Motorola MILESTONE Review

Introduction:

You´ve probably noticed that Motorola has not been doing great in financial terms lately, registered record-breaking losses and has been slowly, but steadily, losing ground on the cell phone market and the major winners that cashed in on the weakness of the former leader turned out to be Samsung and LG. The company decided to cast its lot in with Android, the young operating system that is picking up speed as we speak and gaining popularity incredibly rapidly.

By the time of the current review, Motorola has released two handsets utilizing the open source platform developed by Google and they are known under different names depending on the particular region - the first is the Motorola DEXT called the CLIQ in the US. Today we are reviewing the second and more famous handset of the duo, the Motorola MILESTONE. Its CDMA version, the DROID, has already rolled out in the US through Verizon and caused an incredible stir, an outburst of zealous interest that is best described as furore.

The appearance of the Motorola MILESTONE in Europe was less ecstatic and relatively calmer, which is rather odd really, because both devices utilize identical hardware, not to mention they are the first to run Android 2.0. Still, there are certain software differences between them that albeit minor and insignificant at first sight, might have a huge impact on the overall feel and kick you get out of using the phone. We will tell you more about them later on, now let´s first take a look at what´s in the box and pay thorough attention to the phone design.

What´s in the box:
•    The Motorola MILESTONE
•    User guide
•    USB cable
•    8GB microSD card
•    Charger

Design:

This is one of the thinnest landscape-sliding QWERTY devices available on the market,something that we haven't seen too much of from Motorola in the past. It's overall footprint is similar to the iPhone 3GS, except for the fact that its slightly thicker (13.7mm) because of the inclusion of the physical QWERTY. When comparing it to something like the HTC Touch Pro2, it doesn't look as massive – making it seem a lot sleeker and more streamlined. Frankly, the Motorola MILESTONE is built like a tank,as its outer shell radiates a feeling of solid construction that should withstand most of the wear and tear it'll be put through. In addition, its metallic construction adds some weight to the MILESTONE, but of course it’s something expected with such high-quality materials. We definitely enjoy the feeling of the soft matte coating on the rear, how it hugs onto the metallic materials, and that it compliments it well when placed in the hand. Even though its slim looks may fool your eyes in guessing its weight (169 grams), it won't be as noticeable when you close it up and throw it in your pocket. Motorola meticulously went through every portion of this handset to make sure they came out with something that would separate its design from the existing crop.



You can compare the Motorola MILESTONE with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Hands down, the Motorola MILESTONE has by far the best screen available on any Android handset. Following suit with the solid exterior design, the screen is treated to the same makeover which feels less plasticy and more durable like glass. You don't get that feeling of the screen being pushed in as you touch it,  which is normal for a capacitive screen Instead the screen is very resilient to even the hardest of presses. This is the first Android phone to sport a 3.7” TFT touch screen at 480 x 854 with support for up to 16 million colors. It would be nice if Motorola extended the front portion of the phone all the way to the bottom edge to allow more room for even a larger screen. In doing so we could easily foresee the possibility of tacking on a 4” screen. Powering it on for the first time, you can really see what kind of quality it outputs – text is easily legible while colors pop out with excellent tones. Although the screen will attract fingerprints easily, we did not have a hard time viewing it in various lighting conditions. The light sensor at the top will automatically adjust the brightness to the appropriate level, so you won't have to worry about manually doing it, but it does allow for manual adjustment.




Below the screen are four capacitive touch-sensitive buttons that perform various Android functions: back, menu, home, and search. They're close to the bottom portion of the screen and sometimes are accidentally pressed when using the on-screen portrait QWERTY. Honestly, we would've preferred going with real buttons here, just due to the fact that they will sometimes be accidentally pressed when touching the bottom of the screen – causing some frustrations. On the left side of the phone you will find the microUSB port for connecting to a computer or for charging. The camera button to launch the photo taking application and the adequate sized volume rocker are both located on the right edge. Out of all the parts on the phone, the volume rocker felt to us as the most vulnerable because it did not have that solid feel like the rest of the device. Music lovers will be pleased to see a standard 3.5mm headset jack located on the top side with the power/lock button close next to it.



Sliding the screen will uncover the four row QWERTY keyboard. Buttons are flush with the surface continuing the streamlined look. We’re not sure why Motorola didn't decide to go with a spring-loaded sliding mechanism here, as you really have to push the screen all the way until it locks into place, It may seem monotonous, but luckily it feels secured in both the closed and opened positions. Again we are realizing that another row could've been squeezed in if the screen were able to move open a little more – possibly adding a row for just numbers. Pressing the QWERTY keys felt stiff at first, then over time it felt a bit more responsive and tactile. We’re also not sure why Motorola left two blank spaces on the keypad next to the “Alt” keys. The separate d-pad on the right side was nice and was easy to use for navigation if you don’t want to use the touch-screen. Fortunately the white backlight was adequate enough to see in almost any lighting condition.



