A-GPS is supported by the ever-reliable Google Maps, but the Milestone also comes with a 60-day free trial of Motonav, Motorola's new satnav app, already on board. It's decent enough, with clear displays and efficiently articulated voiceovers, but it's way behind the likes of TomTom and Wayfinder in terms of functionality, varied map views and the additional info offered by the big boys in the satnav pool.
Media friendly, but no Motoblur social networking
Watching video on the large, beautifully detailed screen was a joy, and it can handle MPEG-4, H.263 and H.264 files. The music player is nicely laid out and features a quick search function that allows you to look for associated music on the web.
It can play MP3, AAC, eAAC+, OGG and WAV files too and comes with an 8GB micro SD card, though it can handle up to 32GB versions. It's under the back cover, and you'll need to remove the battery to get to it, which seems like a throwback to a long-gone, pre-hot swap era.
Verdict
The Milestone marks another step forward in Motorola's renaissance. It's a joy to use, thanks to its sensitive screen and decent, if not the very best, Qwerty keyboard. The tweaks to the Android OS are welcome, if not exactly ground-breaking and though the camera could have been a bit better, and we're bewildered by the decision to omit Motoblur, it's a top quality smartphone with satnav. ®
More Android Smartphone Reviews...
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Motorola Dext |
HTC Hero |
T-Mobile Pulse |
Motorola Milestone
COMMENTS
Android 2.0 is mostly a badly-hashed rework of Sense UI
I tried out one of the community builds on the Hero and couldn't see any real benefits to Android 2.0 over 1.5 with sense UI, apart from working with a couple of Google's more bleeding edge apps. I think HTC's main problem is working out how to either yank Android 2.0's wretched facebook integration and stop it clashing with their own vastly superior solution. There may be some improvements in the messaging app as well, but since it's still not going to be a patch on Handcent I didn't even look at it.
I mean it'll be nice to get it, but I'm not seeing any reason to fret about it not arriving for a month or two. The moto phones are a pretty good price/spec though - if they manage to produce something keyboard-free and less ugly in about a year I may well get one
Pretty damn good
i've been playing with mine for almost a week now, and it is awfully good. basically everything you would expect to be good is, so i'll only add the negatives i can think of;
- lack of sat nav. i know it's got moto nav, but it's only a trial so that doesn't count. i hope the google one gets released soon.
- apostrophe on the keyboard. it's an alt key instead of a default one. petty, i know, but i use apostrophes a lot. it does auto add them to some words, but not to others where it's usages dependant... like its vs it's.
- the bundled power cable is reeeeally short. it barely reaches from my floor to my bedside table.
err... that's all i can think of. it's just a really good phone. 85% seems a tad low to me.
p.s.- you can sync your facebook contacts with an app.
Droid?
So this is basically a GSM version of the US-market CDMA Droid? How come the review (AFAICS) doesn't even mention this? The Droid is one of the best-known new models of smartphone in the world... That merits a line, doesn't it?
Yes, but...
... look at it, it's dreadfully ugly. I mean, what were they thinking about with the gold nav pad, for god's sake?
Ultimately, as much as none of us like to admit it, if it doesn't look good then it won't sell.
It will soon be forgotten.
