#FBF: Motorola flip phone running Android

I have a crazy obsession with flip phones, I admit it. Maybe I never got over the RAZR fever, or maybe I just think they are very convenient. Today I want to show you one of my favorite pieces from my collection: the Motorola XT611.

The SmartFlip XT611 was launched in Latin America in 2012. It was one of the very few Android flip phones in history, and it actually was the last Motorola flip phone ever released. 

The phone featured a 3.2" HVGA screen, an 800MHz and a 5MP camera. That's mid-range or even low-end for 2012 standards. But it was worth the money and got this Gingerbread phone straight away.

Though the phone is slow, the camera is very low-end and the screen quality isn't just right, the XT611 featured an innovative clear flip with external touch sensitive buttons placed onto that flip. Moto had already used this idea in 2008 with the Verizon Krave ZN4. It feels like this could have been a great successor to the RAZR series back in the day.

Next to the RAZR V3i

Next to the V3i... and a fake duck.

The phone came with 2.3.7 preloaded, and didn't receive any update to a newer Android version. It was 2012 and it was a mid-range phone after all. It had some kind of low-end MotoBlur UI, but it wasn't even MotoBlur.

But what mattered was the concept. And the interactive flip was just awesome to play with. You could read text messages and emails, answer calls, take pictures, open the FM radio app or listen to music. That part of the UI was beautifully designed and looked cool.

Though it's painful to use as your primary smartphone in 2017, it'll always be remembered as one of the coolest Motorola concepts from recent years. Let's hope they use this concept again someday.