The Motorola Backflip (also called the Motorola Motus in some regions) is a

touchscreen A touchscreen (or touch screen) is a type of electronic visual display, display that can detect touch input from a user. It consists of both an input device (a touch panel) and an output device (a visual display). The touch panel is typically l ...

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

released to the U.S. for

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

on March 7, 2010, and for other countries on

Telus Telus may refer to: * Telus Corporation, a Canadian publicly traded holding company ** Telus Communications, a telecommunications company ** Telus Digital, a technology company ** Telus Health, a health technology provider ** Telus Mobility T ...

and

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiar ...

. It runs the open source

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Android software.

General features

*The phone is built on the Android 1.5. Motorola features

Motoblur Motoblur (often stylized as MOTOBLUR) is a discontinued Android user interface and push-based service focused on social networking, developed by Motorola. It first appeared on the Motorola Cliq/Motorola Dext in 2009 and last shipped on 2011 ...

, which integrates multiple

social network service A social networking service (SNS), or social networking site, is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests ...

sites on the homescreen. This cannot be uninstalled or disabled unless the phone is modified. *It has a full QWERTY keypad with a "reverse flip" design. When the device is closed and the screen is visible to the user, the reverse side is the keypad itself. Opening the device causes the screen to flip so that it rests above the keypad.

Specifications

The specifications according to the Motorola website in June 2010:

Hardware

*Model MB300 *Screen size: 3.1-in. *Screen resolution: HVGA (320 × 480 pixels) *Weight: 4.7 oz *Size: 53.0 × 108.0 × 15.3 mm *Input devices: QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen, Backtrack navigation pad behind screen *Battery: 1400 mAh Li Ion 3.7v Motorola BN80 *Talk time: 350 min, 6 hrs *Standby time: up to 315 hrs, 13.5 days *Processor: 528 mHz ( overclockable to 768 MHz via root and overclock

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

) *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

: 256 MB *ROM: 512MB *Memory: up to 32 GB

MicroSD Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

: 802.11b/g *

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

: 2.0 + EDR and A2DP *GPS receiver, accelerometer *Dual microphone with noise cancellation *Five

megapixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sma ...

with 4x

digital zoom Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the precise angle of view of a digital photograph or video image. It is accomplished by cropping an image down to an area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and scaling the image up to the dimens ...

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

flash and automatic focus *Video capture rate of 24 fps

Applications

Users may customize their phones by installing apps through the

Android Market Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifi ...

; however, some carriers (AT&T) do not give users the option to install non-market apps onto the Backflip (a policy they have continued with all of their Android phones). This has created some controversy with users, as the non-market apps are often seen as a useful way to expand a phone's capabilities. Users can circumvent this limitation by manually installing 3rd party apps using the tools included with the SDK while the handset is connected to a computer.

Reviews

Reviews are generally mixed to unfavorable. Michael Oryl, of "Mobileburn.com," likes the "Backtrack" touchpad on the back of the phone, but points out that large hands often activate it accidentally. Victor Godinez, of ''The Dallas Morning News'', suggests that the phone is aimed towards social networkers, and points out that the price is higher than other options with additional features such as the

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

System upgrades

On November 9, 2010, a downloadable update, Android OS 2.1 (Eclair) and a compatible version of MotoBlur was released by Motorola for AT&T Backflip customers, U.S. only. The update is unavailable over-the-air (OTA). Since then Eclair is available for phones outside U.S. that are rooted with custom recoveries installed and radio updated.

CyanogenMod CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. Developed between 2009 and 2016, it was free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Goog ...

7.2 (Android 2.3.7) is available through official releases. Other custom roms are also available.

Overclocking

Overclocking In computing, overclocking is the practice of increasing the clock rate of a computer to exceed that certified by the manufacturer. Commonly, operating voltage is also increased to maintain a component's operational stability at accelerated sp ...

is possible via overclocking kernels and direct overclocking. Overclocking is available up to 768 MHz on the official cyanogenmod 7 rom.

Multitouch

Since this phone lacks the

multitouch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CERN, MIT, University o ...

feature, a patch was made available for the froyo rom. However many testers have reported problems with the touchscreen which becomes jerky and eventually ceases to operate.

Gallery

File:MOTO IIIIIIIIII.jpg, Front side and keyboard File:MOTO IIIIIIIIIII.jpg, Rear side and touchpad File:MOTO IIIIIIIIIIII.jpg, Front side File:MOTO IIIIIIIIIIIII.jpg, Flip side

References

{{Motorola phones Motorola smartphones Android (operating system) devices Mobile phones introduced in 2010 Discontinued smartphones