Video records in HVGA resolution at 25fps – not bad, but it doesn't need much encouragement to start looking jerky, though there are easy options for uploading to your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Picasa accounts.
The always on-line enticements take their toll on battery life
Other features include A-GPS supported by both Google Maps and Orange Maps, both of which worked fine, though the Google variety appears to have more features. There's also Quickoffice for Android, which allows you to view docs, but not create them, plus ShazamID for identifying mystery tracks and imeem, a music streaming service similar to Last.fm.
Battery life isn't great, though. Encouraging owners to connect to the internet virtually all the time to pull down Facebook updates is bound to give the battery a bit of a pummelling. Motorola quotes around 360 hours standby but, in practise, we barely got more than a day out of it.
Despite its emphasis on social networking, the Dext seems a little pricey for the youngsters who first helped push Facebook to more than 300 million users. But then again, recent research has shown that da yoof are deserting it in droves now that their parents are getting into it, and that's a much more attractive market for the Dext anyway.
Verdict
Indeed, the Dext has a gorgeous touchscreen, a fine Qwerty keyboard, good browser plus a reasonable camera and media players. User friendly, it offers plenty of potential for personalisation, along with growing range of apps plus Motoblur's ability to keep you up to the second with your social networks. After the last few years of underwhelming variations on a Razr theme, Motorola has made a serious attempt to knock back the doubters with the Dext and, in all honesty, we're a little surprised that it has come up with such a strong offering. ®
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Motorola Dext Android smartphone
COMMENTS
@boony
Thanks for the info Boony. I checked today and MarkSpace, the makers of The Missing Sync, is planning to release a program that will sync the Android with a Mac. I used their program to sync a nokia n75 and a mac a couple years back, and it worked really well. I think Motorola would lure over lots of mac users, that may or may not have an iPhone, if they would develop a native mac app for syncing. Or better, if Apple would distribute the iPhone through other carriers other than AT&T here in the U.S.
@ngcomputing
Hi ngc - I have been using the DEXT for around 3 weeks now. I am also a Mac user, but alas Motorola do not have native support for it in the shape of calender syncing etc. You can plug the USB cable in and drag files to and fro, but syncing etc is currently a no no. Moto do offer windows support, which to be fair is pretty darned good.
On the other side, if you are a social media fiend (I use it to keep in touch with a whole bunch of old army buddies), then MotoBlur rocks. If you need syncing - stick with IPhone or other device that is Mac compatible, or dare I say it - buy a cheap win7 pc
Good luck with your choice of handset though.
JB posting AC
@ AC 13:26
As well as the other comments, if you're getting this phone you might want to download Locale from the market, which allows you to turn on/off 3G, Google syncing, wifi, etc based on time of day, location, etc. For example, I have my HTC magic set to use Wifi only when I'm at home - as soon as I arrive home wifi is fired up, but when I'm more than 500 yards from my flat the wifi switches off.
This means max connectivity, with minimum battery usage. I also use it for things like having my phone auto-switch to vibrate while at work. You can also have the phone automagically control the screen brightness and timeout (e.g., I have mine longer/brighter when I'm in the office, because I'm never more than 50 yards from a blackberry charger (which my Magic can use).
Also worth looking at is the Power Manager app, which adds additional battery usage cleverness, and is <ronseal>
I've had one for a week...
... and it's rather nice.
<twopenneth>
The battery life is about 4 days if you remember to turn off the WIFI but still have email/facebook synchronising on 3G. You can set it to 2G only and switch off the account synchronising. It supports IMAP email quite nicely too.
I like that I can vaguely keep up with friends on facebook without going to the website, I'm not a big fan, but quite of few of my friends (and strangely, my parents) seem to be.
I'm very pleased with it.
</twopenneth>
This is just the curtain-raiser
early reports on Moto's NEXT Android phone, the Droid, suggest it's a league further ahead of the Dext
