The Motorola Milestone has been a genuine success for the US Based manufacturer, and an important part of the new Android line up of devices Motorola has released recently. It is no exaggeration to state that not so long ago, Motorola were in real trouble, and close to going out of business. However, some inspired devices running on the Android OS has helped turn the fortunes around of the once number one handset manufacturer, and the Milestone was central to that change. And now we have the next Milestone handset, the imaginatively titled Motorola Milestone 2.
At first glance there is little to distinguish the Milestone 2 from the original, as most of the improvements are internal to the device, although there are a few aesthetic differences in the overall design of the product. The Milestone 2, as with its older brother, includes a full, four row slide out QWERTY keyboard, and one of the differences here is the removal of the D-Pad on the newer model. The buttons also have a slightly curved look to them, which should help improve comfort and efficiency when using the QWERTY keypad, something that was a bit of an issue with the original Milestone.
The Milestone 2 is slightly heavier than the original handset, weighing in at 169g compared to 165g. Otherwise the dimensions are identical, with the Milestone 2 measuring in at 116 x 60 x 14mm. The handset is endowed with a large, 3.7 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, supporting up to 16 million colours and with a pixel resolution of 480 x 854. One of the differences with the Milestone 2 is the inclusion of the MotoBLUR User Interface, which populates the display with a host of widgets that are constantly updating information directly on the main standby screen of the device. There are a wide number of widgets you can have on the display, giving access and updates to services such as Twitter, Facebook, News services, email, and so on. The inclusion of the MotBLUR UI is good from Motorola's viewpoint, in terms of a uniform experience across their range of Android based handsets, but custom UI’s do have an unfortunate side effect of delaying any future OS updates, as manufacturers need to implement changes to the UI before software updates can be rolled out, which in some cases can cause frustrating delays for end users, and is one of the main drivers behind the popularity of installing custom ROM’s on devices, as the geek community tend to get updates out much quicker than manufacturers. It is worth noting though, that illegally updating your handset with a custom ROM usually voids any manufacturer warranty.
The main display supports multi touch input, which allows you to use the pinch and stretch motion on the display to expand and decrease the zoom levels, which is ideal when web browsing, as well as enhancing the gaming experience on the device, making it easier to effect more complex controls and movements on the phone. The display is also equipped with a proximity sensor, which disables the touch sensitivity when using the phone to make a call, and there is an accelerometer which automatically rotates the screen orientation, depending on which way up the phone is being held. As well as offering a full, built in QWERTY, and an on screen QWERTY option, the Milestone 2 also comes with the Swype text entry system pre loaded. We’ve mentioned the Swype system a few times on this blog, basically it is a simple, easy to learn method of data entry which facilitates speedy text entry, and has been used to help create new records in creating text messages. In our experience Swype is one of the best methods currently available for entering text quickly on a touchscreen device.
The media credentials of the Motorola Milestone 2 are pretty impressive, starting from the built in 5.0 Megapixel camera. The handset camera supports geotagging, which allows you to record the location a picture was captured in by utilising the GPS location data, and there is also a dual LED flash, image stabilisation and auto focus support. Video recording on the handset is supported, with clips captured up to 30 FPS in HD resolution. A full media player is included on the handset, with support for a wide range of digital music formats, including the ever popular MP3 and AAC, as well as a range of video formats, including MP4 and WMV. There is a huge amount of internal memory available on the Milestone 2 for storing all your digital media, with 8 GB of storage available. this can be expanded by using Micro SD memory cards, with the device officially supporting cards up to 32 GB in size.
Data connectivity has always featured strongly on all Android handsets, and the Milestone 2 is no exception to this, with full support included for HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n. The device is also equipped with DLNA technology, which makes it easier to connect it to your existing home WLAN. The device also includes Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity, with support for A2DP, which enables you to connect a wireless stereo headset to the handset. A wired option is also available, via the 3.5mm audio output jack.
The Milestone 2 will ship with the latest current version of Android available, Android OS 2.2, and the handset is powered by a 1GHz processor, making the device very capable at multi tasking. As with all Android devices, Google products feature prominently on the Milestone 2, with Google Maps, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube and Google Talk all installed on the device. And with access to the Android Market, you have access to thousands of applications that you can install easily onto the device, further adding functionality and features to the device.
The Motorola Milestone 2, much like the original Milestone, isn't really going to win any awards for looks and styling, the device is more about performance and usability than fancy looks. But even though it comes in at the high end of size and weight for a mobile, the device feels sturdy, and well built, and all round should prove to be as popular, if not more, than the previous Milestone device.
Available in Black, the Motorola Milestone 2 is expected to launch during Q4 2010.
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