Motorola Motus

A Mr. Blurrycam image and the initial specifications for the Motorola Motus were leaked last month. The Motus was revealed to be an Android 1.6 smartphone with an unusual reverse flip keyboard and a rear directional touchpad. A tipster over at Engadget apparently had some hands-on time with the Motus and has shed some light on some of the unusual features of this phone. Hit the jump for all the new details that he or she revealed.

Let’s make it clear that all these details sound reasonable but they are not confirmed. They should be read with a healthy dose of skepticism. Here are all the new details that were revealed about the Motus:

• The tipster confirmed that the Motus does have a reverse flip keyboard that faces the keyboard outward when the phone is closed. When opened, the keyboard has a rear facing touchpad that you can use to move the onscreen cursor while maintaining the ability to type with your thumbs.  A third hinge position holds the screen upright so you place the Motus on your desk as clock or to watch movies.
• The keyboard itself is supposedly comprised of dome-shaped keys that are backlit.
• Due to its unusual keyboard design, the Motus has a 5MP camera with LED located on the bottom left side of the keyboard. The camera reportedly can be used as a webcam but it is unclear if video calling over 3G is supported.
• Love it or hate it, the Motus, like the CLIQ, has MotoBlur.
• The Motus is reportedly a bulky phone that is “big enough to be bulky in your pocket”.
• The Motus was originally thought to have the standard 528MHz processor, but it may have a Snapdragon processor instead. The tipster thought it might be powered by the Snapdragon but was not completely sure. Regardless of the processor, the Motus “seemed responsive” which is encouraging.
• Last but not least, the tipster claims that the Motus is slated for launch in April or May 2010 which dampens much of  our enthusiasm for this device.