If you’re after a smartphone for getting work done on the go then you should have your eye on the Motorola Milestone 2 and the BlackBerry Bold 9780. We’re pitting two executive smartphones against each other: which one will help you speed through those emails in next to no time? Click through for a full stat clash.
Screen
The BlackBerry Bold 9780 has a sharp 480×360 resolution screen, that is surprisingly visible when you’re outside and suffers from less glare than other high end smartphones. The Motorola Milestone 2 trumps it though, with a 3.7-inch FWVGA (480×854) TFT screen, which we found responsive, especially when using the onscreen keyboard.
Winner: Motorola Milestone 2
Keyboard (Bold wins)
The first iteration of the Motorola Milestone had a keyboard so smooth and featureless that it was almost impossible to press any of the keys. The Motorola Milestone 2 does not suffer from the same affliction, with raised keys that are slightly separated. Motorola has also managed to fit in a useful Alt lock key, which is useful for typing in numbers. Unfortunately, the OK button doesn’t act as a Go option when typing in search queries, but as far as high end Android keyboards go, it’s still the best game in town.
Read our BlackBerry Bold 9780 review
The BlackBerry Bold on the the hand inherits its predecessors keyboard key for key, and that’s a good thing. The previous iteration of the keyboard on the BlackBerry Bold was flawless: the best QWERTY in the business, and for the BlackBerry Bold 9780 there’s nothing changed. We’ve tried many, many other phones with all sorts of keyboards, and every type of onscreen QWERTY keyboard out there, and none of them have ever come close to the accurate speed you can hit on the Bold keyboard.
Winner: BlackBerry Bold 9780
Battery life
The Motorola Milestone 2 has a battery life of almost five hours of continuous talktime from its 1400mAh battery. We pushed it through a day of reasonably heavy use. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 1500mAh battery is stellar, and can blaze through a day of heavy usage no problems, and can last over six hours with continuous chatting.
Winner: BlackBerry Bold 9780
Read our Motorola Milestone 2 review
Email support
Although Android does support excahnge, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 clinches this one because BlackBerry is the superior operatro when it comes to push notifications. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 has a unified inbox, and its push email can support up to 10 accounts. The Motorola Milestone 2 does support Exchange now through Android, but the BlackBerry Bold 9780 pips it to the post here.
Winner: BlackBerry Bold 9780
Apps
BlackBerry App World has around 10,000 apps populating it, whereas the Android Market has topped the 100,000 mark. But what counts here are the apps for productivity. The Motorola Milestone 2, running Android as it is, has a better Dropbox app, and also has better document editing apps, plus the ever valuable Chrome to Phone app, which syncs Chrome links from your computer to your smartphone.
Winner: Motorola Milestone 2
Verdict
While the Motorola Milestone 2 has a much improved keyboard from the original Milestone, and is running Android, if we’re looking for the best smartphone for productivity, the BlackBerry Bold 9780 trumps the Milestone. It has a better battery life, and the keyboard is second for none, this last feature is what means you can type on the go, and get through more emails and messages than you would otherwise.
