Last month some blurry shots of an interesting Motorola phone appeared. It had a strange folding mechanism which meant that the QWERTY keyboard ended up on the outside of the phone when closed. Today, at CES, Motorola made the BACKFLIP official. Like the Motorola DEXT it has the MotoBLUR interface for pulling your online and phone-based life into one set of screens. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Gmail are integrated into streams to keep your life in order. Specs include a 3.1″ screen at 320×480, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, WiFi, aGPS,3.5mm headset jack, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, stereo Bluetooth and a Qualcomm 7200A processor. It runs Android 1.5, which is rather strange considering that 2.x is now available, but we can only assume that the MotoBLUR UI hasn’t been tweaked to perform with that yet.
Other features include a fully integrated GPS tracking option and remote data wipe, plus there’s access into the Android Market for many thousands of extra apps. According to Motorola the BACKFLIP (why they use capital letters so much I don’t know) will be available in North and Latin America, Latin America, Europe and Asia “beginning in Q1 2010”, but no networks were mentioned.
Click on for the press release and more photos. Oh, and yes – it is pretty much a Motorola DEXT with a QWERTY keyboard nailed onto it from what we can see! There’s a hands-on over at engadget.
Links – www.motorola.com/backflip – Press Release – Full specs
Motorola Globally Introduces BACKFLIP™ with MOTOBLUR™ – Taking Smart in a Whole New Direction
BACKFLIP bends the smart phone rules with a unique reverse flip design and BACKTRACK™ feature for speeding through MOTOBLUR social streams
LAS VEGAS – CES – Jan. 6, 2010 – Today Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced the latest addition to its Android™ portfolio: BACKFLIP™ with MOTOBLUR™. The Motorola BACKFLIP, which combines the social saviness and personalization of MOTOBLUR with the multitasking performance of a smart phone, will be available in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia beginning in Q1 2010. The unique reverse flip design makes it easy to enjoy videos, music and photos, and the QWERTY keyboard allows you to blast through e-mails, texts, news feeds, social network messages and more.
“Since introducing our first MOTOBLUR-based device, we’ve remained focused on differentiating the Android experience and bringing it to new carrier partners around the globe,” said Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices. “BACKFLIP maximizes the multi-tasking and multi-functional potential of MOTOBLUR with its unique design elements, making it as smart as it is social.”
MOTOBLUR is Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service created to make phones more personal and socially smart. It is the first and only solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM—and automatically deliver them to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it.
BACKFLIP is designed around the MOTOBLUR experience and provides multiple features to keep phone conversations moving. Multi-tasking has never been easier with BACKFLIP’s reverse-flip QWERTY keyboard and high-res 3.1” HVGA screen—letting you see more and respond faster. Navigate quickly and easily through menus and features with the new and unique BACKTRACK™ feature. BACKTRACK is a touch panel located on the other side of the device, offering you a new way to scroll through—the Web, texts, e-mails and news feeds without obscuring the home screen.
The truly original design allows BACKFLIP to create new ways to enjoy photos, music and more. In the reverse-flip, tabletop mode, listen to music or view videos hands free. The digital picture frame mode lets you show off your latest adventures. You can even turn BACKFLIP into a bedside alarm clock for your morning wake up call.
BACKFLIP comes fully equipped with the MOTOBLUR features you know and love. The full HTML browser on BACKFLIP’s 3.1” high-res, touch display will be sure to impress, and, with 3G speed and Wi Fi access, you will never be out of the loop. Android Market™ gives you access to more than 18,000 apps and widgets, so you are free to customize BACKFLIP to your liking. Capture the moment with BACKFLIP’s 5 MP camera with flash and easily upload to your favorite photo sharing or social site. Additional extras such as aGPS and stereo Bluetooth1 make BACKFLIP the complete package.
Finally, MOTOBLUR provides end-users with convenience and peace of mind, as lost devices can be located from a secure personal information portal and even remotely erased if necessary. Then, one user name and password brings back your contacts, messages and connectivity to your previously configured networks and email providers.
BACKFLIP with MOTOBLUR will be available in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia beginning in Q1 2010. For specific regional availability and pricing, contact your local Motorola representative. To experience BACKFLIP, please visit www.motorola.com/backflip.
For more information, product specifications and images of BACKFLIP, please visit Media Center Fact Sheets. For multimedia assets from CES, visit CES 2010 Press Kit. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Certain features, services and applications are network dependent and may not be available in all areas; additional terms, conditions and/or charges may apply. Contact your service provider for details.
1 This device supports Bluetooth A2DP, HSP, and HFP profiles. For Bluetooth devices to communicate with one another, they must utilize the same Bluetooth profile. To determine the profiles supported by other Motorola devices, visit www.motorola.com/bluetooth. For other devices, contact their respective manufacturer. Certain Bluetooth features including those listed may not be supported by all compatible Bluetooth-enabled devices, and/or the functionality of such features may be limited in certain devices, or by certain wireless carriers. Contact your wireless carrier about feature availability and functionality.
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by their proprietor and used by Motorola, Inc. under license. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Motorola, Inc. All rights reserved.