Motorola Milestone

The Milestone has been one of the more anticipated handsets for our sector. In fact after poking around a bit into the gray market and other the international as well I found that the handset is selling quite well and Motorola is back! Razer be damned.  But the Milestone may be getting great ratings across the bar but it is far from being the perfect handset, take a closer look.

Form Factor
Amongst the large number of Android handsets that are available to the Indian audience, I have to say the Milestone is by far the most sophisticated, at least in the looks department. Its rugged-like metal casing gives it sense of maturity and elegance. This is in no way a handset for the average social networking, media loving mobile user although even they would get a kick out of using it. It’s designed to look and feel intimidating.

The large 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display sports a 480 x 854 pixel resolution with 16 million colours making it one of the most comfortable and vibrant displays to stare into for whatever reason. Even in bright sunlit conditions you’ll get by without a hassle. Everything is clearly legible.

The proximity sensor and accelerometer are responsive and work flawlessly but that’s slight micro-second delay in having the display turning makes it perfect so it’s not very sensitive and won’t just seem like its change orientation on it’s own whims and fancy. The touch-sensitive keys at the bottom of the display are also designed to be just perfectly receptive. You’ll find even a hand slip won’t just change the screen. These keys won’t activate unless you really want them too, or so it seems. The volume/zoom keys are placed on the side and the gold tint given to the camera key adds just a hint of elegance to the other wise hardcore handset. The 3.5mm handsfree port (very comfy handsfree kit included) is placed on the top right next to the power/screen lock soft key and the micro USB slot for the charger and PC connectivity is located on the side.

The rear panel has a slightly rubberized consistency that makes it easy to grip in your hand since it’s a pretty heavy handset at 165g, that’s just one more thing you’ll never let you forget. That same weight is also quite well displaced over the handset’s body making it heavy, yes, but still comfortable to use even for long periods.

Now for the stuff I didn’t like about the Milestone’s otherwise rock solid design. The QWERTY keypad takes a bit of effort to slide up and that seems a bit old fashioned to me. I didn’t like that too much, but you can get by. However I wasn’t satisfied with Motorola’s explanation of why the Milestone doesn’t have a pop sliding keypad like the rest of the handsets out there. The reason behind this older style being incorporated was to prevent it from becoming loose after awhile.

It’s true that kick sliders like the Nokia N97 just might get a little loose after constant usage and I can see that could be an issue, but only after a really really long time. Even an iPhone user will want to upgrade to the next-gen model which is usually an annual release. The keys themselves are very comfy and make for quick typing however the placement of the oversized d-pad at the side was a bad idea. If you have small fingers it’s going to be quite a stretch for your right hand. This is the chink in the Milestone’s armour. The lack of a hot swap slot for the memory card would have been an issue if the handset wasn’t bundled with an 8GB card.

Features and Performance
Interface
The Milestone runs on Android 2.1 which gives the OS a slight boost in terms of usability. Multitasking was very efficiently handled. I found that even with music playing in the background, surfing the internet, downloading emails, Social Networking and messaging there didn’t seem to be an issue with speed. Keeping the ‘Home’ key pressed pulls up a box that shows all of your running apps making multitasking even easier.

The ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor with PowerVR SGX530 graphics is a serious enhancement over some of the other handsets in its class and it manages its usage very effectively. You have a choice of choosing how many panels you’d like to have active. The minimum is three and the max is 9. The Milestone also supports Live Wallpapers similar to the Nexus One. The handset could have used more preloaded widgets though and this is where Sense UI makes a very significant difference.

Multi-touch is also incorporated into the Milestone however the fluidity and spread of the feature through out the handset is limited. It wasn’t as smooth or responsive as the Legend’s. Motorola’s Crystal Talk technology is definitely evident in the Milestone as calls from the handsfree, speakerphone or earpiece were always ‘crystal’ clear. The same function also comes with four settings. The virtual keypads are well spaced out and you’ll find yourself using the onscreen QWERTY rather than the slide out option which is far less of an effort and as responsive. The predictive text remembers your frequently used spellings and offers them up for speedier typing.

Media
At last there’s an Android handset that has the capability to actually take Android’s native music player up a notch. Motorola has included an Audio effect feature that allows you a limited yet useful option of customizing the way you listen to audio. There’s a separate setting for the handsfree and the speaker phone each with EQ presets but with the addition of a surround sound setting available only for the handsfree kit. Music quality is brilliant. Tones are very well balanced and there is a resounding thump in the bass that will undoubtedly have you tapping your feet and swaying your head irrespective of where you are. The Android player is also designed to easily create playlists on the go.

The lack of an FM radio and proper codec support for videos is a harsh reality to face. But if you find the right converter for your video files the large display and great audio still makes it overall, a really good video experience. An image editor is available to make a few adjustments to your pictures, color corrections etc.