Flippingit over to its back, you'll see the 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash towards the upper portion while the external speaker grid is lined up towards the bottom. When removing the metal back cover, the battery and microSD card slot will be exposed. We would've preferred that the microSD slot be located elsewhere because you physically have to remove the battery before being able to get access to the slot.The Motorola MILESTONE may not win the award for the best looking phone, but it certainly will impress people with its combination of a physical QWERTY and slim looks.

Interface:

The Motorola MILESTONE introduces us to many new things that we haven't seen on previous Android devices. It's also the first to have the latest build of Android – version 2.0 (aka Eclair). You won't find a nifty looking interface like MOTOBLUR that's found running on the Motorola CLIQ, or SenseUI that is used by HTC. Instead, we are left with stock Android, which can be personalized in a number of ways. You can add a variety of items like widgets, shortcuts, folders, and wallpapers to one of the three home screens –  all of these can easily be executed and moved around for a unique look. The Motorola MILESTONE utilizes ARM Cortex-A8h processor running at 550MHz that is slightly faster than the chips most of today´s Android handsets are equipped with, but slower compared to the cores integrated into the latest generation of products with the same OS like the Acer Liquid A1 and Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700. There is noticeable lagging on switching between the pages of the home screen, but the problem is virtually non-existent with all other actions, meaning you might experience it occasionally depending on the number of simultaneously running applications.



One thing we found useful quite often was the Google Search function to accomplish a mix of operations. You can execute the search by holding down the dedicated touch sensitive button – which will then prompt you to speak. Rather than typing up web site address in the browser, you can simply say something like “phonearena” and it'll display all the sites pertaining to it. We were impressed by how well it recognizes speech and translates it into text with little problems. The same function can be used to locate addresses in Google Maps.


Mostly everything else remains intact with the Android we've seen in the past. You can pull down the notification screen if something pops up that requires your attention. If you don't have a specific shortcut icon on your home screen, you can always access all of the apps through the main menu, and also place any of them on the 3 home screens.




Phonebook:

One of the cool aspects of Android 2.0 is that you can actually import contacts from several accounts in much the same way you can do it via the function Synergy that Palm has recently introduced with webOS-powered devices. Unfortunately, the Motorola MILESTONE doesn’t offer integration of social networks like Facebook and similar. The option is, however, available with the DROID in the US, so we do hope to see it with the GSM version of the device soon. As for the synchronization to Google itself, the function is seamlessly integrated, works almost flawlessly and allows you to add ample information about your contacts like relevant emails, websites and birthdates. Moreover, you can define your favourite contacts and place shortcuts to them on the home screen. As we have already mentioned, you seek for information via Google Search that is fully functional no matter if you decide to type in or rely on voice-based search.



Organizer:

Needless to say that keeping yourself organized on a day by day basis is an essential function in being one step ahead of the curve. The calendar on the phone will pull up all your appointments from Google Calendar and display it the same way you see it online. Multiple calendars will be displayed via a color coding system to allow easy distinction between everything – you can view it in either a daily, weekly, or monthly view.


Other than the main analog clock you can choose to set as a widget on the home screen, the other one you'll see is the one used for the alarm.  You can set as many alarms as your heart desires and choose from five different clocks.


With the stock Android UI intact, you'll find a basic calculator to perform some basic calculations. Although this is the latest and most up-to-date incarnation of Android, we're still wondering why there hasn't been a focus around the organizer functions of the phones. Still missing in-box are items that have become common to any smartphone – world clock, notes, voice recorder, or tasks, but most of these (and more) can be downloaded from the Android Market.

Messaging:

Sure the Motorola MILESTONE has a physical QWERTY keyboard you can use to dish out a quick text message, but the on-screen ones seemed just as capable of accomplishing the same feats.  We're quite astounded with how responsive it has become with little or no mistakes made during the typing processand the predictive text will aid in figuring out what you're trying to type. There are several suggestions that the phone will generate to best guess what you're saying – even better it will automatically enter the correct word after you press the space bar. In the past, we've sometimes seen the on-screen QWERTY lag and cause you to slow down – you won't even miss a beat with this one luckily. One minor problem that we noticed when speed typing is the tendency to accidentally activate one of the four touch-sensitive buttons. We've experienced hitting the home screen button a few times, which resulted in some minor frustrations. Overall, we're thoroughly impressed with the usability of both the portrait and landscape keyboards and the phone's ability to predict text. If neither of the on-screen keyboards float your boat, you can always rely on using the hardware QWERTY which provides a more accurate input method.


The messaging application is broken down to each contact and is displayed in a threaded view. You can even attach a variety of media files to make it an MMS. The interface is simple to use with just about anyone picking up on it without too much complications.



