Motorola Milestone review

Motorola’s Milestone (also known as the Droid in the US) is the latest Android-based pretender to the iPhone crown, and judging by the reports of record sales figures, many people seem to think that it’s already won the war. With a better specification than the iPhone – a camera with a 5-megapixel sensor and dual-LED flash, a 3.7in 480×854-pixel screen and multi-tasking – there are many reasons to consider the Milestone over Apple’s smartphone.

We’re already big fans of Android’s open source philosophy, and the Android Marketplace is growing at a remarkable pace, with over 20,000 apps now available. That figure may be dwarfed by the Apple App Store’s 100,000 and counting, but with fewer restrictions placed on Android developers, there’s more freedom to write applications that people want, not just those that Apple feels appropriate. On the flip side, there’s less consistency in the quality of Android apps.

The Milestone marks the debut of Android 2.0, also known as Eclair. Version 2.0 brings many improvements over the previous version, 1.6, but these are mostly cosmetic improvements to the user interface and small tweaks under the hood. The browser now supports HTML 5, with support for the new video tag, but support for Adobe Flash 10.1 hasn’t yet made it into the Milestone, so you can’t access Flash games or videos.

Another improvement is the ability to add multiple accounts, including support for Exchange accounts which is handy if your office uses Exchange for work email and calendaring. A new Universal Inbox brings together all your emails from multiple accounts, although you’ll have to enter your Google Mail account into the normal email app rather than the dedicated Gmail app for this to work.

The Contacts app also shows contacts from each account you’ve added, but you can choose which ones to display. Sadly calendaring isn’t similarly integrated, and there are separate calendar apps for Google and Exchange accounts. Android 2.0 is meant to let developers import data from more sources, but it’s early days yet. For example, Facebook’s latest app lets you add a Facebook account, but unfortunately it doesn’t import your friends into the Contacts app or show Facebook emails in your Inbox.

While Motorola’s implementation of Android 2.0 is mainly standard we can’t work out why it hasn’t included its own Motoblur software. Initially we decided this was because many of the features of Motoblur would be duplicated by Android 2.0’s new features, but Motorola has done little to customise Eclair or make using the Milestone as seamless an experience as Motoblur on the Dext.

In fact, Motorola has hardly changed the basic Android experience at all. The home screen, which only offers three “panes”, looks like a vanilla Android installation, and there’s little to distinguish it from any other (forthcoming) Android 2.0 phone. The only exception is a 60-day trial of Motorola’s Motonav navigation software, which makes up for the fact that Google’s own Maps Navigation software doesn’t work outside the US yet.

MotoNav isn’t the most sophisticated satnav software, and while it has 3D landmarks and buildings, these make the map load slowly. Maps and points of interest for the UK and Europe are included. The screen is just large enough to make it readable, although you’ll need to buy the optional car mount kit for £26 to use it comfortably in the car. Google Maps Navigation should be released outside the US sometime in the next few months however, so there’s little need to upgrade from the 60-day trial.

Whether you prefer Android or the iPhone’s operating system has a lot to do with how much you’ve already invested in Apple or Google services, and your feelings regarding open source and proprietary software. There’s no doubt Apple’s strict vetting process and focused design philosophy produces a slicker, more consistent user experience, but it comes at a cost.

Like Android and iPhone OS, there are fundamental differences in hardware design: where the iPhone is sleek and minimalist, the Milestone is chunky and industrial. It’s over 1mm thicker and weighs an extra 30g. The obvious difference between the phones is the Milestone’s slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which has four rows of keys and a large navigation pad. We wondered about the gold patch at the centre of this pad and assumed at first glance it was some sort of touch-sensitive cursor control, but in fact it’s purely cosmetic.

The keyboard has flat, square keys that are hard to distinguish from each other by touch. You might get the hang of it after extended use and learn to hit the centre of each key with your fingertips, but we found fingernails to be an easier alternative. The slide mechanism is a bit clunky however, and it overrides the phone’s built-in accelerometer in most apps, so you can only get landscape mode by sliding out the keyboard (video apps such as YouTube override this).

We were disappointed to find that the buttons below the screen were touch-sensitive rather than mechanical, and they don’t register a touch if the screen is in sleep mode, so you’re forced to press the tiny Power button situated at the top right of the case, or slide open the keyboard. While we applaud the inclusion of a dedicated button for locking the screen, unlocking it shouldn’t be so fiddly.

As well as the Power/screen lock button, there’s a volume rocker and a dedicated camera button. You’ll also find a micro-USB port for charging and data transfer, and a standard 3.5mm headphone socket. There’s a slot for a microSDHC memory card as well, but it’s under the easily-removed battery cover next to the SIM card slot. Motorola generously includes an 8GB card with the phone.

It’s worth remembering that not only is the Milestone up against the iPhone, but also other Android phones. HTC’s Hero is probably its closest competitor; like the iPhone it lacks a keyboard, but its design is much more attractive and HTC’s Sense UI and social aggregation features make it much easier to use. We also missed the Hero’s smooth oleophobic screen coating. The Milestone is no faster than the Hero either, although it remains to be seen whether Motorola brings out firmware updates to optimise Android further.

Overall, the Milestone only lives up to its name on paper, but in use it’s clunky and there’s no friendly customisation of the Android experience. The battery lasted a stunning 39 hours and three minutes in our MP3 playback test, which is definitely a milestone for Android devices. That said, even considering the Milestone’s keyboard, we’d be more inclined to opt for HTC’s Hero.