Motorola MILESTONE XT720 review: Android sidearm

24 August 2010
The original MILESTONE was the lifeline by which Motorola pulled themselves out of their deathbed. And now the once ailing giant breathes again – but is in no mood to rest or make peace. Instead, it’s breathing fire on...

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  • MF@
  • 26 Aug 2010

Check this link:
http://developer.motorola.com/products/milestonext720/
According to the specs from Moto itself, Milestone XT 720 has 256 MB of RAM — and the reviewed device apparently has 512 MB RAM on board.
Moreover, the review states that XT720 has a Li-Pol 1500 Mah battery, and the battery in this photo:
http://st.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/motorola-milestone-xt720/phone/gsmarena_023.jpg
is a "standard issue" Li-Ion 1300 mA/h BP6X battery
WTF, GSMarena?
Is it a "copy-n-paste syndrome" of the reviewer, or what?

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • Ui$
    • 26 Aug 2010

    NO graphics benchmark for the GS to compare. Thanks for the unbiased review again GSMARENA!

      • K
      • Kot789
      • nnC
      • 25 Aug 2010

      Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010GS has dedicated graphic chip. And its performance was abou... moreSpecs posted by GSM Arena do not mention the Galaxy's S dedicated graphic chip. Either there is no such chip in this phone, or GSM Arena does not bother pointing out this characteristic.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • Kxk
        • 25 Aug 2010

        Kot789, 25 Aug 2010What's the (practical) difference between having a slower C... moreGS has dedicated graphic chip. And its performance was about 1/3 of Sony PS3.

          • K
          • Kot789
          • nnC
          • 25 Aug 2010

          What's the (practical) difference between having a slower CPU, but a dedicated graphic chip (XT720) and a faster CPU without a dedicated graphic chip (Samsung I9000 Galaxy S) ???

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • IPj
            • 25 Aug 2010

            Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010Had both but I sold the HTC as I prefer the XT720.Lol... ok brother. Strange u didn't mention that earlier. :P

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • S9M
              • 25 Aug 2010

              Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010wow... lol!!! hdmi would be great if hd recording was half... moreHad both but I sold the HTC as I prefer the XT720.

                • H
                • Hector
                • 3VF
                • 25 Aug 2010

                (Thanks for the Dolphin browser cue)
                That's a point !
                Shutter lag time should be an item of every review and phone description, testing with a single particular high performance SD card besides the default one would help.
                By the way firmware update monitoring of reviewed phones would be of great value since we expect some kind of quirk fixes from them.
                Keep up the good work GSMARENA !

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • tAI
                  • 25 Aug 2010

                  Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010Four things actually, 1. HDMI 2. Xenon Flash 3. Second... morewow... lol!!!
                  hdmi would be great if hd recording was half decent!(read the reviews)
                  xenon flash, as i said xt720 takes slightly better pics at night..slightly! weak xenon flash..again,even the review states this.
                  dedicated noise cancelling microphone, no one really cares in the real world -selling point.
                  dedicated camera button, a slight advantage if cam quality was great..
                  2 second delay between pressing the button and the actual photo taken makes it kinda hard to get nice shots.
                  i had both phones, can u guess which one i sold?
                  peace

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • S9M
                    • 25 Aug 2010

                    Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010i bought this phone maybe 2 weeks ago and desided to sell i... moreFour things actually,

                    1. HDMI
                    2. Xenon Flash
                    3. Second Noise Cancelling Microphone
                    4. Dedicated camera lights/button

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • S2C
                      • 25 Aug 2010

                      It is absolutely impossible for such a device to maintain +- 0,016 db deviation for its frequency response. Even high end audio equipment costing thousands of dollars cannot have such characteristics - max is 0,5 db for equipment reaching the price of a luxurious car. GSM Arena, stop writing bulshit in all your audio quality tests. Not everyone's a dummy :D :D :D

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • tAG
                        • 25 Aug 2010

                        heres another snippet from another review of the xt720.. and after owning the phone i agree 100%

                        "From the spec sheet of the XT720, it seems like it's more or less a top notch phone, and at the start of reviewing it, it lived up to that. I admittedly had reservations about the design, but in actual fact I got used to it much quicker than I thought. I wouldn't go as far to say that I really like its design - the sharp edges on the back makes it awkward to hold to say the least, but this probably isn't a phone you'd buy to look stylish; one would turn to Apple or HTC for that. However, although the design wasn't a deal breaker, it just didn't live up to expectations enough for me to recommend it. Yes the screen is good, the photos look good, and the battery is pretty good, but the bottom line is that you can get all this and more elsewhere. If the XT720 arrived a year ago, it would have really been state of the art, but now there are other options which offer the same headline features in an arguably better package. Take the HTC Desire for example (let alone the rumoured Desire HD) - it also has 720p recording, the same size screen, yet a faster processor and more ram, and a dose of Froyo. The Acer Stream is also another contender - it matches the XT720's video recording and HDMI output, yet pushes faster hardware. And seeing as these can be had for just £40 or £50 more, the XT720 just doesn't seem to be worth the money. Android smartphones are pretty level on the software front, so that puts even more attention on the manufacturers and the hardware they produce to differentiate their products, and for me, Motorola haven't quite cut it this time with the XT720."

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • tAG
                          • 25 Aug 2010

                          Alon.S, 25 Aug 2010So the question is if we take HD recording out of the game,... morei bought this phone maybe 2 weeks ago and desided to sell it on the same day.. wasnt what i expected at all.
                          i bought the htc desire 2 days later and love it.
                          two things the xt720 has over the desire.... slightly better photos.. at night! in good daylight the desires 5mp cam is still better with better detail and contrast.
                          2nd... a slighty better loudspeaker.
                          thats it..
                          was really disapointed with the xt720

                            • A
                            • ALN
                            • i8u
                            • 25 Aug 2010

                            Take note, that the official Froyo update for HTC Desire has been out for quite some time now (almost a month) as an OTA download, so your statement that the Desire *will* receive the update is not quite accurate as it already has.

                              • A
                              • Alon.S
                              • muG
                              • 25 Aug 2010

                              So the question is if we take HD recording out of the game, is it still worth it? Not sure,only if your'e really into photography and Android, less into video.

                              And there is a possible workaround for the HD problems,if you put a better micro sd card (siuted for HD video) it might improve performance.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • 0Br
                                • 25 Aug 2010

                                Did I mention the mechanical shutter on the XT720? Any other phone has this feature?

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0Br
                                  • 25 Aug 2010

                                  Review has missed the second microphone at the back (where the "8.0" is engraved) for noise cancellation.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 0Br
                                    • 25 Aug 2010

                                    Hector, 25 Aug 2010Where has gone Text Reflow ? Isn't it a Eclair feature ?The workaround is to use Dolphin Browser which has text reflow.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 0Br
                                      • 25 Aug 2010

                                      Anonymous, 25 Aug 2010Motorola could have given the XT720 a 1Ghz processor...Can be easily overclocked to 1.2GHz

                                        • n
                                        • nomorese
                                        • S3d
                                        • 25 Aug 2010

                                        I have to say it looks cool with the rubbery paint-job on the back. I guess you get this phone if your musts are camera with xenon and android.