Launching in Europe in the second quarter, the Motorola Flipout runs on Android 2.1. Its square pivot design opens to reveal a five-row QWERTY keypad with a separate row for numeric keys (see the figure). The Flipout also features up to seven customizable home screens, live wallpapers, and added security for exchange server users. Its country-specific color scheme includes licorice, fairway green, raspberry crush, brilliant blue, poppy red, saffron, and white.

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Using Motorola’s Motoblur technology, the Flipout syncs contacts, posts, messages, photos, and more from sources like Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail and automatically delivers them to the home screen. Motoblur also automatically backs up contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, and e-mail to a secure server and provides remote data wipe for lost or stolen devices. One username and password restores contacts, messages, and connectivity to prior networks and e-mail providers.

The Happenings and Messages widgets filter content by social networking account, contacts, or contact groups so users can see exactly the information they want. With screen customization, users can move and resize preloaded widgets on up to seven home screens. The battery manager limits energy consumption by operating in one of three performance modes. The data manager lets users monitor data usage to stay on top of pay-as-you-go and limited data plans. Personal and corporate e-mail both can be pushed directly to the device. And, the Flipout offers re-tweet capabilities.

According to Motorola, the Flipout’s CrystalTalk Plus feature uses a second microphone to improve voice quality while filtering out background noise for better conversations. The Flipout also offers multi-touch pinch to zoom and is enabled for Adobe Flash for optimal Web and photo browsing. Its connected media player provides full-screen lyric support, integrated song identification, and a social solution to find out what other people are listening to.

A 3-Mpixel camera boasts digital zoom and Kodak Perfect Touch technology for better, brighter pictures and a gallery mode for photo tagging and labeling. One-touch uploads to Facebook, MySpace, Picasa, and Photbucket are designed to make image sharing quick and easy. The Flipout features video capture, playback, and streaming options along with Bluetooth 1 capabilities for wireless calls and music. And, its full Google services include Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, and accesses to thousands of apps on the Android Market.

The Motorola Flipout’s square pivot design opens to reveal a full QWERTY keypad. Running on Android 2.1, it’s optimized for social media applications.

The Flipout will debut in Europe in the second quarter, followed by rollouts in Argentina and Brazil in the third quarter.

Motorola