Motorola…remember them? The American manufacturer had the mobile world in the palm of their hands with the clamshell convoy of StarTAC and RAZR phones, promptly falling off the radar when hit by waves of innovative devices from Europe and Asia as they stood still.

Well, they’re finally back with a phone that is truly unique, flying the flag for Google’s new Android operating system and sporting an alluring, yet quirky form factor.

This is the Motorola DEXT, and between running on Android and marking the debut of their new social-streaming technology dubbed ‘MotoBLUR’, Motorola's newest deivce is attempting to revolutionise the ways we stay connected once again.

Design and specifications

The Orange-exclusive Motorola DEXT is a device for the committed natterer, hiding a full QWERTY keyboard behind a 3.1-inch capacitive touch screen despite being a mere 15.6mm deep.

The immediate impression is a handset almost deliberately designed to be quirky and eye-catching, from the Apple-inspired glowing logo to the dimpled rear, the DEXT is interesting from every angle.

Actually grabbing hold of it may seem a little disappointing in that case, with a build quality that errs on the side of cheap. The screen rocks uncomfortably over the keys when the handset is closed, and the slightest of overzealous swipes can often dislodge it from the resting position. It is certainly a form factor that whispers rather than screams Android powerhouse.

When slid open, the DEXT is more comfortable and the keyboard proving assured, spacious and responsive. This makes it easy to rattle off an e-mail, text or tweet in seconds, which is good as you’ll be doing a lot of that thanks to the MotoBLUR interface, but more about that later...

The pad cleverly illuminates different keys according to which setting is activated, a quick press of the ALT key bringing up an extra row of numbers and symbols which go back to being (relatively) hidden in an instant.

A 5-megapixel camera with autofocus is comfortably nestled on the rear of the device, making it easy to snap a picture to go with your frequent updates, whilst 3G connectivity enables those photos to easily be transferred to online hotspots including Picasa, Facebook and MySpace. The camera also shoots and plays video at an eye-pleasing 24 frames a second.

However, the lack of a lens cover and flash only serve to cement underlying feelings of the DEXT being aimed at a lower end market than the price and some features might suggest.

MOTOBLUR and Android

Taking advantage of the web-savvy Android operating system (version 1.5), Motorola’s widget-based additions turn the DEXT into an always-on information portal.

News feeds filter straight into your homepage to stay on top of your favourite sites, whilst MotoBLUR pools information from everywhere – Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LastFM, work mails – and presents them on constantly updating widgets, neatly organized.

‘Happenings’ are reserved for social networking updates (entirely based on the quality of your mates), ‘Shouts’ enable you to update all of your many social accounts in one go, whilst ‘Messages’ filters in e-mails from various sources, presenting them in a single Universal Inbox.

The ability to access these widgets directly from the home screen is the novelty about MotoBLUR, seamlessly updating and informing without dipping into menus or constantly booting up different applications.

This functionality is not quite the data burner that you might expect, with the feeds only pushing new status updates to the DEXT as opposed to full downloads from the web every time.

Contact details and profile pictures are gleaned and updated from your various social networking sites without lifting a finger, and all of the above is also completely customizable.

Whilst the ‘shout’ option is good to get a message out there quickly, the interface is a little fiddly to reply to individual messages, which can often get swamped in a sea of new information that is constantly flowing into the DEXT.

Having said that, Android is the perfect operating system to facilitate such an ambitious idea, enabling a slick and pretty experience and MotoBLUR giving a touch up rather than a full makeover to the vanilla Google interface.

Despite opting for widgets over memory-intensive apps, the DEXT is still not the speed demon one might expect. Whilst the capacitive screen is nice and responsive, frequently the handset finds trouble keeping up with furious typing or a deluge of new feed content from your various streams.

It has slowed down to a crawl on more than one occasion, but recent software updates seem to have greased MotoBLUR’s wheels somewhat. The ability to get the latest and greatest software over-the-air is a nice addition, and easier to do than connecting to a computer and having to tinker under the hood.

MotoBLUR is also a ‘cloud’ based solution, which means every single bit of data from the handset is synchronized and stored on the web, saving heartache and lost contacts in the event that the device is lost or stolen. It even allows the phone to be remotely wiped James Bond-style, ensuring that personal information never falls into the wrong hands.

Multimedia

Much of this functionality is carried part and parcel from Google’s own operating system, the media side of things receiving far less care and attention.

Thankfully the stock solution is more than competent, with music and movie playback supporting a wealth of formats, and the welcome addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack making it perfect on the move.

Memory is…enough, with a 2GB card supplied, and support for as much as 32GB of microSD loveliness.

Android provides a Marketplace full of downloadable goodies, with the quality ranging from poor to passable. Productivity and the like are well catered for, but those looking for a gaming fix would do better elsewhere.

Connectivity

It’s not all play with the DEXT and MotoBLUR, as the system can just as easily turn a hand to push and corporate e-mail accounts.

Microsoft Exchange support is available, and Corporate Sync keeps you on top of work mail. Calendar information from Google can also be pulled in, giving a widget that is up to date with appointments and engagements immediately on the home screen.

The WebKit browser is a cut above most smart phone offerings, but the lack of multi touch on sites like Google Maps is almost painful. The zooming solution is piecemeal at best, with the resizing never quite giving the full picture of a webpage in either portrait or landscape.

Still, a browsing experience second only to that phone is still high praise indeed.

Navigation and GPS are quick to triangulate and often precise down to the metre, whilst Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connect to other gadgets with nary a hiccup.

Calling quality is great, and you’ll be surprised at the number of people with their most intimate details on Facebook when booting up the integrated contacts list for the first time!

Verdict

Every inch of the Motorola DEXT is steeped in tweets, status updates and alerts. If not already one of the initiated, the handset will do little to convince you to become part of the social revolution. Stripping away MotoBLUR, the DEXT becomes pretty bare as far as an Android handset is concerned.

The widgets are a nice touch, but without them the handset loses a lot of the charm, and the constant barrage of messages when MotoBLUR is switched on can become a little overwhelming.

The slide out keyboard and full range of features should put the DEXT amongst the best of them, but the build quality and sluggish performance disappoint somewhat.

As a comeback handset, the DEXT does still show that there are still plenty of innovative and intriguing ideas within Motorola, and this is a confident and competent first step back into the hearts and minds of mobile phone lovers everywhere.