Motorola Backflip: First Google Phone With No GoogleMotorola Backflip: First Google Phone With No Google

AT&T and Motorola have teamed up to offer what is AT&T's first Android handset, the Backflip. Despite the device's many strengths, there's a major weakness that seriously compromises the phone: It doesn't have Google Search.As far as I can tell, the Motorola Backflip is the first Google phone that doesn't have Google search on board. Every other Android handset places Google search front and center on the home screen. Instead, the Backflip features Yahoo search. You'll have to forgive me when I say that this is worth flipping out about.

Google search on the Android platform is one of Android's biggest strengths. It is extremely powerful, and offers a host of features such as Voice search. Yahoo's search app for Android looks similar, but doesn't offer Voice search at all. What's worse, search within the Android browser defaults to Yahoo, and there's no way to change it to Google or anything else for that matter.

When asked to comment, AT&T said, "Yahoo! is the default search engine on the Backflip. However, you are of course free to access and use Google search if that is what you prefer. Google doesn't currently make available a widget or app that would let you do Google search directly from your phone's home screen. It is also worth noting that the Backflip comes preloaded with such Google apps as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, Android Market, and YouTube."

I searched and searched (pun intended) for a Google search app or widget in the Android Market. As AT&T says, there isn't one. That means those who purchase the Motorola Backflip are stuck with Yahoo. The absolute only way to "Google" anything on the Backflip is to use the browser and go to Google.com.

That's not good enough for me. I miss Voice search on the home screen. I miss the ability to control how the search app picks through things on the Internet and on the device itself. I miss Google's richer auto-complete and auto-suggestions as I type in search queries. Yahoo offers some suggestions, but they aren't nearly as good as Google's.

Android, of course, is an open platform, and Motorola and AT&T are perfectly free to choose whatever search client they deem best for their customers. In this case, however, customers lose out.