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Motorola Milestone XT720 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £335
inc VAT

Great battery life and a large touchscreen don’t often come in the same package, but the phone falls short elsewhere

Specifications

Android 2.1, 3.7in 480×854 display

http://www.handtec.co.uk

The latest version of the Motorola Milestone, the XT720, is radically different from the original. It lacks the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but improves the camera’s sensor from 5- to 8-megapixels and adds a Xenon flash. Without the keyboard, it’s much thinner, but it still retains the chunky design and weighs the same. It also has the same 550MHz processor and runs Android 2.1, which supports multiple accounts, Microsoft Exchange and HTML5.

One of the main selling points of the XT720 is its 720p video capture capability (hence the name), but sadly it’s very disappointing. For a start, you don’t get an 8GB microSD card in the box as with the original Milestone, so if you want to shoot video for any length of time you’ll need to invest in at least a 4GB card. Captured video is also poor, suffering from banding and noise, especially indoors, and the camera doesn’t handle movement very well.

Motorola Milestone XT720 back

However the camera performs remarkably well for a phone camera and, in good light, it produces pleasing images. Photos are a little over-exposed, though, and not as sharp as they could be due to aggressive noise reduction. Chromatic aberrations are also a problem on high-contrast edges. In poorer lighting conditions, the camera struggles – there’s a lot of colour shifting and chroma noise. The flash is adequate for snapshots while you’re out and about, but it’s not powerful enough to light distant subjects.

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Details

Price £335
Rating ****

Hardware

Main display size 3.7in
Native resolution 480×854
Second Display No
CCD effective megapixels 8-megapixel
Flash Xenon
Video recording format 3GP
Connectivity Bluetooh, WiFi, USB
GPS yes
Internal memory 256MB
Memory card support microSDHC
Memory card included 8192MB
Operating frequencies GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 3G 1700/2100
Wireless data GPRS, WCDMA, HSDPA
Size 116x61x11mm
Weight 160g

Features

Operating system Android 2.1
Microsoft Office compatibility Word/Excel/PowerPoint/PDF viewers
Email client POP3/IMAP/Exchange
Audio format support MP3, AAC, AAC+, eACC+, AMR NB, AMR WB, WAV, MPEG-4, WMA v9, MIDI
Video playback formats H.264, MPEG4, WMV v9
FM Radio yes
Web Browser Webkit
Accessories headset, data cable, charger
Talk time 4.5 hours
Standby time 13.3 days
Tested battery life (MP3 playback) 44h 17m

Buying Information

SIM-free price £335
Price on contract £25-per-month, 18-month contract
SIM-free supplier www.handtec.co.uk
Contract/prepay supplier www.buymobilephones.net
Details www.motorola.com

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