Introduction
Today you get to take a look at Bell Canada’s latest Android device, the Motorola Dext. This is part of Motorola’s Motoblur series.
Looks
Motorola’s Motoblur series has a unique look. With a black finish, rigid backing and a front facing slide qwerty. It has 3.1 inch HGBA 320 x 480 pixels touch screen and it has a very small keyboard but it is very accurate. The hardware is very well designed and seems very solid. This phone seems that it would last longer than most qwerty phone. It has a black chrome casing around the sides and has three buttons on the front, a home button, return button and also has a volume button, ringer off button, power button and a headset jack button.
Over all the phone is very visually appealing. The dimensions are 114 x 58 x 15.6 mm. it weighs a total of 160 grams. This phone’s looks will appeal to any user.
Hardware
This phone is powered by QUALCOMM msm7201a processor/528 mhz. it comes with 250mb of ram and has a memory slot upgradeable to 32 GB with a 2 GB card included. It has a battery LI-NON of 1420 MAH which is rated for 324 stand by hours and 360 talk time minutes. It has an MP3 player, FM radio, supports video recording and video support of H.264, H.263 and Mpeg 4, You Tube. All standard message, SMS, MSM and email. The connectivity is HSDPA 7.2 MBPS and has wifi 802.11B/G with 3G and edge. Also has GPRS, Bluetooth 2.0, USB port, and micro USB data cable connectivity. The phone seems to be a little bit under power and sometimes a little sluggish but to the average user the phone runs very smoothly.
Screen
The screen is an average size and provides bright colours which are provided by the 3.1 inch HVGA. The screen is a touch screen which is very responsive without too much effort you can scroll through the home screen which has five pages and your are able to customize each screen with widgets or any Android applications you wish.
Battery
The battery gives average talk and stand by time but with under heavy usage can be drained very fast.
Operating System
The operating system for this phone is Android 1.5 which does run a little laggy but for an entry level phone it will keep its owners happy. This phone being recently released should have came with a higher operating OS installed. Android 2.2 OS is just coming to market and this phone was released with 1.5 which it shouldn’t have been. 1.5 will give you all the features of Android that you will need to have a good smart phone. Mid range users and avid Android fans will not be happy with the 1.5 OS. The operating system should be upgraded in the Fall to at least 2.1.
Software
Motorola has created a very user friendly custom UI called Motoblur. Motoblur is everything based around pictures, email, facebook, my space, messages and twitter. Motoblur syncs them all with continuous updates and backups. There is no need for login or applications to open and your data is always safe. Motorblur streams your conversation with your friends and your favourite stuff right to your phone. There are several widgets on the home screen that are customizable in size and amount that you wish to have on your home screen that will keep you up to date with all your social networks. Motoblur continuously syncs your phone contacts with facebook, my space and twitter automatically. Motoblur delivers messages, emails from facebook, my space and twitter in one unified in box and continuously updates and backs up your information. Even if you lose your phone just enter your Motoblur user name and password and your friends feeds are back on your new phone in a few clicks. One neat function of Motoblur is if your lose your phone, you can log into the Motoblur site and you can track the last known spot where your phone signalled through via GPS. This phone’s software is purely designed for social media connected people to stay in touch with all the latest happenings and being able to interact with them via your phone.
Applications
As we had spoken before there are many social media applications intergraded into this phone already. Twitter, Facebook, MSM, SMS and emails and as well as Motoblur account for managing them, alarm clock, browser, calculator, calendar, gmail, Google maps, Google talk. it also comes with the Android market of course. It has a music application and quick office, picture gallery and YouTube. it also has some pre installed applications that don’t come with all phones, RSS news reader, as well as Shazam for syncing your music. It also comes pre-installed with Who wants to be a Millionaire 2010 game. Also included are bells featured applications of ‘tunes and apps’ where you can purchase ringtones and music for your phone through their download stores. One of the neatest features that is only available via 3G is Bell’s ‘TV and Radio’ applications where you can watch full featured shows and clips from popular TV stations, including music videos, sports, news and your favourite TV shows. This phone comes with enough applications to keep average smart phone users busy with their phones.As well with any Android phone, they can be customized with your personal choices in Android applications from the Android market.
Keyboard
The keyboard on this phone is a little small, not meant for fat fingers but is highly accurate and easy to use with a full qwerty keyboard. All the letters and numbers have a very nice layout with a directional pad for easy navigation.
Web Browsing Camera and Video
Web browsing is normal for 3G and faster on the wifi of course. The camera is a 5 mega pixel camera with a max resolution of 2592 by 1944. It has a flash and a night mode. It also has auto focus, picture editing and geo tagging and as well shoots videos. This phone will take care of your basic camera and video needs and provides clear pictures and videos for a smart phone.
Call Quality
Call quality on this phone is average. The volume set seems to be a little bit lower than I would have liked but is on par with most smart phones. Although it is missing a noise cancellation features which higher end smart phones have.
Pros
- Social media integration
- Good quality finish
- Motoblur software
- Keyboard
Cons
- Lack 2.1 OS (should be available in the Fall)
- No multi touch
- Slower processor
- Software can be laggy at times
Conclusions and Final thoughts
The Bell Motorola Dext is priced right at $79.95 on a three year contract with a data package. It does lack some of the features and high end finish of the higher end Android smart phones that are on the market today. The lack of more powerful processor and latest OS will keep this phone out of the hands of avid Android phone users and i do not recommend it for them. On the other hand this phone is a good entry level Android smart phone for most phone users, this phone will do everything they need and want and more. If you are into social media and like to stay connected this phone is for you. New and average smart phone users to Android will be very happy with this phone as it comes with many standard options on this phone that many Smartphone’s today cannot come close to. Android enthusiasts are recommended to look at a more higher end model.