Motorola Backflip: One Year Later

Last year, I bought a Motorola Backflip and blogged about my first impressions of AT&T's first Android phone. After a full twelve months of everyday use, these are the points that sum up my long-term user experience:

• Multitasking under Android sounds great, until a runaway app bottlenecks the already-underpowered CPU.
• The camera takes OK-looking still pictures but is no match for a dedicated digital camera.
• Attempts at shooting video at concerts result in garbled audio as the microphone seems overwhelmed.
• The reverse-clamshell design with physical keyboard is still AWESOME.
• The Backtrack has proved to be completely useless, probably because no programmers design an Android app with a trackpad in mind.
• It should have shipped with the then-current Android OS version from the beginning.

If you own this phone and haven't updated to Android 2.1, I highly recommend taking some time to visit the Motorola update site and get the new operating system. It runs smoother and sticking with the factory-installed Android 1.5 will mean missing out on some great apps.

Finally, one more tip for Backflip owners: I noticed that the phone would spontaneously reboot on occasion. This seemed to happen when the keyboard is folded out. I believe that this is caused by the battery moving around inside the phone, losing contact with its contacts. What I've done is wedge a folded-up piece of paper into the space beside the battery, causing the battery to fit more snugly into its space and preventing it from shifting around.

It'll do for now until I get the bug for the next upgrade.