It’s been a while since Optus paved the way for Android in Australian with the launch of the G1. Over a year, in fact. But now they’re jumping into bed with Motorola to bring out a couple of new Android handsets, the DEXT and the BACKFLIP, both of which run Motorola’s custom Android software MOTOBLUR. Anybody else hate the way those words are all capitalised?
The phones are launching exclusively on Optus on April 9. The DEXT will be available for $0 up front on a $49 plan over 24 months, which includes 500MB of data, while the BACKFLIP is $0 on the $59 plan over 24 months, which has 1GB of included data.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the two phones though is that they’re both only running Android 1.5. Considering Telstra’s got the 2.1-powered Desire launching at the same time, and the number of cool applications on the Marketplace which require version 1.6 at least (Google Goggles, anyone?) this is a real shame. It will be interesting to see how the handset performs.
[Optus]