XT720 Android Smartphone
The Motorola XT720 is unashamedly a media phone. Running Google’s Android, Motorola have taken a 8 mega-pixel camera and paired it with a Xenon flash (like proper digital camera’s), which means it can take amazing photo’s in poor light conditions. Add in HD video recording and top if off with a HDMI port, which lets you connect the XT720 directly to your HD TV. For: 8 mega-pixel camera & Xenon flash work really well Captures great quality HD video Built like a tank, feels really well made Against: Small built in storage Not a small phone Xenon flash can drain the battery quickly What we say: “ The Milestone XT720 is the best Android camera phone bar none. Its the combination of the stunning 8MP camera, Xenon flash and a host of image technologies from Kodak & HP mixed with the ability to record and playback HD quality video. The ability to connect directly to a HD TV (via HDMI) or even a standard definition TV are the icing on an already impressive cake. ” Features: Operating System Google Android (2.1 Eclair) Dimensions 115.95mm (L) x 60.9mm (W) x 10.9mm (T) / 160g (Weight) Screen Size 3.7-inch Camera 8 Megapixel Memory Type microSDHC Card Life in HD: See an capture more detail. Featuring HD video capture the Motorola XT720 lets your record every detail as it happens. When your done, you can play back your video on the big screen, thanks to the built in HDMI port, allowing direct connection to HD TV’s. Life in Detail: Take the perfect picture every time. An 8 mega-pixel combines with a host of technologies, such as shake prevention, Xenon flash, red eye reduction, face filter and more all work together to give you a perfect shot every time you press the shutter. And when your looking back through your photos, automatic geotagging shows you when and where your shots were taken. Search: The newest Google features let
Rating: 
(out of 1 reviews)
Price: £349.99
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Review by Chris Hoare for XT720 Android Smartphone
Rating:
I am fairly unusual for an Android phone owner – I have an iPhone 4 as my main phone and would have bought a second one if it were not for two reasons it is significantly cheaper than the iphone 4 – about 2/3rds the price sim free and I need an android phone to test software on.
The milestone arrived in a neat package which slid open like the original Razr packaging; sliding it apart revealed the Milestone with a large screen with a gunmetal surround and was a nice introduction; it would also make it a good gift. After charging it up I slipped in a sim and turned it on; I was presented with a fairly bright screen and a phone that has an angled bevel that looks like a stylised folder on its side. The back of the phone is a rubberised paint which gives it a nice feel – and stops it sliding about. On inserting the sim the phone stepped me through the basics of setting up my gmail accounts; and I was easily able to download a twitter client.
Andronid v iPhone is a tale of two worlds; the android world is more user configurable and has less control but with that comes a cumbersome interfaces and potentially confusing setup – you wouldnt give an android phone to your mum it would have to be an iPhone. The android marketplace tells you what access to your phone the software has for example; I can see that some people will want to know that it uses the GPS or accesses the phone book but equally others would be intimidated.
Once nice thing on the Milestone is the ability to put widgets on the main screen; when I unlock my phone I can see my twitter status and calendar on the front screen without running anything extra; on the iphone that requires switching between apps. The downside is that uninstalling an app which is as simple as pressing holding and clicking the X that appears. On the android its in a menu and the first entries are potentially scary sounding AtCommandService anyone ?
The camera is supposed to be a big feature of this phone but my (fairly good photographic eye) thinks this is nowhere near as good as the one on the iPhone – the pictures look grainier. It has more features most importantly being a dedicated shutter release button but others such as selection and panoramic photos but taking a photo takes considerably longer than it does on the iPhone with a noticable delay between pressing down the shutter release and the photo being taken – whilst the iphone snaps instantly. One big weakness in the camera is it lacks touch to focus which vastly improves the iPhones photos.
Functionality It hasn’t crashed; run out of memory or done anything untoward and its most important features (for me) receiving emails and making calls it does with aplomb . The battery life is comparable to the iPhone 4 which is to say poor but that is the challenge with these mini computers; the preinstalled software includes an excellent free navigation package but it needs data access to work (GPS Navigation costs extra on the apple app store.)
In my opinion if you can afford both and don’t have a strange affiliation to one corporation over the other get the iPhone its less of a puzzle it might not be as flexible but it is easier to use and that is the most important thing really on a phone.
This review is based on a phone with a 2.1 Android operating system; when this gets updated to 2.2 I will endeavor to comment further.