The Motorola Flipout has been somewhat overshadowed by Motorola’s top end new Android phones of late, but its quirky rotating design and portrait QWERTY keyboard deserve a second look, especially if you like to text and bother people with Facebook updates more than anything else. Is that hinge a blessing or a curse? Find out in our full Motorola Flipout review.
The Motorola Flipout’s specs are nothing to write home about, even amongst the cheaper Google phones already on sale: Android 2.1, a QVGA 2.8-inch touchscreen and a three megapixel camera, along with your usual Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and 3.5mm audio connectivity bobbins.
Instead, Motorola’s gone a decidedly different route to make the Motorola Flipout stand out: a bizarre square shape with a keyboard that rotates from underneath at one corner (“Flips out”, see?). It’s a shame though, as Motorola’s software is enough to help it stand out on its own.
We know that there’s a more than sizable audience out there who just want a phone to fiddle with when sitting on the bus, and there’s no denying the Motorola Flipout’s form factor will satisfy them, at least for a while. It feels more like a Tamagotchi than a phone when shut, nestling in the palm of your hand, and the fan action to pop out the keyboard is great fun.
The Motorola Flipout keyboard really is a delight to use, and its raised, curved keys are a world away from the barren plains of the QWERTY on the more powerful Motorola Milestone. We’re really not sure why phone manufacturers have been so reticent about portrait keyboards on Android phones, because as this little critter proves, they absolutely work.
What did surprise us about the Motorola Flipout is the screen. It’s small, yes, and not especially sharp, but it’s thoroughly responsive. You can quite feasibly pull the Motorola Flipout from your pocket, check out something on the internet and put it back again without ever unfurling the keyboard – there’s even a full QWERTY on screen keyboard, something the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro both lack.
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On board the Motorola Flipout, you’ll find Android 2.1, which while not the absolute latest build of Google’s smartphone OS, is certainly still powerful. You can use more than one account for Gmail or fire up Google Maps Navigation, just like top of the line Eclair Android phones like the HTC Legend, and most apps work at its QVGA resolution.
Motorola’s updated its Motoblur software skin (Previously seen on the Motorola Dext), bringing it to Android 2.1 but still keeping the general principles of easy to use Facebook and Twitter access on your homescreen, and it makes the transition well. Unfortunately, the usual problem we’ve found with this sort of social network integration applies here: if you’re a really heavy Twitter user following a lot of people, your stream is likely to drown everything out and bog the Motorola Flipout down.
But other than that, it simply works, ticking along nicely. It’s true that we’ve been disappointed by several Android phones with tiny screens previously, but that was always the unresponsive resistive screen tech rather than the downsized software, and since the Motorola Flipout uses a finger friendly capacitive touchscreen, that’s no problem.
The Motorola Flipout has the potential to be a delightful phone. The problem really is that hinge and square form factor. While you might get a laugh out of showing your mates the QWERTY keyboard as it pops out from the side, they’ll soon tire of it, and more importantly, so will you. Unlike the hinges on Nokia’s solid slideout phone hardware, we’re honestly not confident the Motorola Flipout will survive the twisting rigours of an 18 month contract, let alone a two year one.
It’s a real pity, as Motorola is launching essentially the same phone as the Motorola Flipout in the US later this month, but moulded into one BlackBerry-esque slab (The Motorola Charm, if you’re asking). If it’s anything like the Motorola Flipout, but without the there’s-a-reason-noone-did-this-before form factor, it’s set to be a cracking low price smartphone for teen messaging fanatics.
Still, if you can overlook the dappy design, the Motorola Flipout is otherwise every bit the match for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro.
