It seems like the longest time since Motorola released its last mobile phone in Singapore. Today, SingTel will be the first telco to bring Motorola's first Android smartphone, Motorola DEXT, into Asia. And SingTel customers will be the first in Asia to get DEXT.

Motorola DEXT

I was lucky enough to receive a DEXT review set over the weekend. This 3.5G quad-band smartphone features a 3.1-inch display, a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture, A-GPS and Bluetooth. It comes pre-installed with a 2GB MicroSD card (supports up to 32GB MicroSD card). The DEXT runs on Google's mobile operating system, Android. But instead of the latest version 2.0 or 2.1, it is running version 1.5 with its own interface called MOTOBLUR. Nonetheless, downloading and installing apps from Android Market is a breeze. You can mix and match your apps and widgets in no time.

Motorola DEXT

With MOTOBLUR, all your FaceBook or MySpace friends' contacts will be automatically synced to your DEXT. In addition, all your friend's status updates, links and photos are automatically delivered to live widgets on the home screen. Other useful widgets include Weather and Calendar. I find the phone a tad bulky. This is probably due to the slide-out keyboard, which is good news for button lovers. Slide out the keyboard and the screen will automatically change to landscape mode. But it will not do so when you tilt the phone on the home screen. So far, I find the touchscreen not as responsive as that of the iPhone. But I have yet to fully explore the capabilities of MOTOBLUR and DEXT. Full review to come, @TODAYonline. The Motorola DEXT will be available from this Saturday, 23 January 2010. Price will range from $0 to $348, depending on the price plans. You can also sign up for SingTel's newly created value-added service, mSocial, priced at $5.35 per month, to enjoy unlimited local mobile data using the MOTOBLUR platform.