The Official Motorola Milestone Thread - Page 3

Verb · #41 29.10.2009, 14:00

If I were trying to choose between the N900 and the Droid for a 2010 phone purchase it would be a difficult choice. If I were interested in buying a phone in 2009, then the N900 is the ONLY choice. There is no chance the Droid hits Europe before next year. The last smartphone to launch with CDMA, the Palm Pre just became available in most of Europe 4-5 months after launch in the US.

Using that example and the fact that Motorola, like Palm is heavily focused on it's home market it is to be expected that European launch would be around April 2010.

The Droid gets good marks for using a more widely used OS than the N900. That will attract more developers to the Droid, but I think Maemo is a superior OS. Having used Maemo for more than two years I have seen it evolve and I think it is still ahead of Android. Maybe Android v2.0 will move it a little closer to Maemo in maturity.

Making a comparison at this point is challenging since the Droid was basically just announced.

Phil_MCR · #42 29.10.2009, 14:00

	Quote:	Richdog
	I use a lot on Symbian for various things, not all the time of course, but enough that I wouldn't notice not having them installed.

negation overload

Richdog · #43 29.10.2009, 14:02

	Quote:	Phil_MCR
	negation overload

Negation mania. It's crazy, it's mad. *does little dance*

dawiz · #44 29.10.2009, 21:02

hmm, just noticed that Motorola has apparently closed its Swiss website :-/

dawiz · #45 02.11.2009, 10:34

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/1...ola-milestone/

The Motorola Milestone (called Droid in the US) will hit O2 Germany shops next Monday (November 9). No word yet on whether it'll be locked or not. Apparently though, it will also be sold through Vodafone Germany (so chances are, Swisscom will eventually sell it as well) and the Phonehouse - so it SHOULD theoretically be unlocked and "importable" :-)

However, there's also some bad news: the Milestone won't come with GPS-navigation-enabled Google Maps for now.

I guess I'll wait for the SAR ratings to be published (the CDMA Droid is very bad in this department) before I consider replacing my brain-frying Hero with it.

Peter

Verb · #46 02.11.2009, 11:04

To throw something else into the pot, what about the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X3? SE will be announcing it tomorrow here: http://www.sonyericsson.com/whatsnext/

Sony Ericsson has been able to turn out some really sexy looking phones (Satio, Aino) lately so I have high hopes for the X3. It is the only phone coming out soon that will make me cancel my Nokia N900 pre-order.

I am trying to figure out if it it has a keyboard or not. I can't tell from the teaser video. Any quesses?

dawiz · #47 02.11.2009, 11:08

	Quote:	Verb
	To throw something else into the pot, what about the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X3? SE will be announcing it tomorrow here: http://www.sonyericsson.com/whatsnext/ Sony Ericsson has been able to turn out some really sexy looking phones (Satio, Aino) lately so I have high hopes for the X3. It is the only phone coming out soon that will make me cancel my Nokia N900 pre-order. I am trying to figure out if it it has a keyboard or not. I can't tell from the teaser video. Any quesses?

If you're in need of a physical keyboard, you might want to steer clear of the Milestone - according to several reviews, its QWERTZ keyboard is close to useless. No idea about the X3, though. The N900 is no option for me - I'm not willing to bet on yet another OS that nobody else uses / will ever use. Maemo has been around for 4 years already but has an acceptance rate of zero point zero. If Nokia finally gets its act together on the touch screens, the N900 could be a somewhat impressive phone that, like the Sharp Zaurus et al. will be used and loved by a couple hundred Linux nerds (I have nothing against them, I used to be one of those myself) around the planet - but no commercial software will be available in the foreseeable future so I simply don't see the point in buying it.

Peter

dawiz · #48 02.11.2009, 11:19

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/1...moed-on-video/

hehe, the GSM version does have multi-touch...

dawiz · #49 02.11.2009, 13:25

Some additional info on the O2 Milestone (GSM Droid):

- SAR (for those who care) is 0.72 - not great, but pretty good compared to other smartphones
- While it doesn't come with Google Maps Nav, it comes with MotoNav pre-installed. On the O2 website they say it comes with a 8gb Micro-SD card with maps for western Europe pre-installed.
- The price-tag is 481€ without a contract (same as the Palm Pre)
- No word on availability, SIM-Lock etc. yet. However, it is expected to be SIM-lock-free (as are all new O2 handsets) and available from November 9.

fduvall · #50 02.11.2009, 14:21

I have had quite a few friends abandon their iPhone for an Android phone. As a relatively new (and somewhat disappointed) user of the Nokia N97, I am also considering Android. Wonder how the secondary market is in CH for an N97...

Would like to see Motorola with another hit, too.

fduvall

dawiz · #51 02.11.2009, 14:29

	Quote:	fduvall
	I have had quite a few friends abandon their iPhone for an Android phone. As a relatively new (and somewhat disappointed) user of the Nokia N97, I am also considering Android. Wonder how the secondary market is in CH for an N97...

judging by the auctions on ricardo.ch, you should get about 400-500 Fr. for it, if it's in perfect condition

Peter

Richdog · #52 02.11.2009, 15:21

	Quote:	dawiz
	Some additional info on the O2 Milestone (GSM Droid): - SAR (for those who care) is 0.72 - not great, but pretty good compared to other smartphones - While it doesn't come with Google Maps Nav, it comes with MotoNav pre-installed. On the O2 website they say it comes with a 8gb Micro-SD card with maps for western Europe pre-installed. - The price-tag is 481€ without a contract (same as the Palm Pre) - No word on availability, SIM-Lock etc. yet. However, it is expected to be SIM-lock-free (as are all new O2 handsets) and available from November 9.

