AT&T Mobility will launch the Motorola Backflip next month as its first phone running on Google's Android platform. This announcement makes AT&T the fourth Tier 1 U.S. carrier to offer an Android-based device and third carrier to sell a Motorola Android device. The Backflip will be available March 7 for $99.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.
Today's news was not a surprise. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month AT&T announced that it was going to launch at least four Android phones in the first half of the year, including devices made by Dell and HTC. The deal is a win for Motorola, which is trying fuel a comeback by offering Android phones to its carrier partners. T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless currently sell Motorola Android devices.
The Backflip is a mid-tier Android device, similar in some ways to the Motorola Devour that Verizon is launching. The Backflip has a reverse flip Qwerty keyboard, so that when the phone is closed the keyboard is on the back. The phone runs on Android 1.5 and features Motorola's MotoBLUR user interface, which combines various social networking and Internet services into one central view on the phone's home screen. The device also has a 3.1-inch touchscreen display, a 5-megapixel camera, WiFi and HSPA 7.2 support.
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