By FINALLY! AT&T customers can rejoice – the Android invasion is infiltrating the iPhone’s home base in America! Both AT&T and Motorola issued press releases today announcing that the Motorola Backflip will be available on March 7th (both in-store and online) for $99.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in-rebate. You can check out an internal mini-site all about the Backflip at http://www.att.com/backflip
Like the name suggests, the Backflip has incredibly unique form factor with a flip around QWERTY and trackpad on the back. Watch Seth from AT&T go through some of the neat features as he announces it’s availability:
In addition to the unique keyboard and trackpad, the Motorola Backflip includes:
- 3.1-inch screen
- 5MP camera with auto-focus and flash
- 3.5mm headset jack
- Wi-Fi, 3G, USB 2.0, aGPS, Accelerometer and e-compass
- MicroSD up to 32GB
Are you gonna grab the Motorola Backflip from AT&T on March 7th? Make sure to visit our Motorola Backflip Forum!
Here is the full press release:
AT&T Announces Availability of First Device on Android Platform with Motorola
HSPA 7.2 – Capable Motorola BACKFLIP Coming Soon to AT&T Stores NationwideDallas, Texas, Libertyville, Illinois, February 18, 2010
AT&T* and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced that the Motorola BACKFLIP ™ with MOTOBLUR™ will be available in AT&T stores nationwide and online at www.wireless.att.com beginning March 7.
MOTOBLUR offers AT&T customers a new way to connect to their favorite people, content and applications, whether it’s work or personal email, messaging or social networking. Motorola’s exclusive Android™ experience syncs contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more — from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter®, Gmail™, Picasa, work and personal e-mail, and Last.fm — and automatically delivers them to live widgets for immediate reply, right from the home screen. And, for customers who prefer multi-tasking, AT&T’s 3G network offers the added advantage of talking and surfing the Web and accessing applications at the same time.
BACKFLIP features a unique form-factor with an original reverse flip design, spacious keyboard and BACKTRACK™ touch panel, allowing the display to be hands-free while one’s fingers work behind the screen. BACKFLIP runs on the nation’s fastest 3G network and is powered by MOTOBLUR™, Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service created to make phones more personal and socially smart. Customers can see photos and learn more at www.att.com/backflip.
“Motorola BACKFLIP brings together the best of social networking with the nation’s fastest 3G network,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “With the ability to ride on our newest and fastest 3G network, access to more than 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots, and the ability to talk and surf at the same time, BACKFLIP boasts a better Android experience.”
MOTOBLUR™
MOTOBLUR keeps track of contacts so it’s easy to keep up. Users can flip through messages and updates on the BACKFLIP and respond in a flash, without having to log in and out of applications. MOTOBLUR helps consumers keep a pulse on what’s happening on their social and news networks. Only MOTOBLUR can sync Facebook, MySpace and Twitter with phone book and email contacts, while threading status updates and profile pics through calls, messages and address book. From the home screen, consumers can update their status to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter at once.Finally, MOTOBLUR provides users with simplicity and peace of mind, as lost devices can be located from a secure personal information portal and GPS can be used to locate them. One user name and password brings back a user’s contacts, messages and connectivity to previously configured networks and email providers.
”Motorola is proud to bring the first Android-powered device to AT&T’s 3G network,” said Mark Shockley, senior vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices. “AT&T customers will love the social media advantages MOTOBLUR offers as well as the innovative hardware design.”
BACKFLIP is the first Motorola device to feature the new and unique BACKTRACK™ feature which gives AT&T customers the ability to navigate quickly and easily through Web sites, menus and more with a touch panel located behind the screen when the device is folded open. BACKTRACK offers a new way to scroll through the Web, texts, e-mails and news feeds without obscuring the home screen. Flip the keyboard backwards into table-top mode to listen to music, watch videos, view pictures with the digital picture frame or to turn BACKFLIP into a digital, bedside alarm clock.