GMail is obviously the default email provider on the Motorola MILESTONE, but fortunately you can add POP, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange accounts.  Eclair now places all your messages to one single inbox and color codes them so you know exactly which one is from which account. When viewing the inbox, the color is displayed on the outer left side of the message – we would've preferred having the entire message highlighted in the particular color to make it a bit easier to differentiate. If you can't stand having to see all your messages displayed in a single inbox, you can simply select a specific mail account by pressing the menu key.



Setting up most email accounts  a simple process requiring your email address and password. From there, it will look up the specific settings for each provider and automatically start retrieving your messages. If it can’t automatically configure, it will ask you for the detailed settings, such as POP3/SMTP/IMAP servers and Port numbers.  One odd thing that did frustrate us was the phone's inability to setup Yahoo! – it just kept on giving us a message that the email address and password were incorrect. You'll have to manually set up the account which is the process users will have to deal with when setting propreitary accounts.



The only instant messaging client to be found installed is Google Talk. With the Android Market in full swing, we were able to download a variety of clients that were free, such as AIM,so we weren't too upset with only Google Talk being offered initially.



Connectivity:

The Motorola MILESTONE is a quad band GSM with dual band 3G (900/2100MHz) that allows for fast, wireless internet connectivity on networks across Europe and Asia. Naturally, you can use the Wi-Fi anytime if there is a hotspot nearby.

One of the differences between the Motorola MILESTONE and the DROID is that the browser of the GSM version comes with multitouch support and you don’t need to install Dolphin to enable as it is on the Motorola DROID. As a whole, the Motorola MILESTONE loads pages really fast and offers enjoyable web surfing. You can zoom via double taps, but the implementation of the function is less adequate than what you get with the iPhone´s Safari. Pinching and spanning feels less smooth than with the Apple-made device, but is totally usable and definitely better than what you get with the HTC Hero. Motorola has promised support for Flash 10 in the first half of 2010, but until then you will have to put up with the fact you simply cannot relish the full beauty of the Internet. The HTC Hero has the advantage of being able to visualize Flash elements, but scrolling is more sluggish on the overall. All told, the Motorola MILESTONE is equipped with one of the best web browsers on Android handsets today.

Camera:

We've had a string of some barely passable quality in the photo department on previous Android handsets. We've already seen what the camera on the HTC Hero produced, and we can confidently say that its much better on the Motorola MILESTONE. Pressing down all the way on the dedicated camera button will launch the application – it took roughly 3 seconds to fully load. From there, we were greeted to a new interface that kicks in a few new enhancements to make the experience more suitable to the photo enthusiast. Taking a photo can be done by pressing down slightly on the shutter key to allow the camera to auto-focus at first, and then all the way down to take the shot. Additionally, the same can be accomplished by pressing the on-screen shutter button. It took roughly 2 seconds for the phone to fully capture the shot and display it briefly on screen. Thanks to Android 2.0, we're given some additional features to make this camera stand out from the rest. Now you'll have a digital zoom, different shooting modes, color effects, and the option to select a focus mode (auto, infinite, and macro) all of which is accessed by moving over the left bar found on the interface.



Photo quality came out much better than expected – various tones of colors were captured nearly perfect while detail in the images was also very good. When using the automatic setting, outdoor images were meticulously well represented in lighting, color, and detail. The MILESTONE packs along a dual-LED flash so images taken in low light are accurately captured. To our surprise, the flash did a decent job as long as the image being taken wasn't further than a few feet away from you. Anything further than 2 meters caused the flash to have little effect. In darker conditions, we noticed some noise in the shots – making it look somewhat fuzzy in appearence. You'd better have a steady hand because the slightest movements caused images to produce a hazy look over them in the dark. Much to our delight, the 5-megapixel camera managed to meet our expectations and proves to be decent in preserving memories while on the go, but at the same time still won’t replace a traditional digital camera




Not only does the camera take some decent looking photos, but it did an exceptional job in recording videos as well. There are only two options for selecting video quality on the MILESTONE – low quality for MMS use and high quality for everything else. In choosing the latter setting, we were throughly impressed with “DVD quality” 720x480 video capture at 24 frames per second. There wasn’t any indication of choppiness throughout the recording – they were highly detailed and stood up well when moving through different lighting conditions. Audio was also captured flawlessly along with the video and sounded fine when played back on the phone or on a computer. After recording a video, you'll have the option to share it directly via MMS, e-mail, or YouTube. When transferred to a computer, the video is in 3GP format with H.264 encoding.

