Called Droid in the US, where it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in a few weeks, the Motorola Milestone arrives in Europe with a good reputation. First smartphone under Android 2.0, it benefits some, well built and with a GPS navigation owner (in the absence so far of Google), it would be a stone Jetty in the garden of the phone to Apple.
Motorola phones are often elegant, refined, bold aesthetics. Such as the Razr V3. The last Milestone (the European equivalent of the Droid) is not ugly, it is fairly trivial. It looks like roughly the many clones of the iPhone, these smartphones to widescreen touch and dressed in General of a black hull.
Provided with a slide-out physical keyboard, it departs however a little of the standard: the lower plateau more than a little. Otherwise, the appearance is sober. The construction is cured. The lid of the battery is metal. And covered with a plastic material to the effect of “soft”. Appreciable. The whole is relatively late (less than 15 mm) and lightweight (about 165 g).
The keystroke on touch capacitive touch screen keyboard we quickly delighted: it is efficient. Even in a vertical position.
The interface is well controlled that in a week of test we finally did not often use the physical keyboard sliding. As, in our view, this keyboard is not the most effective. Its keys are missing relief (compared for example with the Nokia N97).
Therefore the touch interface is satisfactory in many cases for typing small texts. And it is also to explore the Web pages and photos, with its multi point properties implemented in Android 2.0. Zooming of Web pages and photos with two fingers is fluid. A quality which is difficult to measure the difference with the iPhone! It was time.
Even if this result was already almost achieved with the HTC Hero (which, despite its Android 1.5 system, employed its own technology)… But the iPhone still keeps at least two small cars in advance. It is possible to enlarge or reduce the maps of the Google Maps application with two fingers. And a tape on a column of text (a section of a Web site) is sufficient to automatically adjust the width of the screen. With the Milestone, these two actions are always not available……
More enhanced multimedia performance
The Motorola Milestone, as other competitors, displays superior theoretical performance when it comes to resolutions of the AFN and camera functions video, compared to the iPhone (which is not too difficult indeed): 5 megapixel and definition of the order of the DVD (720 x 480 at 30 frames per second). Under sufficient light, the quality is correct.
The AFN macro function is even its, with a distance of shot down about 5 cm. In low light, it is bad… Injury also that the parameters of shots are so little disengaged. For example, it does may not choose its ISO setting. The choice made is obviously the kind: “we take photos without too break the head”, helping the automatism. Why not?
With respect to the viewing screen is quality: its 3.7 inches, format 16: 9 resolution 480 x 854 pixels displayed great images. Contrasting and bright. The effect is particularly persuasive with H264 format videos.
The function Walkman mp3 is also the height, with a balanced sound available after taking audio… jack 3.5 course (which would now be confined to an owner connections?). About audio, it should be noted the good sound restitution in the telephone conversations. It is clear.
Superb navigation GPS…par Motonav
We found this clarity in the voice instructions of the owner of Motorola, Montonav GPS navigation program. We have tested the program in a car on a 100 km, in the city and on Highway.
Despite an epidemiologic of graphical indications a little confusing at the beginning, we found effective, accurate, Motonav. Its well synchronized voice guidance. A little (too) severe even when it indicates the excesses of barely 5 km per hour. Only flat this GPS: the screen shuts briefly (approximately one second) several times. It is not known why.
But overall, Motonav is a good surprise on the Milestone. The bad news is that it is delivered in 60 days on the appareil… trial version
We turned then on Google. Since Google Maps Navigation is apparently awaited. We thought that it would be easily available with Android 2.0 (he was already under 1.6). But this service is not yet implemented in Google Maps installed on the machine, nor available on Android Market from the Milestone.
We have therefore tried to install on the device. Found the (extension .apk) file on the Internet. It was transferred on Micro SD card. Then installed ApkInstaller software (available free from Android Market). We also left to put in place, at the request of the system, the SpeechSynthesis data (for speech synthesis). We then launched this new program Google Maps via a second icon Maps. And after having determined a route, we found that, this time, there were well in the menu the option to navigate.
Clicked has launched the beta Google Maps Navigation process. But after a few seconds (during which is inscribed the message “Calculating the route”), the process stops, indicating that “navigation to this destination is not available.” Yet in the background, we see the beginning of the animation of the navigation. Google Maps Navigation beta is clamped. Or does that in the United States (as shown here). Pending adaptation to local use? Or because of an agreement with Motorola, the time to give more chance to Motonav in Europe? We will have at least tried.
Faster synchronization, Flash step resulted and small worries
Other promises of Android 2.0 include an automatic synchronization of multiple accounts email and contacts. For e-mail, it is either Gmail accounts, or accounts Exchange (for companies): after tests on a Gmail account, we found that the new mails arrived on the phone in less than a minute or two (in General), or even four.
Similarly, we have satisfied the synchronization of contacts and the agenda associated with a Gmail account and edited online from a computer. Changes that may be effective between a few tens of seconds and approximately two minutes.
An advantage over the iPhone, the Web browsing with this apparatus under.Android 2.0 was, us had it pointed out, accept Flash 10. However Flash does not always work. For example on the site of the monde.fr, in this video presentation with Youtube, it’s good. But not for the other presentation.
In a week of testing, we estimated the average autonomy of the Motorola Milestone a day: it is the standard for these types of smartphones (gourmand energy) and this is much better than the previous Motorola dexterity. In this test period, we met a few small bugs and concerns. The more annoying as undoubtedly access to Android Market via the telephone network. Often painful downloads: the device constantly indicated a “start download” ending does not.
The Milestone is not conspicuous by the diversity of preinstalled proprietary applications. However, we noted Moto Phone Portal. This effective program connects the Milestone to the computer via Wifi. And allows, in addition to the smartphone content management such as sounds and photos, to send SMS from the computer. Otherwise, unlike the dexterity with the wrapper social Blur, unlike the customizable and advanced interface HTC Sense of Hero, the Milestone is in has not added layers. Sobre as outdoors. But effective overall.
More : First smatphone under Android 2.0, multi-touch, Quick Sync Gmail emails (with agendas and associated contacts), effective GPS navigation from Motonav, the virtual keyboard comfort, quality of manufacture, quality screen.
Less : Absence (or clamping for now) service Google Maps Navigation in France, painful downloads of applications on Android Market via the telephone network (Genoa provisiores?), brief extinctions of the screen in navigation Motonav, absence of AutoFit of columns of text to the width of the screenlack of front objective.
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