Motorola Backflip (platinum silver, AT&T)

Pros: Great feel to the device, nice bright display, excellent direct sun visibility, MOTOblur interface and overall form factor is great.

Cons: It's too early to tell but it seems that battery life could be better

Summary: I admit I was skeptical on the the Backflip. I bought one on Sunday anyway and planned to return it in the 30 day window.

After using it for the last few days, I love the phone. I thought the keyboard being on the outside would be a bad thing, actually I like it. It gives the device a secure feeling when holding it. Because you are not just holding a plastic backing it feels very secure in your hand. The keyboard is slightly recessed and almost feels like a grip. The metal body also gives the phone a great feel and it doesn?t show fingerprints. The display is incredibly responsive and is capacitive not resistive. The camera faces you when the keyboard is open and makes for great self-portrait shots. I have picked up typing on the keyboard very quickly and I have no issues with the keyboard at all.

All in all, this phone was a pleasant surprise for me. I do not play games and such on a portable device so the performance on this phone has been more than adequate for me. I like the narrow (candybarish) dimensions and the thickness is about right. This device is only ever so slightly thicker than the Pure I was using prior. I have owned three iPhones and two other Android phones (G1 and myTouch) and I am much happier with the Backflip than any other phone I have owned.

The whole Yahoo instead of Google is not of much concern for me. I already changed my browser to default to Google as the home page. I never really use the widget search bar anyway. I am also confident that some hacks will take care of changing the default back to Google soon enough. I also do most of my searches in wikipedia and there is an app for that.

I am pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying the blur interface as well. No real complaints there either. Sure, there are a few things that can improve but nothing is perfect. Time will take care of any minor issues.

Yes, it could have a faster processor but for my needs it doesn?t seem to be an issue. The phone feels solid and the keyboard should hold up as well as any other candybar phone with a keypad does. I am definitely happy with this purchase.

I?m not trying to convince anyone to buy the Backflip, just wanted to give my opinion after using it for a few days.