Motorola hits second milestone, launches Milestone 2

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 10 November 2010 11:28

Your IT - Mobility

Motorola's been hitting milestones in its quest to use the Android OS to rejuvenate Motorola's mobile business, with the high-end Android specs we've come to expect from high-end Android phones, although the Milestone 2 milestone won't truly be Aussie activated until December.

Just when you thought you had happily chosen which smartphone and mobile OS you've been moving to next, Motorola comes along with a new tasty tempter of an Android 2.2 smartphone to mix your choices up a bit more, bringing what is known as the 'Droid 2' in the US as the 'Milestone 2' in Australia.

Presumably Motorola didn't want to pay additional licenses fees to George Lucas for use of the word 'droid' outside of the US.

Anyway, with the Milestone 2's entry into the local marketplace, the universe of smartphone possibility gets ever bigger.

There's the iPhone with its iOS, there are several other Android devices (with either Android OS 2.1 or 2.2), Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 devices are finally in place, RIM's Blackberry is available in its many guises including the excellent new Torch 9800 and Nokia has its redesigned range Symbian powered smartphones, from best smart cameraphone in the N8 through to other iPhone-esque devices that are finally very slim and trim.

However with Android's popularity, and especially some of the new 2.2 features, Android will clearly remain a popular option, and the wide range of handsets available certainly mixes things up, especially with the choice of screen sizes, the option of slide-out keyboards and the ability to run Adobe's Flash.

Motorola makes much of Milestone's feature set, pointing to its 1Ghz processor, a now standard speed for high-end devices, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support, Bluetooth 2.1, DLNA, Android 2.2's ability for smartphones to act as a 3G mobile hotspot with support for up to 5 other Wi-Fi devices, 3.7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen, 5 megapixel camera, dual LED flash, 720P HD video recording and playback, 512MB RAM, 8GB of internal memory, and microSD card slot that can take up to a 32GB MicroSDHC card.

There's also the aforementioned Adobe Flash 10.1 support, inbuilt GPS/AGPS, inbuilt digital compass, a standard 3.5mm headphone socket, a slideout QWERTY keyboard with 'more spacious, larger keys with better tactility', micro USB slot which is also used to charge the device, there's enterprise Exchange support, a new version of Moto's MotoBlur application, and all of the usual Google add-ons.

Naturally these include Google Search, Google Maps with Latitude and Street View, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, a unified list of Google and Exchange Contacts and more.

So, when it comes to being a very modern 2010 smartphone, Motorola's Milestone 2 hits the mark.

What does Motorola have to say about the local launch, and when can we expect to see it in stores, what will it cost, and from which carriers?

Please read on to page two!