Today’s a banner day for AT&T customers…or something like that, anyway. Heretofore, AT&T’s only smartphone options were the iPhone, the Blackberry (if you even want to consider it a smartphone), and probably some other lesser handsets that I don’t even know about. But AT&T announced today that as of March 7, they’ll be offering the first of many Android phones that will work on the AT&T network – Motorola’s Backflip.

According to Motorola/AT&T’s press release, this thing will cost you $100 (technically, $199.99 with a $100 mail-in rebate), provided you sign a two-year AT&T contract, and offers all the Android fun over AT&T’s ["faster"] 3G network.

It’s got a 5 megapixel camera with a built-in flash (iPhone’s is 3 megapixel with no flash), a 3.1-inch hi-res screen (iPhone’s is 3.5-inch), a manual keyboard (iPhone’s is touchscreen), and what appears to be a relatively iPhone-esque form factor (besides the flip part, of course).

The one major design caveat is that the Backflip’s manual keyboard, as the name implies, flips out from the back of the phone (see title image). And you can even use its controls while it’s unflipped…

Now, I don’t know how easy that’d be, not being able to actually see any controls while you’re trying to use them, but I guess with a little practice, you could get familiar enough to make it worthwhile.

Anyways, some other cool features include: a 4X digital zoom for the camera (iPhone’s camera has no zoom), along with the ability to crop, enhance and add borders to images without downloading a separate app, and what would supposedly be an extra hour of battery life over the iPhone (6 hours to iPhone’s 5).

Obviously the real news isn’t the phone, though. Rather, it’s the fact that AT&T will be offering this, as well as a few other Android phones in 2010. It would seem it’s the year of the Android, and farbeit from AT&T to be left behind.

But will AT&T customers really choose an Android phone over the iPhone?

Living here in the Manhattan area, sometimes it seems like everyone’s got an iPhone. But across the country, I’m sure there are millions of AT&T customers who never bought into the previously substantial price tag (a year ago an iPhone could cost you at least $400 without a contract agreement). So there are likely plenty of folks willing to now upgrade, committing two more years to AT&T in exchange for a $100 smartphone that offers more than substantial competition.

Then again, while this particular Android phone offers a few options that go above and beyond the iPhone, access to the App Store is still pretty appealing. The Android market has 20,000 apps and growing, but the App Store currently boasts over 133,000 apps and with the iPad looming, that number is likely to only go up. That doesn’t mean those 133,000 apps are necessarily more valuable, but it is a substantial excess of content from which to choose.

Either way, all of you Android-enthusiast AT&T customers, start your engines…March 7 is only a couple of weeks away!

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