Love it! (Posted on 25/02/11)

This handset is one to get excited about, one that is as fast, slick and powerful as you'd expect from any smart phone today. This is the Droid you've been looking for.

The build quality is outstanding - it feels like high quality all the way, not 'plasticy' like many other phones. The OS (it shipped with Android 2.1 with Update 1) is incredibly responsive and intuitive, and importantly totally customisable.

The Android Market is awesome with high quality apps for purchase, or for free. In fact many of the free apps are absolutely amazing.

I only have a few reservations but they are not deal breakers. The camera although at 5mp doesn't produce pictures as nice as some other phones. That said it's still light years ahead of the iPhone's photo quality, though that's not hard to beat given it's inferior sensor.

Also the slight (about 5mm) protrusion near the bottom of the handset looks a little odd, but I suspect there's some important hardware in there - perhaps the antenna (just a guess), which would explain the excellent call signal/call quality.

The screen is very responsive and stunning to use and look at.

I'm really have difficulty finding any real problems with this handset aside from the small issues mentioned above. It's nearly impossible to be disappointed with this phone.

And if you're coming from using an iPhone, with it's dictatorial approach to software, lackluster feature set (why do they always release new phones that are already behind the curve?), poor battery life, and inability to be customised, then you'll love the real freedom (yes real freedom, not Apple's pretend freedom) you get from owning a Milestone/Droid.

It's almost perfect - almost. (Posted on 14/08/10)

Now I'm no expert on phones or someone who gets the newest and shiniest thing every week. I'm usually pretty content with something average (as long as it works) and so on. However having heard such good things about this one I decided to give it a go instead of going for something average on a (probably far too expensive) plan.

And so, for a casual user like me, I've definitely not been disappointed. It's sleek, has an amazing screen, has plenty of apps to keep me entertained and is definitely a phone with wow factor. Everyone comments on how cool or impressive this phone is... and c'mon, who doesn't love discussing their fancy new gadget?

The Android Market is great (second to none but the all-conquering iPhone App Store), with more than enough applications for both fun and business. And you can get a huge number of the ones you want for free, too. I am particularly fond of a timer app which turns my phone on silent whenever I have classes. I used to always forget, and now I don't have to face the awkwardness of scrambling for my phone in my bag when it starts to ring loudly! Unfortunately a large number of them are based in (or written for) overseas users, so some of the cool-sounding apps don't really work here as well as they should. But at the same time there have been a bunch of local apps appearing lately which are awesome and indicate that probably before long we won't even notice the gap.

I really love how seamlessly Google is integrated into the phone. I finally went and got myself a gmail account because of this phone and it's really nice - emails come through as quickly and as easily as text messages. Never again will I waste my time because I missed a last minute email about a class cancellation or something. Calendar is also easy and accessible, so I can double-check my schedule anytime I need. Maps

Like I said, the screen is amazing, so very big and clear (I can often read entire web pages without having to zoom in at all) with really gorgeous customisable "desktop". The physical keyboard (one of the big reasons I went for this phone over another) is also useful to have. While not the greatest out there, it is definitely better than having to use an on-screen keyboard. And because it's so thin, the overall phone also remains quite slim. Yet it's clear it's a sturdy, well-made phone. The keyboard slides smoothly and solidly.

The battery life is not great, but after I got over having to play with it every 5 minutes, I'm usually getting about 2 days out of it. Which means that if I forget to charge it one night I'm not totally phoneless the next day. I have a car charger too but unfortunately it charges very slowly, and usually doesn't seem to make much difference at all in the battery level when you only drive for 20 minutes or so. Though useful if you are stuck and just need a tiny bit of battery, I suppose. I'm also not a huge fan of the lip at the bottom of the phone, but I suppose it serves it's purpose, and is really just an aesthetic thing. I also wish it would come in more colours than just black. But you can't have everything. :)

Overall, though, a very impressive phone. You'll notice all the cons are really just minor things, and stuff that is easily overlooked or accommodated. Not one you'll regret buying! (Posted on 29/04/10)

Pros:
+Nice big screen
+Good lighting
+Fast Browser
+QWERTY Android helps with writing texts/instant messaging.
+Support for latest version of Android, access to all of its features
+Not too bulky
+Very good call quality

Cons:
-1-2day battery life
-Some Android features not clean yet e.g. push email problem when switching from wifi->3g. Redeemable by downloading improved apps in market
-constantly downloads and opens apps in the background. Requires download of certain apps in market to stop this

Overall very good phone. The main problems are with android requiring some tweaks - hopefully they get fixed through new updates. But, everything else, is beautiful.
(Posted on 20/04/10)

I've been using this phone for about a month now, I love it and highly recommend it to anyone wanting a solid smartphone. Performance both as a phone and smartphone is excellent, the phone feels and looks great.

I wish I could say it's perfect but since this is a review I better at least touch on the minor niggles. First is battery life; if you forget to turn off wifi, gps or other power hogs you might need to charge it twice in 24 hours. But then if you treat it nice you might make it to 48 hours without having to recharge at all. Ho hum.

Being a clean freak, the little slit in the front face glass for the speaker is a lint magnet and annoying to clean but anyone less OCD-ish will probably be fine.

Many people rag on the keyboard as being too hard to type fast on, both because the buttons aren't far raised and they're shifted to the left. After a month I've stopped noticing the lack of raising but Motorola's call to put the navi buttons on the right seems odd to me. I'm a left-hander and love having the keyboard load 70/30 split to my left hand but considering how rarely I use the navi buttons and how many more right-handers there are I would have thought the layout would have been reversed. Anyway, great phone for a left-hander, merely "better than on-screen" for a righty.

I think the biggest annoyance though is that the touchscreen doesn't respond properly while the phone is charging. If you use it as an alarm clock and have it charging overnight (which you really have to) then each morning is a frantic rush to unplug the charger before you can reliably hit the snooze button. Given the stupor I happen to be in at this stage it's only a matter of time before the phone takes the tumble off the bedside table to the floor.

But yeah, all those are minor things. If you're considering this phone, get it, you won't be disappointed (especially as the price has dropped ~$100 since I got mine!). (Posted on 31/03/10)

I have had this phone for a few days and I must say it is definately the first phone I have used that will rival the iPhone.

The one let down about the phone is the poor battery life. I have had to charge it twice in 24hrs but then again the iPhone is the same.

Voice quality on calls is exceptional, you can even choose what sort of clarity you want from clear to crisp.

Colours are perfect on the screen and pictures and videos look awesome. 5 megapixel camera is a definate plus and running on the Android 2.0 is a big improvement from the 1.6.

All in all definately worth the money. (Posted on 9/12/09)

I’ve been fortunate to be using this device for several weeks. It is fantastic and a great Motorola product. The Android 2.0 platform makes this phone fully functional and it’s great for personalization. Even with multiple applications running it doesn’t slow down the device at all.

The keyboard takes some getting used to and I don’t like that it’s off centered because of the navigation. It’s a nice alternative, but I could have done without it. The screen is beautiful and web surfing is phenomenal. One thing that it’s missing is Flash and I hope an update will fix that. Overall, it’s very similar to browsing on a regular computer.

Battery life is acceptable, but I do have to charge it daily. Running multiple applications and the screen quality will drain the battery, so charging it daily is expected. Voice quality is good too. No issues with understanding callers and vice versa. Overall, it’s a fantastic device and I’m very pleased.
(Posted on 1/12/09)