Motorola Backflip to land at AT&T March 7

We can't say this was a complete surprise, but AT&T made it official and revealed that its first Google Android smartphone, the Motorola Backflip, will be available starting March 7 for a rather attractive price of $99.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

First making its debut at CES 2010 and also our Best of CES winner in the cell phones and smartphones category, the Backflip features Motoblur software and a rather unique design.

The flip phone opens up like a book. Behind the 3.1-inch touch screen you'll find something called the Backtrack, which is like a traditional trackpad, allowing you to navigate through menus, flip through photos, scroll through the home screen panes, and more. In addition, in its closed state, the full QWERTY keyboard is located on the back. Motorola said the keyboard is sturdy enough to take a beating and keep on clicking.

The Backflip offers Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and GPS, as well as a full HTML browser, a 5-megapixel camera, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, the phone will ship with Android 1.5, but Motorola has already said that it will be upgradeable to Android 2.1. A time frame was not given, but considering Motorola's recent update schedule, we'd hazard a guess and say some time in Q2.

The Motorola Backflip is one of five Android devices that AT&T plans to release in the first half of 2010. To sign up for updates on the Backflip, you can visit AT&T's Web site.