Motorola Milestone?

Crusader

Crusader

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I'm due for an upgrade and there aren't any stock of the cheaper QWERTY phone (Corby Pro) I was planning to get, so now I'm seriously looking at the higher end Android phones I've been dreaming about.

I see MTN has the Motorola Milestone for R289 on a MTN 200 contract. While a bit above my budget it seems like a reasonable price, and the features of the phone looks great.

Any reason not to get it? The price difference between this and the other Motorola QWERTY phones are negligible and apparently the build-quality of the Milestone is quite a bit better than the other models.
 
Went ahead and applied for the upgrade online through MTNSP. I thought the process would be much easier than going into a shop. Instead I got e-mailed 8 pages of forms to fill in (spaces provided for info are so minuscule you can't really do it by hand, 6pt font worked!).

Now I have to wait and see if a) they received the fax, b) could read the fax and c) have approved my application.
 
Typing this from the new phone. I'm gonna have a large learning curve to overcome, but so far I'm pretty impressed.
 
Ok, here's my thoughts after having about a day to mess around with the Milestone.

The phone is very solidly built. It has quite a wait in your hands and feels like a quality piece of kit. The keyboard is slightly difficult to slide out, since it doesn't have any springs. Not a great hassle, but still different enough from my previous phone to notice it. Typing using the keyboard is pleasant enough and the DPad does feel awkward initially, but after a while I got used to it.

The screen is huge and looks amazing. Very impressed in that department.

The touch interface is very speed and sensitive. Being my first Android phone (and touch-screen phone to boot), I initially struggled to get anything done. After some usage I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of what Android has to offer.

One nice addition to the Milestone is a multimedia station/dock it comes bundled with. You slide the phone into it to charge, and then it becomes a nice alarm clock, showing the temp, time etc. It also has controls for playing MP3's etc, but I haven't played with that yet.

Overall I'm satisfied so far. I think the phone will grow on me as I get more comfortable with its operation and way of doing things.
 
Time to revive this thread.
Crusader, u have been using the milestone for a month now, any new feedback?
Any regrets, im due for an upgrade and i'm looking at the motorola. Some questions if i may :
1. Does the camera take decent pics?
2. How does the pc suite handle photo transfer, my E72 stores automatically in date order. Does the milestone do this as well?
3. How often do u have to recharge?
4. Build quality - any creaks etc developed?
5. How much data does the phone use?
6. Any other things i should know.
Sorry for the long list, but before i commit to a 2 year contract i like to know what im getting.
Thanks in advance.
 
Rands said:
Time to revive this thread.
Crusader, u have been using the milestone for a month now, any new feedback?
Any regrets, im due for an upgrade and i'm looking at the motorola. Some questions if i may :
1. Does the camera take decent pics?
2. How does the pc suite handle photo transfer, my E72 stores automatically in date order. Does the milestone do this as well?
3. How often do u have to recharge?
4. Build quality - any creaks etc developed?
5. How much data does the phone use?
6. Any other things i should know.
Sorry for the long list, but before i commit to a 2 year contract i like to know what im getting.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

No regrets. I like the build quality, and the few niggles (such as phone rebooting once in a blue moon) seems to have been fixed after the firmware update. I love the Android OS, and found a few apps that do exactly what I want from the phone.

1. From the limited use I've put it to, yes. It doesn't compare to a high-end camera, but does a pretty decent job.

2. I haven't installed the PC Suite. The few file transfers I've done was mounting it as an external drive and copying files (or e-mailing them to myself).

3. Depends on usage. Since it has a large screen it chows batteries. With a couple of hours of browsing, quite a few SMS's and the occasional call, I'm mostly left with around 60% battery at the end of the day. I normally charge each day, since I put the phone in it's multimedia cradle which charges it.

4. No problems that I've noticed. I haven't used the QWERTY keyboard as much as I thought I would. The on-screen keyboard works well for most purposes.

5. Again will depend on usage. I don't have automatic sync turned on and use Opera Mini for browsing. If I have to guess my data usage is around 50-60MB at most per month.
 
thanks for the reply Crusader, sounds great :)

Anyone know when the new pricelist is out for MTN?
 
Does the Milestone come with any navigation software, and for how long is the license valid?

What is the latest official Android version available locally?
 
seedat77 said:
Does the Milestone come with any navigation software, and for how long is the license valid?

What is the latest official Android version available locally?
Click to expand...

MotoNav for 30 days. After that you will have to purchase either MotoNav or a different product.

My Milestone from MTN runs 2.1 update 1
 
Wooohooo, picked up my milestone today :) still getting to grips with android. Its soooo different from symbian!
Is there anyway of checking data useage?(out of the box)
 
Does anyone elses milestone get hot, like really hot after about 10 minutes use?
It gets hot next to the camera lens....
 
Rands said:
Wooohooo, picked up my milestone today :) still getting to grips with android. Its soooo different from symbian!
Is there anyway of checking data useage?(out of the box)
Click to expand...

Install the Data Counter Widget. VERY nice for this, once you have it running on one of your home screens. Will give you breakdowns over time (e.g. current month) as well, on WiFi and Cell network. There are quite a few basic utilities you will likely look for that you have to install first.

Rands said:
Does anyone elses milestone get hot, like really hot after about 10 minutes use?
It gets hot next to the camera lens....
Click to expand...

Mmm ... no, not mine, that I noticed.
 
If you don't have it already, install the latest update. My Milestone kept on cycling on and off for no apparent reason and was killing the battery life. With the update I get 2 days battery as opposed to eeking out one. Great phone now that I've gotten that problem sorted.

No problems with heat, it's actually one of the least warm phones I've ever used. Better than an iPhone in that regard.
 
Rewind said:
If you don't have it already, install the latest update. My Milestone kept on cycling on and off for no apparent reason and was killing the battery life. With the update I get 2 days battery as opposed to eeking out one. Great phone now that I've gotten that problem sorted.

No problems with heat, it's actually one of the least warm phones I've ever used. Better than an iPhone in that regard.
Click to expand...

One thing I've noticed after the update is that my battery meter gets messed up from time to time. It's only happened twice so far. First time I was browsing and the power went from 80% to 5%. Rebooted the phone and it was back at 80%. The second time the phone was on the charger overnight and in the morning it also said 5% battery life, please recharge. Removed it from the cradle and showed fully recharged. Pretty odd. Anyone else experiencing this?
 
Rewind said:
If you don't have it already, install the latest update. My Milestone kept on cycling on and off for no apparent reason and was killing the battery life. With the update I get 2 days battery as opposed to eeking out one. Great phone now that I've gotten that problem sorted.

No problems with heat, it's actually one of the least warm phones I've ever used. Better than an iPhone in that regard.
Click to expand...

Ya, thanks rewind, Just installed the latest update & it seems 'fine' now, im loving this phone :)
 
How long does the battery on the Milestone last?
I charged mine fully at lunch time yesterday & it was at 25% by 10pm. Switched the phone off at 10, now it wont come on this morning. Had it plugged to the wall charger for 20 minutes now!, still no signs of life :(
 
Rands said:
How long does the battery on the Milestone last?
I charged mine fully at lunch time yesterday & it was at 25% by 10pm. Switched the phone off at 10, now it wont come on this morning. Had it plugged to the wall charger for 20 minutes now!, still no signs of life :(
Click to expand...

Does it show that it's charging?

Mine is normally at 60% at the end of the day after charging it overnight. Then again I don't make many calls, but mostly browse using Opera Mini. Also no 3G coverage so I set it to use only 2G networks which apparently saves battery life.
 
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