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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
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Motorola’s designs always split opinion. The XT720 has a blocky design, but its weight makes it feel well-built, as does the rubberised back; the latter also improves grip. The capacitive touchscreen is responsive, but it lacks an oleophobic coating and is quickly smeared with oily finger-swipes.

Motorola Milestone XT720 side

Even with multiple apps open, the phone feels quick despite its relatively slow processor. Meanwhile, the battery lasted for almost two days in our light usage test, which is remarkable for an Android phone.

Motorola’s customisations are subtle. As well as Android’s standard apps, you get a few extra utilities such as a task manager and file manager, a trial version of the Motonav navigation software and an app that lets you define custom gestures. An interesting Phone Portal app lets you connect to your PC via USB or WiFi to manage the phone’s contents from your PC, and lastly there’s a copy of QuickOffice for viewing office files.

Charging is done via a microUSB slot that also handles data transfer, and there’s a Mobile HDMI Type D slot for outputting video and audio. A standard 3.5mm headphone socket is another welcome addition, and there’s a volume rocker on the right side. As well as a camera shutter button, there’s a smaller button that lets you switch between still camera, video camera, and video playback, with three backlit icons in the bulge on the side of the phone indicating which mode you’re in.

Motorola Milestone XT720

While the XT720’s battery life is exemplary, its headline feature – 720p video – is badly implemented, and its design may leave you cold. It’s available on contract for as little as £25 per month, and we’d recommend choosing the Unlimited Internet bundle rather than Unlimited Texts.

If you don’t mind its Quasimodo looks (complete with “hump”), and are happy investing in a memory card, the XT720 is a perfectly functional, great value Android phone with good battery life. However as a 720p video camera it fails miserably, and so just misses out on an award.

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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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