BACKFLIP comes with a full HTML browser that can be viewed on the 3.1” high-res, touch screen display and makes use of 7.2 HSPA 3G technology on the nation’s fastest 3G network. Android Market™ has access to more than 20,000 apps and widgets, in order to customize the device to fit each consumer’s personal style. Customers can easily shoot photos and video with the BACKFLIP’s 5 MP camera and flash, and upload them to their favorite photo sharing or social media site.
The Motorola BACKFLIP features Wi-Fi connectivity and AT&T customers receive AT&T Wi-Fi access at U.S. hotspots included as part of their unlimited data plan. AT&T’s has the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network with more than 20,000 U.S. hotspots.
Pricing and Availability
The Motorola BACKFLIP will be available March 7 at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at www.wireless.att.com for $99.99 after $100 mail-in rebate. (Pay $199.99 and after mail-in rebate receive $100 AT&T Promotion Card. Two-year agreement and smartphone data plan required.)
It looks like the American walled garden of mobile is completely destroyed. HAIL DOROTHY, THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!
At long last, AT&T have an Android phone. We’ve been waiting long enough!
ok so he just said this is the first of 5 Android devices we’ll have this YEAR.. I thought AT&T was getting 5 android devices in the First Half of this year..
I’m going to be super PO’d if the NExus One doesn’t come..
any possibilities that AT&T would love to carry HTC Desire? If so, that will be awesome
I know this is a designed-for-ATT phone, but is there anyway that I can get it, pop in my T-Mobile SIM, and not have any issues, both of them being GSM/EDGE/3G carriers? I wanted to upgrade my current phone, and was considering the Cliq, but this just strikes me as a cooler Cliq all around. And getting it for $100 with a contract I won’t pay anyways seems like a deal to me LMAO :-P
just fyi – the last link in the first paragraph is busted. needs an “L” in the href
dan: thanks, fixed
@akkharu1033
You can put your T-mobile sim in probably after it has been unlocked. You won’t get 3G however as the frequencies are different between AT&T and T-mobile.
Here’s a link that shows you that AT&T will be getting “Dell’s first smartphone” as well as a “new HTC smartphone” as part of their Android lineup.
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-sales/promotion/ces.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-002WCG-0-1&WT.svl=calltoaction
Found this link at the bottom of the at&t backflip page (http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-sales/promotion/motobackflip.jsp) under “Android – learn more”
And they get one of the worst Android phones imo. This phone just looks stupid and motoblur seems like a horrible UI.
Sorry but this phone is terrible. You have the keyboard as the back of the phone….no this is a fail.
Any idea what version of Android it will be running? Looks like 1.5 in the video, but I’m sure they wouldn’t actually release it with that now.
@DP
It’s 1.6.
Btw, AT&T is getting the Dell Mini 5. I want this handset so much more than the Nexus one.
5″ screen was a win for me
This is so lame. Us AT&T users are getting the shaft. Why is our first android phone a mid to low range teenager phone? Please give us something good like the Nexus One or Desire!
I am glad that AT&T is finally getting an Android phone, but its design is awful. But I am sure that they will put out something much better than their first one.
@swehes
Thank you for that little technical bit there. I was under the impression that both GSM/EDGE carriers ran the same 3G networks, but I had a feeling it just couldn’t be that simple. I guess that’s the great thing about this board: there’s always someone here who DOES know. I guess, when my G1 retires to Android heaven (great soldier that it’s been for me),I’ll go for the N1 or one of those really cool looking Danish phones that also work as universal remotes I saw here last week. Are THOSE phones T-Mobile 3G compatible? Anybody know where I can get one?
Motorola’s website says this phone comes with Android 1.5, so that means no Google Navigation.
Right now when I walk into an AT&T corporate store, sign the sign in sheet, take a number, a salesperson says sternly:
We don’t serve their kind in here!
Your droids, they’ll have to wait outside.
I suspect that come March 7th the story will change to:
These are not the droids you’re looking for.
I think I’ll hold out for the HTC Desire or Nexus One. Or perhaps Dell Mini 5.
I read somewhere that AT&T is also getting the HTC Desire which is basically the Nexus One plus the Sense UI, a killer combination. I’m due for an upgrade next month so I’ll just wait for the Desire.
hey, nice blog post