The Motorola Dext is a mobile phone that runs on the Android operating system – currently the must have system. Motorola has been criticised in the past for its clunky operating system but they’ve taken the opportunity to not just settle for someone else’s system, but to improve it in the process.
The phone’s key feature in addition to the Android OS is MotoBlur, Motorola’s interface. It gathers together all your personal information from accounts such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter when you give it your passwords. It then displays updates on screen automatically ensuring you immediately know the latest gossip.
Android has as standard three home screens but MotoBlur adds another two, all good screens, although MotoBlur’s icons are better than Android’s. MotoBlur also has the ability to track a lost Dext via GPS and the phone can be remotely wiped if required.
The backlight on the QWERTY keyboard is not good and although letters and numbers are clearly displayed, characters such as @ are tiny and difficult to read in poor light.
The camera does not come with a built in flash, and the battery life is short. Smartphones tend not to have a good battery life but the Dext is shorter than most because it continually updates the social networking information.
The keyboard makes this a bigger phone, making it heavier at 163g, but it still fits nicely into your hand.
Other phones to look at are HTC Google Nexus One and the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini.
