Hands on: Motorola Android Dext review

UPDATE: We've now published our full Motorola Dext review

Motorola's hopes of a glorious comeback in the mobile market are resting on a new mobile from the company - the Android-powered Dext with the new MotoBlur overlay.

The idea is simple - take the open source benefits of Android and bring a number of social networking sites together into one widget-filled home screen, placed under the hood of a fairly decent hardware spec list.

The Motorola Dext is a more than an OK mobile phone, although it's little thick thanks to housing a full QWERTY keyboard. The buttons on the front of the phone look touch sensitive, but are actually fairly tactile with a satisfying click to help you navigate around the phone.

The phone, previously known as the Morrison on some rumour sites when photos leaked, also has a D-pad to the left of the keyboard with a pleasant red glow around the central enter key when in use.

The lock key and camera shutter are weirdly hidden in the crack between the screen and the QWERTY keyboard, which makes them a little hard to find and hit at times.

The touchscreen is fairly responsive when swiping left and right, although there is a fair amount of lag - think a bit worse than the HTC Hero but better than the G1 and you'll get some idea. It's not great but certainly something we could live with.