Backflip, AT&T's first Android phone

After years of suffering from my Palm Centro, I got my Backflip this morning in a local AT&T store, at 11am. I was expecting people lining up to get the Backflip, but found myself to be the only customer there. It was the first ever Android phone sold there. They got two Backflip, so after me, there was only one left.

I paid $199 plus tax of $34.11 (calculated on the full Backflip price of $349.99), and extended my AT&T contract by 2 years. Of course I will pay the $30 monthly data plan from now on.

The phone is not bad. I like the hard keyboard. I also like the trackpad on the back of the screen.

The home screens (5 of them) have many AT&T and Yahoo stuff, about 6 of them. I don't know how to remove them yet. But I added back all the google stuff to the home screen: Google Map, GMail, etc.


Google Map and GMail feel fast and smooth. The Google Map even feels faster than that on my son's iPhone.



The enclosed browser works well, fast and smooth. I particularly like the keyboard's 4 arrow keys, which can be used to scroll the webpage. You can also use the trackpad.




I also downloaded the Dolphin Browser, and found it tricky to use; maybe I just need sometime to learn it.

The screen is somewhat small (3.1"), compared to iPhone's 3.5". But on the other hand, the phone feels good in the hand, and fits well in the pocket. I actually like the size. The keyboard and the trackpad actually compensate for the small screen, because you don't have to use the touch screen to interact with the phone. When you touch the screen, your figure blocks part of the screen, making the screen effectively smaller.

Backflip has Android 1.5. The phone crashes once when I first used the camera. After rebooting, I could use the camera fine.

I put the Backflip and the iPhone 3GS side by side. The 3GS is brighter, and the white is whiter. Maybe the 3GS has a more expensive screen; it is a much more expensive phone. But I like Android more, and I can live with a dimmer screen.