I recently had the opportunity to use the Motorola Dext, an Android 1.5 device that has only recently been unleashed on the Bell network in Canada. The Dext is one of three Motoblur-modified Android devices being released here in the Great White North, although it’s the only one of the three with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. If you’re looking to get into the Android scene the Dext can make an interesting starting point, but you should also know that there are much more powerful Android phones out there (like the Motorola Milestone on Telus).

ANDROID 1.5 (skip this section if you’re already up-to-snuff on the Android OS)

The first thing I noticed about the Dext is that it’s “stuck” on Android 1.5. That’s not to say that Android 1.5 doesn’t work (it does), but it’s essentially a firmware version that came out in April 2009. In other words, the Dext may be new in Canada, but the firmware is a little over a year old. This is a pretty big deal even if you’re not a techie, since it means that newer apps like Facebook and the DoubleTwist media player simply can’t be downloaded, and the major Android improvements of the last year, such as the improved virtual keyboard, better voice search, and general speed increases, simply aren’t available to enjoy on the Dext.

There is, of course, the possibility of an OS upgrade in the future, but it’s nothing to hold your breath for, given the state of custom software on Android. This is due to a disconnect between Google, which develops Android OS, and the handset manufacturers like Motorola, who design hardware and software modifications like Motoblur. It seems to take an average of 6-12 months for manufacturers to get a phone out to the market, and Motorola can’t simply update the Dext’s firmware without first modifying their Motoblur software to comply with the latest version of Android.

But now that I’ve gotten that techie whining out of my system, I will say that Android 1.5 is a very interesting change, especially coming from an iPhone 3GS. The Dext is slower than my iOS 4 device, but it’s usable once you make a few tweaks. It’s a far cry from the laggy, sad brick that was my HTC TyTN on Windows Mobile 6 (what I used before moving to the iPhone).

The biggest items to talk about in the Dext’s case are widgets, overall system speed, and what you can and cannot install.

Customizable widgets were one of the biggest things to hit 1.5, and there are quite a number of them available by default, or downloadable though the Android Market. There are general widgets for weather, calendar items, Google searches, as well as more specialized ones for checking the amount of available RAM on the device, or checking your current standing in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (a PC gaming title). Most of these widgets are free, but some of them are paid, or come as part of paid applications from the Market.

Widgets definitely have to be one of the killer Android features, since they provide an enormous amount of at-a-glance on the five home screens. However, in my two-week experience with the Dext, I also found widgets to be one of the biggest device and battery killers, and it was really when I started to kill them off one by one that my experience improved.

I even ended up turning off the Motoblur Happenings widget, which is one of the biggest selling points of buying a Motorola-made Android device (aside from the hardware design, of course). For all of the customizability that widgets allow, I found that they simply slowed the whole device down too much, and I enjoyed Android 1.5 much more by nuking all of them and using a home-screen replacement called Slide Screen instead.

I have to admit that I was quite surprised that Slide Screen was 1.5-compatible. Many of the interesting or high-profile apps I had wanted to try out during my first Android test drive simply weren’t available on the Motorola Dext’s Android Market. The Bell website boasts that Facebook and Twitter and MySpace are available on the Dext, but what the site really means is that you can access all three services through Motoblur. The specialized Facebook and Twitter Android apps (the latter of which is apparently quite good) are simply unavailable on Android 1.5. I was also disappointed to find out that other apps, like the newly released DoubleTwist media player, are Android 1.6+ only. So while Android’s Market may be growing and improving daily, finding out which apps you can and cannot use on the Dext is a guessing game at best, and it’s strange to have to play such a game on such a spanking new device.

MOTOBLUR

By default, Android syncs with a Google account for contacts , calendar appointments, and Gmail (in its own special Android app — other e-mail accounts use a separate app). Motoblur adds Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace to the mix of synced accounts and adds extra details to your contacts. This simplifies things and shows you all the e-mails, text messages, or relevant status updates for each of your contacts in a tab right beside all of their actual address and personal details. It’s a great extra touch, but it’s a bit too much for the Dext to handle.

The same can be said of the Motoblur Happenings widget, which displays all the status updates and relevant Facebook/MySpace/Twitter messages right on your home screen. It’s an attractive and interactive display  (Facebook comments and Twitter replies are built right in), but swiping through the aggregated updates can feel sluggish. The best way to view your Happenings is to tap on the widget after it pops up to toggle a full-screen list mode. It’s here that you can really appreciate how active your Facebook friends and local Twittersphere are, and it’s much easier to manage your 300 notifications by simply scrolling, instead of swiping through one item at a time.

