Last week I had a Motorola FLIPOUT arrive at the office. 

Some of you may have seen a few images that I posted of some live in hand shots on the Clove Technology twitter account (@clovetechnology).

I thought I would just share a few quick thoughts with you regarding the FLIPOUT.  Reviews are still rather scarce and can sometimes be a bit ‘fluffy’ so below are a few initial thoughts and impressions as I handled the device. 

• Good size
• Ok, the purple/fuchsia colour is not for me
• Ideal phone for the female, small, light, stylish
• Slide/flip mechanism works well although haven’t quite got the finger positioning right
• Solid build
• Keyboard doesn’t feel cheap
• I like the cursor pad
• The metallic back to the screen isn’t as shiny as I thought it would be, good thing I think – slight etching in it, almost looks like it has been scratched….not too sure about this.
• I just want to keep flicking it open – got the hang of it now
• Sussed the perfect position in the pocket to pull it out, flick it and open it and answer a call
• Interface is ok – not as good as sense but not bad
• What’s with the black and white in the settings menu – colour anyone?
• One tap of the touch sensitive home button retunrs you to the home screen, 2 taps opens up the programmes menu
• All the standard applications
• Fast and responsive, no lag just yet
• Writing a text message, O wow, keyboard is good for a device of this size
• Typo in that message, use the cursor pad, no need to fiddle with touch screen to get back to that word
• Screens a bit small but this would be good for a phone to use when out at night
• I would certainly want the black back cover
• Screen rotates using G-sensor
• O shame only rotates in two positions, seeing as the device is square it would be nice if it could rotate to be used from any side – must be an app for that
• A green charge light around the MicroUSB port – funky – maybe annoying if on charge at night
• Solid phone for £200.

So that is just a few thoughts on the FLIPOUT after just a few minutes use.  Overall I am very impressed.  There will be more reviews coming soon which we will post on the Clove blog, so check back soon if you want to know more.

Here too are  series of screen shots that I took: