Hands On With Motorola Backflip, A Folding Android Phone [Android]

Think of it like a Cliq, but with a folding instead of a sliding keyboard, so the screen doesn't cover so much of the keyboard when it's open.

Motorola says the guts are basically the same as the Cliq's, so expect a performance level on par with that and not the Droid. Slower, is what I'm saying. Here's the Cliq review to refresh yourself.

The keyboard is interesting, and each key has more surface area, but is more flush with the surface. Usually keys that are more raised to give more tactile feeling type better, and our quick one sentence hands on with it basically gave us that impression as well. But on the bright side, the flip mechanism means that the keyboard can take up the entire surface, so there's no reaching for the keys over a D-pad like the Droid.

There's a scrollpad on the back of the phone, underneath the screen, for scrolling around the OS and web pages with. It's like a trackpad for a laptop, or the scrollball on the Nexus One. Not all that useful on Android, actually, unless you're reading a very long webpage that needs scrolling.

It will have a North American carrier, but Motorola can't say who yet. Blur looks exactly the same here as it does on the Cliq, so it's kind of unlikely that T-Mobile will have two phones that are basically the same phone, so I'm thinking AT&T? Maybe? Update: Probably AT&T, because we SAW IT THIS MORNING. Not sure why Sanjay Jha is being so evasive when he stood in front of a 15-foot photo of it earlier today. Thanks commenters!



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