Product Listing

Motorola DEXT - Reviving MOTO

By Seow Tein Hee - 20 Jan 2010

Design

The MOTO Beckons

Earlier on, we did mention that this is a more down-to-earth cousin of the Milestone. And it truly is, judging from its mundane-looking design. In fact, the DEXT could pass off as the more horizontally challenged one. Weighing in at 163g, the 114 x 58 x 15.6mm DEXT is chunky to say the least. Grasping the unit in our hands isn't that much of an issue, but we did feel the unit weighing down on us after prolonged usage. Fingerprint smudging is less of an issue, isolated on the 3.1-inch screen.

Amongst all the Android devices out there, the DEXT weighs in as one of the heavier and larger phones.

Physical buttons are aplenty on the DEXT. The volume buttons are seated at the left profile, and for us, we had an easier time controlling the volume with our index finger. A little slider just above the volume buttons switches the DEXT between active and silent mode, and that works out great for quick switching during meetings. The microUSB port is located at the bottom of the left side, and is left exposed with no cover.

A slider to toggle between silent and active profiles makes it easy for situational usage.

Without a cover, the microUSB will be susceptible to dust. But the flip side is, you won't have a dangling plastic cover.

The three main buttons have a great tactile feedback, which makes it that much easier to use the device. The rounded edges also make the DEXT easier to handle, and is noticably free from fingerprints.

The reason for the DEXT's thicker than usual profile would be a slide-out QWERTY 3-row QWERTY keyboard and directional pad. While the keys might be stiffer than what we are used to, we did get some great typing speeds out of it. On average, we got a full message out within 20 seconds. Even so, the DEXT was prone to typing errors in our usage with the straight placement and stiffness of the keys.

Interestingly, the directional pad is located to the left of the keyboard. Being used to a right-handed operation, we were not very used to the layout. But with some time and a little practice, we realized the practicality of placing the directional pad on the left. This leaves your right hand, and finger, free to roam the screen, with your left finger navigating along the trickier to reach areas.

An obvious gap between the display and the QWERTY keyboard, which is fine by us, but not so for those who prefer a more seamless look to the design.

The QWERTY keyboard was stiff, but we did manage to do all our texting pretty quickly with it.

The directional pad took some time to get used to, but it did work sufficiently well.

Underneath the battery casing at the rear would be the 1420mAh battery, with the SIM card and microSD card holders locked in. A little plastic strip is attached to the base, giving one the necessary fulcrum to remove the battery with ease. If you ever do tear the plastic strip by accident, removing the battery is still possible, albeit harder. What irked us was the lack of easy access to the microSD card, which is locked in by a plastic holder instead of the usual spring mechanism. A similar fate befell the SIM card slot too, but fortunately that's not too much of an issue since you won't be switching SIM cards that often.

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