Motorola Citrus

by sb (admin)
(Virginia)

The Revol Motorola Citrus is a new Android phone with a unique Backtrack touchpad which is on the back of the phone. This allows you to use your fingers to navigate around the screen without obstructing your view of the screen. This is a really interesting feature that raises a lot of questions which I'll get to later, but first lets go over the basics of the phone.

Motorola Citrus Features

The phone has a 3.2 inch touchscreen and a 3 megapixel camera. You have access to the thousands of Android apps via the marketplace. Your favorite website or social network probably has an Android app. If not, then you can still access the sites via the full HTML browser. You access the Net via either the 3G network or a local WiFi network, which is faster, so if it's available, use it (securely).

The Motorola Citrus CNET review points out that it has a simple design and good file manager interface. They tend to dismiss it as a beginner Android phone because it doesn't have a physical QWERTY keyboard (but then neither does the iPhone), and it doesn't have enterprise security features.

Backtrack Rear Touchpad

Backtracking to the Backtrack feature, this is a small square touchpad that resides on the upper part of the back of the phone. One reason I wish the Revol Motorola Citrus was available in my area is that I would love to see how accurate my fingers would be in navigating around the screen if my finger orientation was reversed compared to a front-facing touch screen or touchpad on my computer.

One thing about our minds is that accuracy of our maps of our own body are vary with the location. So if you close your eyes and attempt to locate a particular area on the front of your body you'll be more successful accurate than if you tried to do the same with the back of your body. Similarly, research has apparently shown that even if you have the most slender, delicate hands, your brain thinks your fingers are really short and fat.

Of course, this shouldn't negatively affect your use of this phone compared to other phones because there's still a touchscreen on the front. Still, it would be a neat game to play to see who could most accurately complete a particular task using just the rear touchpad.

The Motorola Citrus costs $149.99 which is pretty competitive for a no-contract phone. It requires the $55 per month Smartphone plan.

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