[REVIEW] The Motorola DEXT is more famously known as the Motorola CLIQ in the US and it’s model name is actually MB220. DEXT is exclusively retailed by SingTel when it is launched in Q1 2010. It is the first MOTOROLA Android phone to be on sale in Singapore.
the SPECIFICATIONS
- 163g, 114 x 58 x 15.6 mm
- Accelerometer sensor
- Full QWERTY keyboard with 5-way navigation key
- MOTOBLUR: Motorola’s Widget to integrate Social networks
- 3.5mm audio jack
the HARDWARE
The first thing that one will notice when holding the Motorola DEXT, is the weight of the phone. At 163g, it feels heavy but the curves of the phone makes it much better and comfortable in your hand. The exterior of the phone made of glossy and shiny painted-plastic. As a result, scratches are easily made though it is not very visible.
The design of DEXT, as I have found out from several friends, is not very appealing to most. It’s thickness and the three hardware buttons on the top certainly make the DEXT less slick. The three buttons served as the following functions: Options, Home Page and Back. They are quite useful in many situations but those buttons are actually flushed with the surface of the phone; when you push it, you are actually pushing an underlying button that feels like a poke. My general sentiments is that it is not all that comfortable to push them.
The QWERTY keyboard of DEXT is very sturdy. Sliding it in and out is a very comfortable experience. The buttons are pretty well spaced out and they are not flushed so you can actually type really fast after sometime. The 5 ways directional pad is useful as well. While many reviews said that it is unnecessary, I find it very useful in situations where by you need to click small links on a webpage. You can of course enlarge the screen to click them but I like scrolling of all the possible links on the page with the 5 way pad, though I know many whom would prefer using the touch screen instead.
the TOUCH SCREEN
DEXT is built with a capacitive touch screen. The touch screen experience on DEXY is generally sensitive enough but still not competitive with the iPhone. Specifically, you will feel that you must exert a little more strength in some applications though it is not that much of an issue after using the phone for sometime.
DEXT spots a 256k colour resolution so you will notice that the colours on the screen are probably not as good as others with a 16million colour resolution such as the Sony Ericsson Satio. But its still pretty good and certainly good enough for many.
the BATTERY LIFE
It is important to note the smartphones these days has much lesser battery life compared to feature phones. I would say that if you are a heavy user of the phone, meaning that you will use the phone to listen to music, watch movies with several calls and 3G connection connected the whole time, you may have to charge everything day or even before the day ends. As mentioned, it is the same with other smartphones such as iPhone or HTC Legend. But its noteworthy to mention that Blackberry performed much better in this aspect.
the ANDROID OS and MOTOROLA’s MOTOBLUR
I have got to say that if you have been using iPhone OS or Blackberry OS, you might find that the stock Android OS is pretty raw and perhaps, ugly. It is crucial to understand that HTC actually has their own interface over that of the stock Android OS. Therefore, despite all being Android devices, they are quite different in appearance.
In a flash, most of the time, you will be either on one of the 5 applications page or in the settings menu.
The Dext is not called the Social Phone for nothing. First, MOTOBLUR is Motorola’s software to integrate the different social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and so on, so that you will get live update right on the phone.
And second, Dext will actually download all your social contacts from the various accounts onto the phone. It may seems daunting, but it is really daunting! While it is possible to adjust the settings to show just the contacts on the phone instead of all the contacts (including the social networks'), it could potentially quite messy for some people. Well but there is a better way to organise contacts on Android in my opinion. What I did is to mark those contacts that I use often as Favourites and put them in a folder on the application screen.
to be continue…
