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Motorola Flipout review: Contacts and calling
Making a call is a bit of a strain because you can't do so with the handset closed. This seems odd to us. You can access the dialpad and tap in the number you want, and even hit the Call button. But the call isn't initiated until you open the flip. You can end a call by closing the phone.
We had a bit of an issue with calls themselves, too. People we spoke to said we sounded clear, but they often sounded a bit far away and tinny. Holding the opened Flipout to our ear was a strange experience. It just feels really chunky.
Just like in the Motorola Defy, Motoblur takes centre stage. You can enter accounts details at a central screen.
Then you can use the Happenings widget to pick up Twitter and Facebook updates. You'll need to have a Motoblur account to take advantage of this, and you can set one up on the phone itself.
If you're really interested in social networking, though, you'll probably want to use a phone with a bigger screen because everything is pretty cramped visually here.
Not only is the small screen a turn off when using Motoblur on the Motorola Flipout, the screen responsiveness and general handset speed are both poor, too.
The capacitive touchscreen is one of the least responsive we've used, so that scrolling through lists and even moving through the seven home screens can be irritating.
A light touch does work, but we found that you need to be prepared to re-sweep every now and again, and to wait a millisecond for the processor to do your bidding. When you want to flick around reading Facebook messages, this is a bit annoying.
What we do like, though, is the way contacts are brought in from your social networks. You can choose whether to use Twitter or Facebook avatars, and can make links so that Facebook and Twitter data is brought together.
You can also see recent communications with a contact and their recent Twitter and Facebook activity too from their phone profile.
It's great - just all too fiddly on the small screen.