Awesomeness. But I just found about the Sony Xperia X3 too...

Engadget list of X3 articles: http://www.engadget.com/tag/Rachael/

So, no droning on this time, lets get to the specs... which are relatively patchy and incomplete despite an apparent November 3rd launch.

--------------------------------------------

Confirmed:

4" capacitive touchscreen
480 x 854 resolution
1ghz Snapdragon CPU
8MP camera with Autofocus
GPS
Android 2.0 w. customised SE UI
Mini/USB
3.5mm jack

Unconfirmed:

32GB internal storage
HD video recording (would make sense given the Snapdragon)

--------------------------------------------

Looks are also similarly sexy...

	Quote:

The question is... will this phone arrive no time given SE's history of being awful in that department... and will the battery be good enought to power such a monster screen and CPU? Either way I am excited... the next gen of Android phones are looking like a quantum leap over the first-gen specs. It is going to be an awesome, awesome year in the mobile world.

dawiz · #53 02.11.2009, 17:16

Digitec now lists the Milestone: http://www.digitec.ch/ProdukteDetail...Artikel=177662

don't think that's the final entry, though - 999? You've gotta be kidding me. It costs 700 something in Germany

Peter

Richdog · #54 02.11.2009, 17:19

	Quote:	dawiz
	Digitec now lists the Milestone: http://www.digitec.ch/ProdukteDetail...Artikel=177662 don't think that's the final entry, though - 999? You've gotta be kidding me. It costs 700 something in Germany Peter

Goos spot mate, good spot indeed. Price-gouging always happens though for the first couple of weeks, usually to catch the "omgmusthavepreorder" crowd.

dawiz · #55 03.11.2009, 05:43

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/s...-on/#continued

I'll definitely go with the Motorola - the Xperia looks neat (btw. - it doesn't look ANYTHING like the teaser that was released by SE!? Was that for a non-Android device?) but it apparently won't be out until the first half of 2010 and it comes with Android 1.6, which seems to be much slower than 2.0

Peter

Richdog · #56 03.11.2009, 09:01

	Quote:	dawiz
	http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/s...-on/#continued I'll definitely go with the Motorola - the Xperia looks neat (btw. - it doesn't look ANYTHING like the teaser that was released by SE!? Was that for a non-Android device?) but it apparently won't be out until the first half of 2010 and it comes with Android 1.6, which seems to be much slower than 2.0 Peter

Bloody hell... Android 1.6? Shocking to be honest, why did I give SE the benefit of the doubt. Motorola it is...

Castro · #57 03.11.2009, 09:35

	Quote:	Richdog
	Bloody hell... Android 1.6? Shocking to be honest, why did I give SE the benefit of the doubt. Motorola it is...

I don't understand, isn't the OS upgradable, and can't the SE hardware handle 2.0? It seems from the Engadget review that this is an early prototype, and therefore SE have time to make their tweaks in response to the waves of criticism on the blogosphere. Personally I wouldn't be interested in the Moto Milestone since I don't need a hardware keyboard and don't want to sacrifice weight and thickness for it.

dawiz · #58 03.11.2009, 09:49

	Quote:	Castro
	I don't understand, isn't the OS upgradable, and can't the SE hardware handle 2.0?

Theoretically yes - but SonyEricsson is working on a heavily customized version of Android. So you can't just use standard ROMs. If they're basing those changes on 1.6 now, chances are that this is what they'll come out with next year.

Castro · #59 03.11.2009, 10:10

	Quote:	dawiz
	Theoretically yes - but SonyEricsson is working on a heavily customized version of Android. So you can't just use standard ROMs. If they're basing those changes on 1.6 now, chances are that this is what they'll come out with next year.

Thanks for the clarification, my biggest concern would be the X10 not meeting the reference spec for 2.0. I'll keep an eye on this handset because after 3 iterations of the iPhone I should be ready to move on next year.

dawiz · #60 03.11.2009, 10:21

	Quote:	Castro
	Thanks for the clarification, my biggest concern would be the X10 not meeting the reference spec for 2.0. I'll keep an eye on this handset because after 3 iterations of the iPhone I should be ready to move on next year.

Same here - I've tried several handsets over the last 2 years or so but so far only the HTC Hero came even close to the iPhone 3Gs. I sold that again for two reasons: the screen was too small and it was too slow for my taste. This has both been remedied by the new Android devices about to come out. I personally prefer the Milestone, mainly because it has a physical keyboard (never quite got used to the iPhone's on-screen thingy although my typing is quite fast after 2 1/2 years with it).

I really like Android - it does everything right for me that iPhone OS does wrong. I find the iPhone experience rather dull now, because it lacks customizability, openness and multi-tasking.

Peter