Upon first boot of the phone that was manufactured in Brazil, Spanish appeared onscreen to initiate setup. In a touch command on the lower right corner of the screen, I recognized the word "idioma" as "language" and figured "cambiar" meant "to change". All was smooth sailing from that point on with English.
HUGE problem: no access to data! I went into Settings and then "Mobile Network Settings", searched for available network operators and selected AT&T. Unfortunately, this did not work and I had to do a Google search. I found out I needed the APN settings to access data on my carrier and found the info on this site: http://androidforums.com/motorola-milestone/72103-t-apn-settings-milestone.html
Once I entered the information as a new APN and saved it, I was using 3G data on AT&T INSTANTLY!! However, I was unable to send and receive MMS messages. I failed when I tried to fix things by copying the APN settings of the Captivate, but I soon found a solution from the first entry on a forum site: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=188d18aef2815939&hl=en
Next thing was to try Google Navigation on the phone. I initially ran into trouble when the phone found it impossible to download a speech synthesis component from the Marketplace. After six unsuccessful attempts, I went to Google for help...only to see that the Moto finally got a download at the last minute! To my surprise and ultimate relief, Motonav was nowhere to be seen on the device as a default for turn-by-turn directions. I wondered if the absence of Motonav was a result of my replacing the default 8GB microSD card with my own 16GB, for I remembered reading from an online review that Motonav data was always stored on the stock cards for the device. But things made more sense when I noticed Motonav was nowhere to be found even in the apps drawer, yet Google Navigation was sitting there as if it had never left. I was simply glad to at least adopt this phone AFTER Motorola had possibly come to its senses and got rid of Motonav completely! As I expected, GPS performance with Google Navigation was PERFECT! Not one hangup on signal acquisition or any lagging on route progression. Memories of the Nexus One crept into my mind as I drove with the biggest grin on my face! The third party car dock did its job in securely holding the Milestone to the windshield and allowed access to the microUSB port on the side.
Now that I mentioned GPS, RunKeeper was definitely a stellar app on the phone! GPS signal locks occurred practically instantly as soon as I would activate the app outside my door and remained steady for the most part. There was one instance where the tracking route did have a random spike of inaccuracy, but I was still glad to not have a repeat of what I tolerated on the Captivate before it was hacked with Froyo 2.2. EVERY single run had results that were in relative proximity to my Nike+ results on my iPod Touch with a maximum difference of .30 miles, so I was quite pleased! A pleasant surprise was the high-resolution screen displaying a smooth and crisp picture of my path as it was being traced with more accuracy than even the hacked Captivate. I finally had an Android that could stand comparably to the Nexus One with CardioTrainer and the Nokias with Sports Tracker!
Taking time to download apps and customize desktop screens (which could go up to NINE) really warmed me up to the Milestone and began to free me from the Captivate. More features I had missed on the Samsung were revealed on the Milestone: physical shutter button, dual LED camera flash and a notification light. Being reunited with the Docs To Go app was simply a breath of fresh air with its revamped interface, and I immediately felt back at home with a zeal to write.
Build quality of the phone was very solid in the palm of my hand with no signs of creaking or bending. It had substantial weight and certainly felt its money's worth in overall retail value with a blending of soft touch and metallic textures. I could recall previous online reviews being critical of the blocky form factor, elongated chin, and golden accents, but I actually was not bothered by those elements. It was a pleasant departure for a change to not have a curvy model trying to reproduce the same aerodynamic quality of the Starship Enterprise. The hard lines and sharp corners could understandably give the unit a more tank-like, yet masculine look that was in close resemblance to the Nokia N900. I was mesmerized by the look of the rapid car charger with its futuristic appearance of the Motorola logo etched on a clear plastic disc. I was eager to see if there was a blue glowing effect on that clear surface once it was plugged in to my Honda CRV...a worthy upgrade from the typical green light on the Nokia charger I was already using. On the other hand, the headset was underwhelming with its cheap plastics and foam covered ear buds, not to mention the blocky mic/call button looking like a Starburst candy caught on the cord. I could only hope that my newly purchased Sony in-ear headphones (DR-EX300) with volume/music controls and microphone would be a suitable replacement (UPDATE: Sony model was unsuccessful in being more than just headphones). The slider was entirely manual with no mechanical assist in either direction, and I appreciated its simplicity. I was of the opinion that the latest models had possibly lost touch in trying to do too much in hinge and slider components, making parts potentially more susceptible to malfunction. At first glance a while back to that Droid in the Verizon store, the plastic membrane of the qwerty had turned me off and left a bad impression. In an era where separate buttons with ample feedback demonstrated high-quality, I was shocked that Motorola would go that route for its keyboard design. However, after lowering my expectations in the midst of being desperate for a HW qwerty Android device, I found it to not be too bad for regular typing. Even though the smaller keys being so close together would make thumbnail typing necessary like on the Nokia E71/72, I could make the best of it. In my situation, having a keyboard with stock Android and AT&T 3G access from a maker other than HTC was a great find. UPDATE: The qwerty was not really as great as I thought it could be for regular writing, especially when one had to rely on his thumbs and not his thumbnails. After nails were clipped, I had to depend on feeling out each key with my thumbs which resulted in increased typos. This probably would not have been an issue if the tops of the keys were at least rounded like the E71/72. Alas, the nightmare side of the flat membrane qwerty had reared its ugly head.
