want an android phone.,
by I. Kim, 2010-07-02

Don't get this phone for an android phone.

Although it is supposed to be an android, you will find this phone short of full android expectation.

This phone runs outdated Android 1.5 (the latest as of July 2010 is Android 2.2 - so outdated that it will not connect to some plain old WIFI networks), and moreover, AT&T has severely crippled features. And the phone is locked by certificates, so there's no chance the phone can be rooted.

You can read it from the PC World article "Motorola Backflip on AT&T: Not the Full Android Experience", and read the post "Is the backflip eligible for the Android 2.0 or 2.1" on this page. (There are over 300 posts to this thread.)

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HOT phone - literally,
by Gina Gargus, 2010-06-20

My Backflip got sent back within a week. If I would use it, for apps or calls, for more than 5 minutes at a time it would get hot to the touch. On calls, it would get so hot that my cheek would turn red from the heat. I personally do not recommend the Backflip.