Android-based handset available in the UK from next month
Motorola has launched its Dext Android-powered mobile phone in the UK on the Orange network.
The handset is the same as the Cliq launched on T-Mobile last week in the US, and marks a return from the wilderness for Motorola. The company had not launched a phone in the UK since December 2008, when it released the astronomically priced $2,000 (£1,200) Aura mobile.
The Dext will be available in early October, free of charge on Orange’s Dolphin £35-a-month tariff with an all-you-can-eat data package.
The handset boasts a 3.2in screen, 5-megapixel camera and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard. Other features of this distinctly Nokia N97 lookalike device are Wi-Fi and a 2GB microSD card.
Motorola has lost Google’s endorsement on the handset as it has tinkered with the operating system, much as HTC did with the Hero where it too lost the Google branding on the handset.
The Android mobile operating system under the name Motoblur has better integration of social networking features such as Facebook and Twitter built in to the operating system.
This is evident from Motorola’s ’happenings’ updates on the phone’s home screen, where content from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, email and text messages is displayed in real time.
Motoblur also has a cloud element, in which contacts and the handset details can be backed up. If the handset is lost or stolen all saved data can be remotely erased and restored to a new device. Apple’s iPhone has a similar feature under Mobileme, as do Windows Mobile handsets.
Dext is just the first handset in a range of Android phones planned by Motorola, according to Orange.
