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

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

released to the U.S. for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

on March 7, 2010, and for other countries on

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...

and

Optus Singtel Optus Pty Limited (commonly referred to as Optus) is an Australian Telecommunications in Australia, telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore, Si ...

. It runs the open source

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

Android software.

General features

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

Motoblur Motoblur (often stylized as MOTOBLUR) was an Android UI replacement and push-based service focused on social networking, developed by Motorola. It aimed at functional similarity to Palm's Synergy, including such features as Remote Wipe. Moto ...

, which integrates multiple

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

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 may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

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

MicroSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

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 local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

: 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 limi ...

: 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 point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

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 dimen ...

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

flash and automatic focus *Video capture rate of 24

fps FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...

Applications

Users may customize their phones by installing apps through the

Android Market Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...

; 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.

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. It was developed as free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added origi ...

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 spe ...

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