Motorola
Flipout

When it was launched, the Motorola Flipout was described by Motorola as “a stylish square and compact smartphone that’s as individual as its users”. There is certainly no question that its “innovative pivot design” delivered a very unique-looking smartphone. When flipped open, a five-row keypad with three rows for letters and a dedicated row for numeric keys was revealed. The device also supported “up to seven customisable home screens”. The Flipout included Motorola’s “Motoblur” software which was an “exclusive Android experience” used on several smartphones that the company had developed to help customers sync information from social media and other sources such as photos, messages and contacts apps. The phone had a 3-megapixel camera which drew on Motorola’s partnership with Kodak to offer “Kodak Perfect Touch” technology. Motorola claimed this offered “better, brighter pictures” as well as an enhanced gallery and easy upload to social media platforms Facebook and MySpace but also to photo platforms Picasa and Photobucket. In reality, the camera performance was positively mediocre and awkward to use. In order to get the viewfinder working you had to flip the phone open. Furthermore, once open, the camera was in the middle of the device and often got obscured by the user’s fingers. Despite its unique design, the phone suffered from poor reviews. The compromises required to deliver its small form factor combined with its low resolution of 320 x 240 pixels limited its performance. For example, web pages became almost unreadable when squashed onto the screen. That said, the phone did offer a certain inane satisfaction as a “fiddle toy” flicking the keyboard open and shut. Furthermore, its square design sets it apart from other products and into a club with other square phones including the BenQ Z2 and the Nokia 7705 Twist.