A few years ago, Motorola launched an extensive ad campaign announcing the arrival of the Droid smartphone. It was money well spent, as the Droid proved to be a good device. As time has passed, however, Motorola has let up on the gas so to speak and allowed other manufacturers to surpass them with more advanced handsets. In an effort to stop this trend and place its name back at the top of the smartphone heap, Motorola has unveiled the Milestone XT720.
In creating the XT720, Motorola has shed a bit of size and weight from the handsets predecessors. The Milestones dimensions are 116 x 61 x 11mm and it weighs in at 160g. Of note is its somewhat odd shape. On the top right (when looking at it in landscape mode) are three lights which indicate the camera option the phone is currently in. The front and back of the phone are slightly incongruous, almost as if they consist of two separate pieces. Some critics would argue that the change in shape is superfluous, but its design certainly sets the Milestone apart.
Besides interesting designs, the Milestone XT720 offers the now familiar and sizeable 3.7-inch screen. A capacitive touchscreen, it provides resolution of 480 x 854 pixels on its display. To fully utilize the screen, a quite sharp 8-megapixel camera takes photos with a Xenon flash. This is unique to the Milestone, as other Android phones cannot yet boast this feature. Convenient additions to the camera are face detection and a panorama mode. Many smartphones that offer such quality cameras provide highly capable video recording as well, and the XT720 is no different. The recorder found on the phone captures video at 720p that can even be shown on the big screen using an HDMI port and the necessary cables to do so, all of which are included.
Some customers will be saddened to learn that Motorola did not offer Motoblur on the Milestone, but it did include Android 2.1. There may be no built-in social networking, but customers are treated to a trial version of MotoNav and the companys new Phone Portal app. With this application, users are able to manage the XT720s data from any browser on a PC or Mac linked to a USB or WiFi network. Youtube and movies are then viewed enjoyably on the 3.7-inch screen.
Motorola may not have returned to the very top of the smartphone world with the Motorola Milestone XT720, but it has produced a smartphone that provides the experience that many users are looking for. The XT720 performs its functions practically and quickly.
