Despite selling out in 3 hours, I was lucky enough to receive a new Android 2.0-powered Motorola Milestone (aka the Motorola Droid) on the day of its release here in the UK. This replaces my T-Mobile (HTC) G1 which I’ve had since the beginning of the year. Here are some first impressions of the Milestone, with an emphasis on how it’s different from the G1 and from the Verizon Droid as seen in the USA.
I ordered an unlocked Motorola Milestone from Expansys on Thursday and they delivered it the very next day. Unboxing, my first impression was how solid the phone seemed: it was like holding one giant slab of silicon chip. After wiping the drool off the screen I plugged in the charger and an hour or so later was good to go. It took a few attempts to log in to my Google account, but after a reset and a walk to an area with a strong 3G signal it connected and I was good to go.
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What’s Good about the Milestone
- The screen. The screen is so good I nearly cried. It’s bright, pin-sharp, and WIDE: with a resolution of 480 by 854 pixels, it’s bigger than the G1, the iPhone, any other phone you can think of. Watching a YouTube clip (the Avatar trailer) via WiFi was spectacular, the Milestone’s widescreen screen makes this particularly impressive.
- The speed. After the G1, the speed of the Milestone is incredible. This baby’s fast. Initially I suspected it had somehow cached the entire internet in its Droidy brain somewhere it was so fast. Jumping between apps has no noticeable lag, scrolling through lists or webpages no longer stutters and sticks like on the G1, and it boots faster too. Whether it remains this speedy once I’ve loaded it up with apps and widgets remains to be seen but for now: OMG look at her go!
- The battery. The battery life on the Milestone is unbelievable (but bear in mind that I’m used to a G1). It charges quickly and with light use won’t need another charge until the next day. I’d gotten so used to keeping my G1 on permanent charge that the Milestone’s 1400mHa battery is like a revelation.
- Android 2.0. The UK Milestone comes with Android 2.0 pre-installed, making it the first (and currently only) device in the UK to run Eclair. I had Android 1.6 on my G1 so it’s no great quantum leap, but there are several instantly noticeable differences. All the icons have been tweaked: some look better, some don’t, but it’s obvious from the moment you switch the device on that it’s new and shiny. The bookmarks section of the web browser now has thumbnail icons, and text message threads now also have little thumbnail pics from your contacts. You can read Gizmodo’s review of Android 2.0 for all the juicy details.
- Multitouch. Finally, pinch-and-zoom (possibly trademark Apple Empire USA) makes it to Android out-of-the-box. It works brilliantly in the browser and picture viewer, although strangely not at all on Google Maps and now on Google Maps too. Many US tech sites when comparing the Droid to the iPhone say that the the Droid’s lack of multitouch is the only reason it’s not a “better” device than the iPhone, but personally I just think that’s one (minor) feature of many
- The camera. With its 5 Megapixel camera, dual LED flash, image stabilization and 4X digital zoom the Milestone’s camera is way way better than the G1′s. I’ve yet to test it out fully, but it may finally be time the leave my Sony Cybershot at home now. The Milestone’s camera is a bit laggy between photos but Android 2.0.1 apparently fixes that.
- Sound quality. Voice calls sound much clearer compared with the G1, and music via Spotify sounds brighter and deeper.
- USB charging and standard headphone socket. Coming from the HTC phone, it’s good to finally have a phone that I can just plug my Bose headphones into directly. This frees up the standard micro USB socket for charging. Note though that this is micro USB i.e. it’s smaller than mini USB (PSP, older phones).
