What inspires you to like the aria over the backflip?

[CartOverlord]

for me, its sense, and its HTC as opposed to Moto. and the fact that the design of the phone isn't weird

 

[lordmaxx]

Well, the Cliq came out first so if the Cliq gets the update and the Backflip doesn't a short bit later then you can blame AT&T... but something tells me it's Motorola dragging their feet on the 2.1 upgrade.

I guess this is better pondered by one of the many rom chefs that are out there. I don't know if the 'drivers' that the different motorola phones use need to be changed to work with the newer version of android, or if it's just a matter of making their skin motoblur work with 2.1. Then we have to wonder if it's a matter of resources. Motorola and/or AT&T only have X number of people to work on ROMs and they're probably busy working on all these new phones that are coming out and can't really fit it into their schedule to work on phones that are already out there. The ROM does have to go through 2 sets of hands so we have no idea where the bottleneck might be...

 

[Ambictus]

I guess this is better pondered by one of the many rom chefs that are out there. I don't know if the 'drivers' that the different motorola phones use need to be changed to work with the newer version of android, or if it's just a matter of making their skin motoblur work with 2.1. Then we have to wonder if it's a matter of resources. Motorola and/or AT&T only have X number of people to work on ROMs and they're probably busy working on all these new phones that are coming out and can't really fit it into their schedule to work on phones that are already out there. The ROM does have to go through 2 sets of hands so we have no idea where the bottleneck might be...

That was kind of what I was getting at, is that you never know where the actual hold up is. Just because a new phone gets an update doesn't mean an old one is held back by AT&T. Though the Cliq is the closest reference you can have for the Backflip. I think they're nearly identical except for the "backtrack" on the Backflip.

 

[Yoshiofthewire]

well I don't keep house phones in my front pocket

I do, and it is AWESOME!

ThinkGeek :: ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset

 

[Cronis]

I do, and it is AWESOME!

ThinkGeek :: ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset

oh... my.... eew lol

 

[shatteredempathy]

The phone is definitely an improvement and does everything the backflip did, only 10 times better.
I am so freakin glad I traded my backflip in for an Aria.

 

[droidluv]

I have the Backflip now and am nearing the end of my 30-day exchange period. Still deciding which way to go. Anyone switched from the Backflip to Aria and regretted it? There are some things I like about the Backflip...

Backflip:
+ LED flash
+ Camera can be front-facing (video chatting)
+ Larger battery (1380mAh vs 1200mAh)
+ Nice physical keyboard

Aria:
+ Better processor, more memory
+ Android 2.1 (upgrade to 2.2 probably)
+ Snappy compared to Backflip
+ Sense is more polished than MotoBlur

Just an update: I went the Aria and have been happy with it. Thanks to Android 2.1 the UI is much more responsive than the Backflip's MotoBlur w/ Android 1.5. Sense UI is a polished interface and terrific to use. There are only a couple of things I am missing from the Backflip:
- The speaker phone on the Aria is tinny. The Backflip speaker was much more full and easier to hear.
- Typing with the Backflip's physical keyboard is much faster than using a virtual keyboard, especially if you have man hands.

Again, if it helps anyone - I went with the Aria and absolutely love it.