I have been using my HTC Aria as my primary phone, and using CyanogenMod it runs android 2.2. Instead of leaving it sitting in a box, I decided I wanted to use my backup phone (a Motorola Backflip) as a wifi network camera. However, it runs Android 1.5, which isn’t supported by the Free IP Webcam software. Luckily, Motorola has released an upgrade for the Backflip, if you know where to look.

I was waiting for an over the air upgrade, but after searching on the web I realized that Motorola had released an upgrade (skipping 1.6) to android 2.1 for the Backflip. However, it was not pushed over the air by AT&T, so you have to go to the Motorola website to download it. After you download it, you simply copy it to the root of the phone’s micro SD card and then go into the phone’s settings to look for an upgrade.

After about 15 minutes of waiting for the phone to copy files and process the upgrade (at the AT&T logo) the phone came into a Motoblur setup screen. I waited a minute and it automatically filled in my saved username and password and started to sync data and contacts with the motoblur and Google servers. The “Logging into MOTOBLUR…” progress bar got stuck around 99% for over 30 minutes (the Motorola website said it may get stuck for up to 10 minutes). While it was working I was able to press the “menu” key to set up (turn on) my wifi. I got tired of waiting for it, so I turned the phone off and then back on again. When it re-started, it asked me for permission to report my location (anonymously) to Google, and notified me that it would be syncing my contacts and data in the background.

The phone was very slow and unresponsive for the next hour as it worked on syncing things up. I had to re-enter my google account information to use Google Market.

I had to re-root my phone, and I was able to do this successfully using the instructions found at the modmymobile forum.