First Impressions Motorola DEXT and Drupal Editor for Android

Today I purchased a Motorola DEXT (aka Cliq) from Optus. Overall I like it. It feels more polished than the Nokia N97 which I bought last year. The range of apps is good. Even though the phone only ships with Android 1.6, 2.1 for the DEXT is due in Q3 2010.

The apps seem to run nice and fast. The responsive touch screen is bright and clear. I am yet to try to make a call on it from home, but the 3G data seems as fast as my Telstra 3G service, so the signal should be OK.

The keyboard is very functional, albeit cramped with my fat thumbs. The home screen is a little cluttered for my liking too, but it won’t take much to clean that up. I will miss my funambol sync, which is only available for Android 2.x.

I started writing this post using the Drupal Editor for Android app, which is pretty nice. The GPL app uses the XML-RPC and Drupal core’s Blog API module. Overall it feels like a stripped down version of Bilbo/Blogilo. Drupal Editor is an example of an app which does one thing and does it simply, but well. The only thing I haven’t liked about it was when originally writing this post, I bumped the save button and published an incomplete and poorly written post. Next time I will untick the publish checkbox until I am ready to really publish it.

I would still like a HTC Desire, but Telstra is only offering them on a $65 plan with no value. The Nokia N900 was off my list, due to the USB port of death and Nokia’s spam policies. The Nexus One was on the list too, but the lack of a local warranty was a concern.