Flippin’ Different

The innovation doesn’t stop here,it is taken further with what Motorola calls the Backtrack. This is essentially a trackpad,but placed at the back of the touchscreen. So when the keypad is open,the trackpad can be accessed with the index finger to flip through the homescreens or to select applications with a double click.

It works well if you are typing with two thumbs. However,the Backtrack cannot be accessed when the keypad is closed. Along with the Qwerty keypad you can use the touchscreen to type messages. Plus,just below the screen is a touchpad with the Menu,Home and Back buttons. The phone works on Android 1.5,which is upgradable to 2.1. But I feel that when a higher version is available,Motorola should have used that. However,that doesn’t mean the phone is short on features. There are five swipe-in homescreens and the entire Android market to fill them with. Since it’s an Android phone,you will need a Google account and Net access to activate most of the phone’s features. Once you’ve logged in,the phone will automatically show Facebook updates and messages from contacts on your homescreen. It will also let you update your status message from the main screen itself. This means you don’t have to log into the sites to check updates of your friends.

The Backflip comes with a 5MP camera with LED flash,strangely set along the keys on the flip out keypad. However,the camera and the camcorder are amongst the best available in this range. The autofocus works perfectly and you can take pictures by either clicking the touchscreen or the camera button on the side. With GPS switched on,you can GeoTag the photos as you click them.

You can also do some basic editing on the phone and add cliparts,frames and text comments. The speakers on the phone are good enough to complement the music player,plus you have a standard 3.5-mm jack to plug in ear phones. The phone has 3G,Wi-Fi and Bluetooth,though with the latter I had some trouble sending files to other phones. While I found the Backflip to be a great phone overall,I am not sure about the design. Time could take a toll on the keypad which doubles as the base. Then,the phone takes over a minute to power on,which is quite frustrating at times. The interface of almost all Android phones look alike now,users can customise them as they choose,but I hope companies will start becoming more innovative. The phone comes with a 1400 mAh Li Ion battery which provides about six hours of usage time on a full charge. The Backflip is priced at Rs 22,990 and comes with a 2GB memory card. Like other Motorola phones,the Backflip too packs in many features for the money you pay. Buy it if you like Android. l