Motorola Dext MB200 review

We mentioned earlier that there was a problem with the Android Market on our phone – and it's a big one.

We basically can't download any applications from the portal, which is bizarre to say the least. We signed into our Google account, loaded up the portal, selected a number of different applications, but while they would all state they were 'Starting Download' none of them actually did.

We can only hope this is a simple problem with our handset and not a more widespread mistake from Motorola – we'd advise users to check their new Dext as soon as it comes out the box in case it needs a fix.

EARLY UPDATE: We've spoken at length with Motorola, and a spokesperson has told us that Android Market will be available to all Motorola Dext users in the UK from 6 October (the first launch date), so we'll keep our fingers crossed that this will be case and no users will have to suffer a broken Market.

That said there are some cool applications on board already, which are enough to be getting on with in case you need to wait.

iMeem Mobile and Shazam

The former of these two is very similar in style to last.fm, allowing you to enter an artist and hear a song or two from them. Users can skip a track a certain number of times per hour, and favourite the ones they like for future reference.

The latter application is the same as the 2-5-8-0 mobile service, except this time it's free and visual. It's still dumbfounding the way it can work out the tracks you're listening to, and now it offers links to viewing them on YouTube (brilliant) and to purchase them off Amazon MP3 (cheap).

It's similar to Samsung's Music Finder on its phone range – except the tracks it suggests cost around three or four times more than the Amazon equivalents.

Orange / Google Maps

Pre-loaded with maps on board, we like Orange Maps, in the same way we prefer Nokia Maps when we can't get a signal for Google's version. Both are included on the Motorola Dext (Orange and Google, not Nokia obviously) and while we like Orange's effort with saveable points and specific searches, we just prefer the familiarity of Google's.

Both applications pick up GPS blindingly well, even indoors, and respond to the touchscreen well too. We advise you take a look at both options and decide which is best for you – especially as Orange's includes turn by turn navigation.

Quickoffice

It's pretty easy to tell what this one does – but the great thing is you can check out documents on the move, be it PowerPoint, Word or Excel. It's basic but functional, and we're glad to see it breaking out of its Symbian base to be included on an Android phone with the Dext.