Motorola MILESTONE sample video at 720x480 pixels resolution

Multimedia:

There's very little to mention about the MILESTONE's multimedia aspect because it remains relatively unchanged. The music player is the same we've seen running on bare bones Android and would've like to see a face lift to the interface. It's not as polished as other music players found on devices like the Imagio, iPhone, or Pre, but will suffice for now. It'll display the album cover, artist, track name, and album name while the fairly sized playback buttons looked discernible. The Motorola MILESTONE definitely has a powerful external speaker – too powerful for its own good. Setting it to the 75 percent level proved to be loud enough to make it heard while anything more produced some serious crackling. If you prefer to be more private, the 3.5mm headset port and stereo Bluetooth will be available for you – so just connect your headphones and you're set. The boxed headset is good but again when you set the volume to the max you’ll get crackling sounds.



Apart from the sluggish navigation between the three home screens, the Motorola MILESTONE is a very good in running applications with little slowdown – the case is true with its video playback. It's the same old interface we've seen, but thanks to the brilliant display, videos are truly breath taking to view on the MILESTONE. Unfortunately, the Motorola MILESTONE does not support DivX and Xvid files, but at least H.264 videos with resolution of 720x306 pixels played without any issues. There's no question that its clarity is superior to other before it – making it a great device to watch videos. The sound also was more than enough to hear every little thing even when set to the middle volume setting.



One thing for sure that we liked seeing packed with the Motorola MILESTONE was the inclusion of a 8GB microSDHC card. For right now, we're confident that it will be more than sufficient for most of your media needs, but will support future cards up to 32GB in capacity.

Sotware:

One of the differences between the Motorola MILESTONE and DROID is that the GSM version lacks Google Maps Navigation. This is to be expected, since free Google navigation is still (officially) unavailable to European consumers. To make up for it, the manufacturer provides MOTONAV and the application comes with a 60 day free trial. The program is really spectacular and offers 3D overviews adorned with volumetric buildings and pictures representing nearby sightseeing spots. Moreover, the application features a huge database of interesting objects (restaurants, parking lots, hotels) that you can get ample information on, plus you can see relevant telephone numbers to make bookings. It´s a cool program indeed, but this doesn’t change the fact that, like it or lump it, you would have to fork out some cash to buy it when the trial has ended – and this is not the case with Google Maps Navigation that is completely free.



Anyone planning to use the device for navigation will be happy to find out that you can buy a car stand that can be attached to a window or the car shades. This actually turns the Motorola MILESTONE into a fully functional navigation system.

So, where can you find alternative programs for navigation? At Android Market, of course! Actually, it´s always a good idea to check what´s available at the online application store in case you need additional software for the Motorola MILESTONE. The marketplace is growing rapidly and features more than 16,000 titles at the time of the current review, in other words, patience pays off and you will certainly come across tons of useful software.

Performance:

The Motorola MILESTONE comes with impressive functionality, but it´s about time we checked on its performance during calls. Fortunately, the in-call quality is really high – our callers sounded loud and clear, albeit a tad sharp. They didn’t have any complains either and claimed the in-call quality was nearly perfect. The handset utilizes the manufacturer´s proprietary noise cancellation technology called Crystal Talk. Voices get slightly monotonous when it´s activated, but remain perfectly intelligible, which is great really. The loudspeaker is useable as well, but just like if you use it to listen to music, there is noticeable crackling with the volume going at full blast.

Now it´s about time we told you about a really important aspect of any smartphone, the battery life. The one the Motorola MILESTONE is equipped with has 1400mAh capacity. As a whole it performs properly and provides about a day of continuous use if you don´t abuse the device, which is acceptable for a smartphone with huge display. If you talk a lot, you better prepare to charge the phone at your earliest convenience. According to the manufacturer, the battery of the Motorola MILESTONE should be able to provide 6.5hrs of continuous talk time and keep the device operational for 350hrs in standby.

Conclusion:

Hands down, the Motorola MILESTONE is one of the best smartphones on the market today. Even if a tad heftier than what we would have liked, the build quality is great and the device sports awesome functionality, including capable browser and probably the best camera found on Android phones today. On the other hand, the MILESTONE is not exactly exemplary in terms of advanced software, due to the fact it lacks certain extra features that make the CDMA version more attractive (Facebook integration, Google Maps Navigation etc.)

People who love customizing their handsets themselves and like solid devices will definitely find the Motorola MILESTONE quite appealing. But we believe that seekers of sophisticated and elaborately developed interface and proper integration of social networks would be better off opting for the HTC Hero. Finally, we do have high expectations of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 that is to roll out soon and has the potential to become more than a match for any technologically advanced Android handset.

All told, the Motorola MILESTONE is an excellent device that is one of the first steps in the comeback of the manufacturer, a true milestone device for a troubled, former majesty that has lived without glory long enough. The cell phone got sold out pretty quickly after its official release in the UK, which proves the great interest that customers seem to take in the device. Still, we doubt the Motorola MILESTONE will win the almost religious popularity that its CDMA version for Verizon, the DROID, has gained in the US.

Motorola MILESTONE Video Review: