Whether you are still using a GSM phone or already a veteran of several smart phones, the Motorola DEXT is a very good investment for the next mobile phone you will be using. The DEXT is an Android smart phone loaded with very useful features that is exclusively carried by Orange UK. Unless you are on a non-convertible plan that has yet to expire, there is no reason to not switch to the DEXT. With many features, powerful hardware and excellent support, the DEXT is more than just a good investment, it is an upgrade to your way of life.
Cupcakes and Oranges
Orange UK has tied up with mobile industry mogul Motorola for the DEXT, they are offering full Orange map service to DEXT users as well. This is an excellent feature since the DEXT runs on Google’s Android 1.5 Cupcake edition. If there is one great thing about the Android that should be noted, it is the fact that the Android comes packed with Google applications, most importantly Google Maps. Combine these with the A-GPS capabilities of the DEXT and you have got an excellent GPS device right in the palm of your hands. All that matters now is for you to decide where to go.
DEXT Specs and Features
Regardless of where you might decide to go, Motorola has made sure that you will stay connected. With their new Motoblur feature, users will be able to create singe page summaries of contact information, status, messages and even information from social networking sites. This useful little feature is then displayed right in your customizable home screen in the form of RSS reading widgets. To help you stay connected, the DEXT is capable of connecting to Wireless LAN, GPRS, 3G and HSDPA networks as well; and do not worry about losing batteries, the 1420mAh lithium ion battery carries enough juice to keep the DEXT running for days on end.
The highly anticipated Motorola DEXT will be on our shelves from the 7th of October in Orange stores across the country, while heading to Phones4U the following day – a whole lot sooner than most of us expected.
Those of you are just completely unable to wait the extra day for the Android powered mobile phone might be excited to know that if you want to go and line up outside the Milton Keynes store at 3 PM today, you will be able to score one of the new handsets before everyone else – just be ready for long lines and in all likelihood a fair wait; I’d bring a snack.
Orange will be selling the mobile phone on a £35 a month contract with a two year term; you get the handset for free but it is still quite a price to pay; especially when none of us are likely to want to wait the full two years before upgrading our mobile phone again.
The speculations drifting around online that the Motorola DEXT could be available for as little as £137 seem to have missed the mark quite badly, something we half expected but are still disappointed about.
What we wonder is how many people are going to come out to get their hands on this device early – it has gotten a lot of hype and is sure to be big, but with the target audience primarily consisting of teens we aren’t too sure the rush will be as big as certain earlier mobile phones enjoyed at their launches.
Those of you tempted to head out but worried about the queues can order the phone online from Orange’s website; that way you can avoid any crowds and, possibly, very loud and excited teenagers.
The Motorola DEXT looks great; the all black finish is accentuated by the orange Motorola logo below the large touch screen. The edges are slim despite having a slide out full QWERTY keyboard underneath. One little snag about the keyboard is that there is an analog control pad on the left side which pushes all the keys together. This may make typing a little bit harder to get used to. The space bar is also a little small and could have used a little more width to be accessible. As said, the keyboard has its own learning curve to use. But aside from that, using this device should prove to be no problem at all.
DEXT and the Android
The DEXT runs on Android 1.5 Cupcake. This Google made operating system is designed specially for mobile phones. Currently, there are hundreds of Android applications that can be downloaded to further increase the functionality of Android phones. With the DEXT, several key Google mobile applications are already included. Google Mail, Gtalk, Google Maps and YouTube are all useful Google applications that are pre packed into the phone. Google Maps will be supported by carrier Orange UK with their map services. Other applications such as imeem, ShazamID and Accuweather are also included in the mobile phone.
Other Features
Motorola makes excellent smart phones with all the right features. DEXT comes with a five mega pixel camera, a 3.1 inch touch screen, a 1420mAh lithium ion battery and lots of media playback options. The 3.5mm stereo headphone jack on the side will let you use the device as a music player. The phone also supports Bluetooth for hands free operation. The mobile phone itself is small enough to fit into you pocket and can be held and operated easily with just one hand.
If you have never heard of an Android phone then you are living under a rock. Google’s Android operating system is one of the best available in the mobile phone industry today. Android enabled phones like the new Motorola DEXT have access to many of Google’s mobile version of their useful internet apps. Google Mail, Gtalk, Google Maps and YouTube are all available in the DEXT thanks to the Android operating system. Also, Androids are easy to use and navigate. The Google interface is fast loading and works very well with touch screens. DEXT has a 3.1 inch touch screen for users to fully enjoy the Android experience.
