Motorola FLIPOUT Pro Reviews

The Motorola FLIPOUT is different than anything I'm used to, but it surprised me in quite a few ways. While it is assuredly a mid-range device, it offers a great web experience for such a small display, great social media connection, a nice physical QWERTY keyboard, and a cheap gateway to the smartphone world. It isn't marketed as a business-centric device, but it does offer some things to accommodate, like corporate email. The target demographic is mainly teens and first-time buyers, but if Mr. Businessman Professional wanted a piece of the FLIPOUT, he wouldn't be excluded. For $79.99 with a two-year agreement, it's worth taking a look at.

On paper, the Motorola Flipout shouldn't work. Its rotating slideout keyboard design results in a small screen but not a particularly small phone, while its processor is a bit slow. Overall it smacks of a concept taken too far. However, Motorola has done the best it can with the idea, producing a phone that's very well made, has a great keyboard and wants for little in the way of features. It's also available for a great price. However, when push comes to shove, it doesn't do enough well enough to standout from the crowd.

We aren't convinced that the quirky physical design has a lot of traction, and the so-so quality of the physical keyboard doesn't help in that respect – nor does the build quality, which feels too plasticky to us. With battery life coming in at about a day, we can't even give additional points for longevity. It's not a terrible phone, and the ever-more budget price tag is certainly going to appeal to some, as is the fact it has a physical keyboard - something a lot of people really miss.

The price may be attractive, the design quirky and the physical keyboard good, but overall we aren't convinced that the Motorola Flipout is a success. Android needs a large screen, and Motorola's own Motoblur also benefits from lots of screen space. Sadly there just isn't enough on offer here.

The clever design means you get a great QWERTY keyboard in a tiny package, but the screen isn't great and its price doesn't match its size.

Motorola has tried something different with the Flipout Android smartphone, but the end result is a clunky-feeling handset that is awkward to use. The Flipout is relatively cheap, but its display has a low resolution and an odd aspect ratio. There are much better alternatives on the market for a similar price.

The Motorola Flipout looks strong even in the face of this competition. For people who are into music and keep their social network account up to date, the Flipout has great appeal. Even for one of those tasks, it’s an excellent phone. It would have been perfect if not for the troublesome screen and lowly camera.

We’ve really enjoyed reviewing the Motorola FLIPOUT. Its quirky design got it noticed wherever we went, usually for the right reasons. The fact it has the versatility of Android 2.1 under the hood made setting everything up and maintaining RSS feeds, social networks and emails a breeze. Having decent app support was also wonderful and made us appreciate Motorola's efforts in combining Google's OS with a phone of this form-factor. The result is a novel, truly usable, feature rich phone, proving that sometimes, ingenuity pays off. Although the screen and camera may ensure that the Motorola FLIPOUT isn’t for the multimedia hungry consumer, we found it to be a very fun, practical alternative to all the more conventional handsets on the market, great for messaging and music on the go.

The Flipout is an original and strikingly different phone with a pleasingly small form-factor and enjoyable swing-out screen. The display isn’t high resolution and can appear cramped. The processor occasionally makes the phone seem slow. But for all its faults, it manages to be tiny without compromising too often. It’s a cool little phone which looks good and is fun to use.

We are pleasantly surprised by the Motorola Flipout in that although it has its faults, on the whole it's actually a nice little handset. The phone was zippy; as this isn't going to be a handset that you will push to the limit as you might with a Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire. The keyboard is easy to use, while the swivel movement addictive enough to play with in your pocket.