There were a few Motoblur features that I didn’t thoroughly test out, but should be mentioned for the sake of being thorough. The Motoblur service requires a specialized login that you create when you first set up the device. This login preserves your widget layout and social networking details, so that moving to a new device is as simple as entering your username and password. Another use for your login is for tracking down your Dext through the Motoblur website (you even have the option for a remote wipe, if you need it), but I only learned about this feature by visiting Bell’s website. It isn’t terribly obvious that you’re afforded these extra luxuries thanks to your Motoblur login.

After a few days of trying to adjust to Motorola’s approach to social networking, I decided to throw in the towel and opt for something simpler. My demands of the Dext were modest (Calendar, Contacts, Phone, Browser, and TwiDroid for Twitter), but I really think the tsunami of information that Motoblur throws at you requires a much more powerful device, and a different kind of user. Quite frankly, I found Happenings a little overwhelming, and was much happier when I synced only my Google contacts to the device, and kept a near-vanilla Android 1.5 setup.

HARDWARE

I think the hardware design is the best part of the Dext. Despite its $80 contract price, the Motorola Dext feels like a much more expensive device.

The screen is flush with the bezel, so there’s very little worry about dust building up on the front of the device. The top features a standard 3.5mm earphone jack, the right side houses sleep/power and camera shutter buttons, and the left side of the device is where you’ll find the volume buttons, silent switch, and micro-USB charge/sync port. There’s absolutely nothing along the bottom of the device, except for the slick metallic finish which hides fingerprints nicely. The back of the device features the 5MP auto-focus camera (top-left), loudspeaker (bottom) and one of the most interesting looking battery doors I’ve seen. The back plate of the Dext looks great and is quite fingerprint and scratch-resistant to boot.

Removing this back piece will reveal the 1390mAh removable battery, as well as the micro-SD (2GB with the device) and SIM card trays. Since the Dext is on Android 1.5 you won’t be able to place apps on the included SD card, but you do have 512 MB of ROM for that. The device’s 528 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM run adequately on a minimalist Android setup, but tends to slow down when used as advertised in promos (read: leaving the Happenings widget running).

The phone is quite pocketable despite the presence of a physical keyboard, and the whole package is a pleasure to hold and use. There’s a heft to the phone that inspires confidence in the build quality, and the sliding mechanism is spring-loaded and clicks assuredly into place. Despite my complaints about speed in Android 1.5, the orientation changes are near instantaneous when flipping the screen up.

Doing so will reveal the landscape QWERTY keyboard, which is backlit and easy to get used to (despite the left-hand side directional pad). The keys are quite close together, but their convex design makes them easy to differentiate, even in the dark.

Touchscreen

The 3.1” capacitive touchscreen on the Dext is good, if just a little small. Taps register well for the most part, but I did encounter some problems with the software keyboard (which isn’t really a hardware problem, I know). The lower-right corner of the screen works just fine with other apps and taps, but there seems to be a real dead zone that prevents the backspace, l, and p keys from being tapped reliably when the on-screen keyboard is active.

Phone

Telephony on the Motorola Dext is just fine, and there really isn’t anything to like or dislike. My test callers told me that the device sounded no different from my iPhone 3GS, which tends to simply sound alright. The loudspeaker pumps out a good amount of sound, but you’ll need to flip the device over to really make the most of it.

Camera

The camera on the Dext is functional, but the software side of the Dext really lets it down. The camera app can take forever and a day to load up (or hang on startup, as it did during my first day out to take some sample shots), and that fact alone may keep you from trying to snap pictures with the device. That said, the Motorola Dext’s ability to auto-focus is useful for apps like Evernote and documenting receipts or important notes. The lack of an LED flash means that you’ll need an external light source for night shots, though.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Motorola Dext depends on how many widgets and background apps you run. I ran with the default setup of widgets for my first few days with the device, and this tended to kill the battery surprisingly quickly (the device usually died by the end of the day, or died while idling overnight). Removing all of the widgets increased the battery life dramatically, allowing the Dext to last at least two days on light-medium usage (a handful of calls, 30 mins tweeting/surfing, and a bit of texting).

Conclusion

Despite my best efforts as a newbie Android user, I simply couldn’t get the Dext to run as well as I had hoped it might.

There were always little pockets of lag while opening a new browser page, searching for a contact, or launching an app – and this is something you can get used to if this one device is all you’ll use, but it’s always noticeable when you’re coming down from a higher-tier ($200 on contract) phone.

The Dext is really a medium range Android experience, and it’s limited by the older Android 1.5 (newer versions of Android are simply faster, especially the newly released 2.2).

However, the price of the Bell Motorola Dext reflects all of this at $79.95 on a 3-year contract, and $399.95 for an outright purchase. So while you won’t be enjoying the fastest or most modern Android experience on the Dext, buying the device outright will still be a good $300 or so cheaper than a Motorola Milestone or iPhone 3GS.

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