DEXT Media Capabilities
One impressive thing to note about the DEXT is the amount of media file types it can handle. For music playback, it can handle AAC, AAC+, ACC+ Enhanced, AMR NB, Midi, MP3 and the undying WAV files. Video playback also supports various encoding standards; Mpeg 4 (MP4) and 3GP can be streamed. Standard playback is supported for H.264, H.263 and YouTube videos. This mobile phone has a five mega pixel camera with autofocus for shooting high resolution images or for taking videos. Captured videos are encoded in MP4 format. Synching, backing up and transferring media into the DEXT can be done easily with the high speed micro USB 2.0.
Motorola DEXT Spec Sheet
Motorola knows what to include in a mobile phone. This smart phone runs on Android 1.5 Cupcake, it accesses 3G networks. For internet connectivity, the DEXT is WiFi, 3G, GSM and EDGE enabled. It runs on an 1420mAh lithium ion battery that can last for over a dozen days on standby. The Android itself comes with Google software and its own Android Webkit for browsing HTML and WAP sites. Carrier Orange UK is providing Orange Maps service so expect the GPS function to be quite useful as well. It also has Bluetooth and VOIP.
This past week has seen Google update Android to 1.6, widely known as “Donut” – the update includes several new tools to help enhance the general mobile experience for both users and developers alike.
So far the update, or “Donut”, is only available to the developers as a SDK, or a “Software Development Kit”, but there are plans to see it available on all mobile phone sometime in October, which means it will likely appear on the Motorola DEXT while the handset is still in its infancy.
Android 1.6 has brought with it both some minor and major improvements, including a feature resembling the spotlight on Apple’s iPhones – which grants the ability to search the entire mobile phone in mere seconds.
According to Tech Radar, Google has ensured users there are plans to monitor your most common searches of the handset and use them to filter you internet search results accordingly – a significant break through for every Google user.
Like the touch pad on newer Macs, gestures are also to be supported, granting you the ability to swipe a finger across the screen in a certain way and get what were previously impossible results – this opens the door to developers by way of more versatile functionality within their applications.
Amazingly, the new release also sees the camera, both in still shooting mode and with video, speed up significantly, as well as the new option of adjusting your screens resolution settings, allowing hi-res displays.
Another cool minor adjustment has been the addition of “text to speech”, which while simple is still an innovation on the Android mobile platform.
Although once at the top of the mobile phone food chain Motorola has fallen to the wayside for the past few years as competitors like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, and newcomers like Apple, have set a pace that Motorola has been struggling to keep up with. Now it looks like the plucky American firm may be getting its act together with the planned release of a phone that looks like a serious contender in today’s market.
The new DEXT will be the first of several Android powered handsets that Motorola has planned for release in the next 12 months and suggests there is still hope for the company yet. Based on a customised version of Google Android 1.5 Cupcake the DEXT will be the first in a new line of Motorola phones to make use of their new MOTOBLUR service.
MOTOBLUR will integrate a diverse range of communication services into one easy to keep track of interface so that you will always be on top of what your contacts are up to. By integrating SMS, email and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter into one widget Motorola hope that MOTOBLUR will ensure users are never kept out of the loop.
Motorola has not held back in other areas either with a very nice 3.1″ touch sensitive screen a top of a sideways sliding QWERTY keypad. A 5 megapixel camera is provided with video recording capabilities and photos can be easily uploaded to services like Photobucket or Facebook.
Entertainment should be top notch also, with support for music and video playback, streaming of video content, 3.5mm audio socket and the DEXT will automatically sync to iTunes and Windows Media Player. The DEXT comes with great connectivity too with 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the 2GB storage can be expanded to 32GB with microSD.
Motorola are planning to launch the phone in late November and in the UK it will be available exclusively on Orange. More information on pricing will be revealed at the Motorola event during the middle of the month and probably some more information about the other Android phones Motorola has lined up for 2010 release.
Whether you are still using a GSM phone or already a veteran of several smart phones, the Motorola DEXT is a very good investment for the next mobile phone you will be using. The DEXT is an Android smart phone loaded with very useful features that is exclusively carried by Orange UK. Unless you are on a non-convertible plan that has yet to expire, there is no reason to not switch to the DEXT. With many features, powerful hardware and excellent support, the DEXT is more than just a good investment, it is an upgrade to your way of life.
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This past week has seen Google update Android to 1.6, widely known as “Donut” – the update includes several new tools to help enhance the general mobile experience for both users and developers alike.
Although once at the top of the mobile phone food chain Motorola has fallen to the wayside for the past few years as competitors like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, and newcomers like Apple, have set a pace that Motorola has been struggling to keep up with. Now it looks like the plucky American firm may be getting its act together with the planned release of a phone that looks like a serious contender in today’s market.