Motorola’s original Milestone helped the ailing mobile powerhouse clamber back to the top tech table, thanks to its at-the-time bleeding edge Android software and slew of incendiary features. Now its QWERTY-free successor, the Motorola Milestone XT720 is here. Can it hold its own against a string of other top notch Google Android cells? And does it have the same clout as its older sibling? Read our Motorola Milestone XT720 review now and we’ll give you the definitive lowdown.
Read the rest of our Motorola Milestone XT720 review:
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Camera
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Design and build
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Screen
The most striking thing about the Motorola Milestone XT720 is its design. While the older Milestone matched a peerless 3.7-inch touchscreen panel with a less than impressive slide-out keyboard, this new effort loses the QWERTY in a bid to go mano-o-mano with the likes of the HTC Desire and the iPhone 4.
The results are mixed. See, the original Milestone never needed the panel, so its exclusion here is great. The virtual keyboard, not to mention the entire touchscreen, is a real winner. Its stunningly responsive, features a welcome dollop of haptic feedback and its multi-touch skills make surfing and flicking through apps a real joy.
But with the keyboard gone, we were really expecting a more slimline device. Sadly, the Motorola Milestone XT720 can never be accused of making incessant trips to Weight Watchers. It’s the very definition of chunky monkey, a hulking beast of a phone which when shut feels almost exactly the same as the its older, keypad-packing bro’. It feels much wider than its 10.9mm suggest, with a hefty metal trim and lots of bezel surrounding the 3.7-inch screen. The kink on the bottom left hand corner, which houses the camera and playback keys, feels utterly unnecessary and makes holding the phone a not particularly pleasant experience.
That’s not to detract from the Motorola Milestone XT720’s many skills under the hood. This is a power house, make no mistake. Android 2.1 is the order of the day, appearing here in its vanilla incarnation rather than being slathered in the less-than-lovable MotoBLUR skin. That means things are very easy to get on with. The five homescreens can house as many app shortcuts as you want, while navigation and media playback remain breezy concerns which help pit Google’s OS right up against the marvelous iOS 4.
Where the Motorola Milestone XT720 truly stands out, though, is its camera. This is unarguably the very best snapper we’ve used on an Android phone. At eight megapixels, it bests the HTC Desire, but its the inclusion of a Xenon flash and a slick auto focus feature that have really got us cooing. The ability to tinker with shot selection could not be easier, with scene modes and face detection putting this ahead of some basic compacts. Ok, the zoom is digital rather than optical, but this is a camera that shows why sticking a lens on a phone was a good idea in the first place.
If that wasn’t enough, the 720p HD video mode is sensational, as is the ability to stick your home movies straight onto your telly using the HDMI port shoved up top with the 3.5mm jack. The only issue here is you need to stump up more for a cable to unleash your hi-def handiwork.
The Motorola Milestone XT720 isn’t without is design quirks. The build is rock solid, however, as is the phone’s use of vanilla Android, not to mention its ace take on imaging. If you want an Android phone without the fancy social networking skin favoured by HTC, then this is the phone you’ve been waiting for.
Read the rest of our Motorola Milestone XT720 review:
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Camera
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Design and build
Motorola Milestone XT720 review: Screen