- It’s cooler than the iPhone :p
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The new Bookmark tab in Android 2.0′s browser
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Milestone Vs. Droid
Before I get to what’s not so good, here’s a quick overview of the differences between the Droid (USA) and the Milestone (UK):
What you get on the Droid but not on the Milestone:
- Amazon MP3 Store
- Google Maps Navigation
- Facebook (install on the Milestone from the Market, but not does note have contact sync)
- 16 GB microSD card (the Milestone comes with an 8 GB card)
- Car mount mode
What you get on the Milestone but not on the Droid:
- Multitouch pinch and zoom
- A pair of earbuds
Hacked but then annoyingly blocked, the turn-based navigation is often cited as the Droid’s “killer feature” so it’s a real shame Google couldn’t sort this out for the European market at launch. And for some reason the hyped Android 2.0 Facebook app is missing from the pre-installed apps and the Market. We get half the storage space on microSD but that doesn’t really bother me as I already have a 16GB card from my G1.
So, that was all the goodness. Now here’s some of the not-so-good..
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What’s Not so Good about the Milestone
- The keyboard is good but not quite as good as the G1′s. There’s no physical number row which I miss and all the keys are shifted to the left thanks to the no-one-will-ever-use-it D-pad. The slider does open with a satisfying feel and a nice click though (unlike the slightly sideways opening technique of the G1), and with the Milestone you don’t think you’re going to break the phone every time you open the keyboard.
- The weight. At 165g it’s a tad heavier than my G1 (158g) and heavier than an iPhone (135g). It’s thinner than the G1 however so feels snugger in my pocket.
- The name and the marketing. Compared with the macho Hollywood blockbuster scf-fi style campaigns in the US, the Milestone’s marketing is limp and reserved here in the UK. Compare US: “Fast as a racehourse strapped to a scud missile!” to the UK: “Milestone is the phone without compromise.”
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Bugz
- The browser doesn’t resize to fit. This is a MAJOR bug and makes browsing web pages with the standard web browser very frustrating. Whenever a new page loads you can double-tap to zoom in but the page refuses to wrap properly. You need to zig-zag right-left, left-right, right-left to read the text. I downloaded an alternative browser (Dolphin) and that seems to wrap fine so at least there’s a workaround.
- Don’t update Voice Search yet as it crashes every time you try to use it. Fortunately you can roll back the update to the pre-installed version of Voice Search which works fine.
- The included Motonav app requires the shipped 8GB MicroSD card before it will start up. If you change your card, go to Settings >Applications >Manage Applications; press the Menu hard-key, then select filter all. Select Motonav, press Force Stop then Clear Data.
Spotify works superbly on the Milestone!
So those are my initial impressions. Of course the first app I downloaded from the Market was the most essential app for any music fan: Spotify. I’ll post an update once I’ve had more time to play about with the Milestone. Let me know if you have any questions!
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UPDATES
- Here’s a follow-up post: Motorola Milestone: Second Opinions
- You might also be interested in: Nexus One UK Review
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Whilst I agree with most of your impressions here, I love the keyboard, and paid apps are fine, but protected ones are not.
Hopefully Google will sort this out, or else the Android community will when this thing gets rooted
I’m coming from an iPhone 3GS, and although the Droid isn’t as fast, it’s a terrific phone.
good work Moto, now hurry up with that 2.0.1 update
Brilliant review.
I’ve been eyeing up the Milestone as my next mobile phone and was looking to purchase this in the next few weeks.
Sounds like an all round solid build phone with some amazing features.
Do you know if you can download the facebook app from the app store or will this be added in an update in future?
I’m currently using my old iPhone but have the blackberry storm and hate it.
Hopefully this will be the phone for me which I’ll actually be happy with.
Hi !
I just found you on Twitter ( searching for “facebook milestone” ) and came to read your post.
I’ve just bought my Milestone today, It was released in Brazil last Friday.
Here, you got the Dock ( amazinggggggg, must say ) for free and same as you, the phones.
Gotta add that I also can’t search for paid apps on Market and Facebook app is also missing.
Beside those things.. Milestone is spetacular!!
great post!!!
Great review.
You mentioned all the important stuff. And above all the MISSING textwrapping in the browser kills me too! I just can’t believe why this was left out.
The funny thing is, this problem exists on the IPhone3gs AND the Palm Pre too.