Media Gallery app was interesting with its CoverFlow-like execution, but I preferred the simple and more intuitive appearance of the familiar Gallery app with its floating thumbnails. The former's presentation over a default black background seemed too antiquated and dull in comparison to the graphically-superior alternative I was introduced to on the Nexus One. For the music player, it was back to the same default format for Android in the absence of TouchWiz. There was a CoverFlow display for navigating albums or artists in landscape mode, but I was not entirely impressed after having been spoiled by the Captivate UI for so long. Overall movement sometimes felt clunky along with album art looking muted (possibly due to lesser CPU and TFT screen). Nothing else really stood out about the player besides a lack of EQ settings, but there was a separate Audio Settings app on the phone. While watching an occasional YouTube video was not bad on the smaller TFT screen, full-length movies left a bit to be desired. There was an absence of vivid coloration that made the SuperAMOLED so great for Samsung, which turned out to be a weakness for the Milestone. Seeing anything over the average length of a YouTube video was a challenge.
The BIGGEST scare so far was the backlight dying out after an unexpected restart. I was worried when no sliding of the qwerty or touch of the capacitive keys below the screen could activate the backlight. I scrambled to do a Google search to find out if others had experienced the same situation, but found no reliable data. I turned off the device and powered it back on twice and STILL had no backlight. In desperation, I pulled out the battery with the phone still on and found that to be the grand solution.
As for voice calls, I was told by a friend that my vocal volume seemed lower and lacked crispness on the Milestone in comparison to the Captivate. During another call, an echoing problem started in the middle of the conversation and persisted until the end. This left a bad impression for a friend/iPhone owner who took the opportunity to gloat a little bit...that's what friends are for, I guess. Honestly, I did get a sense of better sound quality on the Samsung.
Speaking of sound quality, the stereo loudspeaker was sufficient in providing ample volume support for YouTube videos, games, and multimedia content. Although it did not have the same vivid feedback I recalled from N900 and E90, it was still appreciated nonetheless.
Not being able to hot swap microSD cards was not an issue for me since I hardly remove them once they are installed. I was satisfied as long as I continued to have access to it on my Mac via a USB connection. However, for anyone else, it could most certainly be an inconvenience to have to remove the battery let alone open the battery door at all.
The 5 megapixel autofocus camera was an expected downgrade, yet it granted use of a physical shutter button and dual LED flash. Resulting images appeared grainy in low-light settings even when the flash was used, so retakes were often a must. I figured the D1 video resolution was no different than the Nexus One, so I did not take the time to shoot any video. With this being an older device, I was sure there was another online review that included a sample video clip. The interface was intuitive and just about comparable to the Captivate.
Signal reception was no different than any other phone I've used on AT&T, which could be good or bad depending on dead zones.
Battery life was on par with the hacked Captivate for at least a full day of average use. Extensive voice calls, web surfing, media, and wifi did cause considerable drain toward the mid-afternoon. Overall, there was really no worry on my part since I tended to have the device connected either on my desk or in the car.
The car dock was indeed impressive in its own right since it was custom made for the Milestone, but it lacked the polish and high-end feel of what I could recall for the Nexus One. There was no integrated bluetooth speaker with tactile volume controls or a hidden mount port for the charging cable. Accompanying the Motorola was an empty plastic cradle with inner magnets to automatically affect the phone's screen orientation. Aside from the efficient one-button removal of the device from the dock, there was not anything else to be excited about...if there was anything at all. Despite its low-tech presentation, it at least provided free access to audio and charging ports. One could even slide open the hardware keyboard in landscape mode, but I found the virtual qwerty to be more natural and convenient on driving trips. In all truth, there was really no redeeming quality of the dock to warrant its superiority over a third party model. Spending even $15 for an outdated accessory on Amazon.com seemed like a waste in that regard. When it was apparent that Motorola lacked HTC's refinement in manufacturing custom items for its Android product, I returned the car dock and cancelled an order for the desktop dock.
Overall, the Motorola could not replace my Captivate as much as I would have liked it to. The hardware keyboard was great to have, until cutting my nails forced me to learn the hard way about the flattened keys of the membrane layout. The same reason that turned me off to the American Droid in the Verizon store a while back had come back to haunt me, and there was no denying it. At that moment, what I wanted in an Android phone was only a dream that had yet to come to fruition...if it ever did in my lifetime. Not only did I learn how much I adored my Captivate's hardware specs, but also how the Milestone was the worst way in which I could settle for a mobile device. Holding on to a tactile keyboard that was not even satisfactory was much worse than carrying multiple bluetooth items with my Captivate. No matter how much portability was granted by the qwerty slider, it did not measure up and needed to go.
--
Trentonn Smith, Blogger/Netcast host
Sent from my MacBook
trentsense.com
trentsensevideo.com
