The phone networks need a hot handset to woo Christmas shoppers, Google wants to kick-start the production of apps for Android, and if Motorola doesn't get a best-selling handset soon (its first since the RAZR) it might stop making phones.
No pressure then.
For a handset with so many expectations, the Motorola Milestone– which launched as the Droid in the US last week - is underwhelming in the design department.
It's certainly solid enough and benefits from a gorgeous 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen. But the old-school boxy edges and painfully flat QWERTY keyboard have had little thought put in to them.
How many mobile keyboards have you seen that ship with two completely blank keys (bottom left and bottom right)?
We were hoping that pressing them together might temporarily inflate the low-profile keys to allow normal typing, but no such luck: almost every email, SMS and even text box we wrote suffered multiple typos.
TechRadar's recommendation: leave the keyboard hidden from view and concentrate on the beautiful WVGA (480 x 854) touchscreen instead.
Not only is this sharper than the iPhone's, it's brighter, too, pumping out photons while still managing a genuine all-day (7+ hour) battery life.
The US version lacks multi-touch gestures, although rumour has it that the Euro version, called Milestone (why not Kilometrestone?) will pick them up.
The four touch-sensitive keys on the face are decent, too, with the menu and search keys proving particularly useful.
The global search option was pretty good at tracking down data on the device and online (Google, naturally), and the voice search was impressive: even if searching for 'Motorola Droid' did initially call up pages referencing 'Bejeweled Floyd'. Which actually isn't such a bad name for a device. Or a cocktail.
Your comments (6) Click to add a new comment
blakey
Thursday at 12:33 GMT
6. Bigbird, your main point is about the keyboard. Unfortunately, I dont care for the virtual keyboard (even as an iPhone user and because im an iPhone user). I want a good qwerty, thats the main decision maker. If this one is not good (typos...) then why would I want it? Your argument is flawed, in a major way...
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bigbird
November 10th
5. @louis058
I hope you passed English and Science in your A-Levels.
I was refering to spoiler on a normal consumer car (ie. this review is about a consumer phone not F1) if you live in the F1 world all day and every day I suppose you have a mega yacht with 2 helipads and an anti missle system tied to the jetty at your front door too!? Spoiler on a mass produced consumer car is useless.
The milestone has a soft keyboard just like the iphone so there is no difference. The differentiating item is the QWERTY keyboard, it is a stand out feature and the reviewer complains about it, maybe his happy with the iphone because he doesn't get one at all???
It is if Apple made an iCar without wind down windows and Motorola makes a car with wind down windows and complaining the windows actually goes down.
Kilometerstone = really horrendously bad joke bordering on crime on comedy and entertainment.
The phone is a game changer for Android type devices as it is catching up from a software point of view and also hardware point of view.
Btw I do think after reading the review. Otherwise I'll be writing incomprehendiable garbage.
The reviewer also fails to point out one major issue raised is not all memory can be used to store & execute programs which might be the device's undoing.
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georgee1
November 9th
4. I think the review is bias with lots of derogatory jokes about the phone.all the main blogs give the us version the droid a great review, you are trying to make out the milestone is rubbish, please review the phone not try to convince British readers to dismiss the phone which is better than the uk hero and iphoney!
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louis058
November 9th
3. @bigbird
Here's me pointing out flaws in YOUR comment.
The 2 blank keys at the side have no function, I don't think they're even keys at all, just blank, flat bits that aren't buttons. A car's spoiler HAS a function, and that is to give it downforce. Not just at 200mph+ either btw, WAY less than that, they're quite useful to cars with little downforce at the back when racing.
The "keyboard" on the iPhone is a soft-key keyboard, it's not a physical one, but at least the iPhone one works without you pressing multiple buttons at the same time, this Motorola one obviously has you press multiple buttons according to the reviewer.
You are right about the horizontal rendering and the camera at least.
Kilometerstone is a joke, can't you tell?
You should consider thinking before you criticise a review.
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bigbird
November 9th
2. This is such a flawed review.
The 2 blank keys on either side. That is like saying why sell a sports car with a rear spoiler considering it doesn't produce enough down force until 200mph!
Complaining about the QWERTY keyboard. Well there isn't one on the iphone so that will stop the complaints.
The web page rendering. Did you bother to turn the phone horizontally? Horizontal resolution is almost big enough to fit a normal home page. Should point that out.
Also all cameras on phones suck. If you want a serious camera get a serious camera (ie dSLR). Also don't forget to mention the video is of a higher resolution to the iphone 3GS.
Also I think it is called "milestone" instead of "kilometerstone" because it is either considered a milestone for Motorola or development of Android software. That obviously haven't dawned on the reviewer.
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ripsnorter
November 9th
1. It's hard to believe the Milestone is from the company that came up with the RAZR, but it appears to have been designed purely for the US market and Americans have different design sensibilities. I was interested in the Milestone but the two things that matter to me, a decent camera and the ability to input type accurately and speedily, are lacking.
As a 'milestone' on Motorola's road to recovery, the Milestone is very much like my old school reports: "Could do better / Must try harder". The company is moving in the right direction but it needs to land some hits, not just in the US but everywhere.
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