My HTC Hero wraps the text perfectly, and resizes it to the zoom level, therefore it’s so much more comfortable to read webpages.
bye,
shahpur
You seems to be in love Jer! I can’t decide if I should wait for the Droid or go for a HTC Hero..
Thanks for the comments guys! Mark, I’m getting a bit more used to the keyboard now, and great to hear positive views on Androdi from an iphone banger
Peter, I plan to keep this phone for some time (especially considering how much it cost me: ouch). Note that the newly updated Facebook app is now available on Milestone (although it wont sync contacts with address book like on the Droid).
Mitcha, obrigado por seus comentários! I had a look at the dock and think I might treat myself to that too now :p
Shahpur, I’m getting used to the Dolphin browser now which wraps text perfectly. It doesn’t have that cool bookmark icon view though…
Hey Elias, timely comment, let me know what you decide on!
What do you think about the Droid’s app storage issue? 256MB for app storage sounds not very much to me! More details here: http://bit.ly/7U8Axy
Storage space hasn’t been an issue for me yet (nor was it on the G1), but going forward I can see how it would make programming graphic-heavy apps a challenge for developers.
Voice search is missing from my milestone since I bought it from Hong Kong, so maybe my version of this phone is bit different from the UK version. Motonav is also not working although tried the “force close and clear data” method. Paid apps is not available too. I can say its a great phone, I’m very impressed but overall I’m a bit annoyed by the missing facilities. If Motorola can give the update soon and remedy least some of the problems, this phone can stay level with its brother over in the US. I guess Motorola is not too keen at their customers in Europe and rest of the world.
That’s a pity voice search is missing for you, azraiyan as it’s almost an essential feature (well, it’s good to impress friends and family with!). I’d give Motorola a month or two to sort their act out with the software side of things (here in the UK we are still waiting for the 2.1 update with the camera bug fix, for example).
Others are waiting for the first Google Handy, the Google Nexus One. Me included…
Google Nexus One and Motorola Droid/Milestone News from todays Google Android Press Gathering:
“Question for Motorola: Will the Nexus One cannibalize sales of the Droid?
Answer: We try to deliver the best products we can. Will upgrade software on the Droid.”
“Question: What can users expect in terms of software upgrades? Users never really know what phone will get the upgrade.
Answer: From Motorola: Intention to upgrade the device to the best software that the hardware can run. Not every device supports the 3D capabilities of Android 2.1, for example. Backward compatibility slows down innovation.”
http://bit.ly/79mWuO
Heh, yes I was watching Scoble’s videofeed when that question came up. The Droid has had only about 3 months of “best Android phone” sales in the US so I do think it will cannibalize sales a bit. Still, for me at least the Droid still beats the Nexus One as I like sliders with real keyboards. Hopefully Android 2.1 will become available on the Milestone soon too, so software-wise there won’t be any difference. The Nexus One’s faster processor and slim & light form-factor does make it a slick looking device and definitely supersedes the Hero. So for now at least, if you want a real keyboard get a Droid/Milestone. If you’re not fussed with that get a Hero or wait for a Nexus One (on Vodafone UK this spring).
yeah, I like the milestones querty keyboard and would like to see more from motorola for helping people set up the thing on their website. I think the xperia x10 is going to be one people may consider, since it has an 8 megapixel camera.
I saw one preordering here
http://bit.ly/-xperiax10
hi, thanks for this excellent review! I have a G1 and am looking to make the jump to Milestone/Droid and I found this most insightful
I would like to ask you one thing – how does the Spotify app affect battery life? I’ve found it to absolutely tear the G1 battery to shreds with only an hour or so of listening while I can get hours and hours out of it on a Nokia E71 with no noticable battery drain
thanks,
Luka
Hi Luka, cheers for your comment. I’ve not noticed Spotify on the Milestone result in any particularly heavy battery drain… I guess if you were streaming on wifi for a few hours you might see more of a drain, but I tend to offline sync the music so I don’t need wifi on when listening.