AT&T Finally Flips For Android

AT CES, AT&T announced their very first foray into the Android arena. The Motorola Backflip is heading to AT&T in the first half of 2010. The device is running Android 1.5 with MotoBLUR on top. It's supposed to get 2.1 eventually, but we've yet to see BLUR on 2.0 which I assume they'll wait for before updating it.

The device is not a slider, but has an interesting new form factor. Rather than sliding open or having the keyboard on the inside like a traditional clamshell, this sucker has the keyboard on the back and the hinge pops open to reveal a trackpad on the backside of the screen. Reports on the experience with the trackpad were positive, but I can't imagine the trackpad (or balls for that matter) will be used for much more other than text navigation (that's where I feel my Droid lacks a little). The device is also being spun as a great way to ingest media since the hinge lends itself to being able to be propped up to view video.

AT&T seems to be trying really hard here to distract us from the poor network performance we've been suffering with for years now. While it's great to see them start to embrace the Android platform, they should be focusing on improving network performance before starting to branch out and bring more people on board.

Two more shots after the jump!

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