Milestone XT720 spec changes again, this time for the worse
By Vlad Savov 
posted June 30th 2010 9:31PM
posted June 30th 2010 9:31PM
[Thanks, Marius]
posted June 30th 2010 9:31PM
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Won't qualify for Gingerbread.... that's for sure.
http://briefmobile.com/android-3-0-gingerbread-update
1 GHz - No check
512 MB ram - No check.
Too bad too.... with SetCPU, could get this phone wayy higher than 720.
@kpenning
not everyone needs gingerbread
as proud EVO my phone will qualify, but for someone like myg/f or mother they will never need gingerbread and froyo will be more than enough
@Jean Marc
not everyone needs gingerbread.
As a proud EVO owner my phone will qualify, but for someone like my g/f or mother they will never need gingerbread and froyo will be more than enough.
@Jean Marc You may be right. But, Gingerbread's gonna include that new user interface that'll make it as sexy as the iPhone & WebOS experiences. That's exactly what basic users want!
Advanced users want a UI update as well, but care more about features.
@kpenning Basic users don't even know what Android is.
I was talking about new phones on Verizon with my supervisor. She said she would only get a smartphone if it were the iPhone. I mentioned that many of the coveted iPhone features could be found on Google's Android platform. She wasn't even aware it existed and didn't seem to even care.
Fact is, if you can get a layman to actually get an Adroid handset, the last thing they care about is the OS version.
@kpenning
the OMAP3440 is a small upgrade from the 3430 which is used on the DROID and Pres, this is definitely not going to be a high-end device
@kpenning
we have the backflip, droid, the droid x, maybe the droid 2, do we need another motodroid?
Motorola always give us stupid device.:(
@kpenning
The iPhone UI is far from sexy
It's ugly. Rows and rows of icons is not beautiful
@kpenning
your probably right but when i got my evo i gave my gf my hero and she fell in love. With any luck come next year ill get a new phone and she can get my evo and ill get whatever new popular gingerbread phone is out.
@JeremyBenthem This is a Motorola Droid... overclocked to 1.25 GHz.
http://i.imagehost.org/0272/droidoverclock.png
The TI OMAP processors are fantastic.
@DefPoet Sorry, should've qualified it with IMO.
@ImSpartacus your story is exactly like this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg
@kpenning
Still following Moore's Law I see? The 600MHz OMAP3430 in the Droid is almost as powerful as a 1GHz Snapdragon. The 800MHz OMAP3440 is even more powerful then a Snapdragon, maybe even with it being underclocked to 500MHz or 720MHz. That's the beauty of a PowerVR GPU. It's the same reason why the Nokia N900 is such a beast. It's not because it has a Snapdragon under the hood.
@kenny goo
Parallel processing and multi-chip solutions are so much better than single chip systems.
The reason Android isn't as fluid as it should be is not a matter of adding moar powah!! and moar Mhz! It's a simple matter of an extremely CPU dependent VM. My computer slows to a crawl when running certain java based apps.
meh, it sucks with blur anyways
@aaronbustillos
There is no blur on this device. If you are just seeing the green dialer and the blue phonebook to conclude this is blur, you probably need to go away from this article right now.
Cut the crap Motorola, give the people what they want and they might just buy this.
@Caprice Dates
Amen. They're probably going to lock the bootloader in this one like they did with the current Milestone too. Just waiting for a good HTC phone to come with Android and a keyboard and my Milestone is on the 'Bay...
Why do phonbes need such high end specs anyways?? It's not like androids has quality games to make use of all these high end components ??
I can't believe you just said that on a US-based gadget blog!
@hell hound There totally are though. There's a racing game that won't even run on my Droid Eris (Asphalt 5) but looks like PS2 graphics on a Droid Incredible. Plus all those specs really help to speed up web browsing, which is probably the biggest use of smartphones.
Good thing I bought a Nexus One :)
@msavic6
Frankly, the Nexus One gets attractive each day. It is proving to be the super-phone as Google called it :)
There's no way Moto would release a flagship Android phone with only 256MB of RAM in today's cutthroat Android market. It's just foolish.
The processor clock is a bit puzzling as well, but that can be remedied after root is achieved.
@ImSpartacus
I Think That According To The Picture, This Is The Shoels Tablet (Motoroi) And Not The Droid 2 Or X. This May Just Be A Lower End Or Geared As An Android Primer. (Like The Cliq And Eris)
@Insomniac Sinner: outside the US, in this place called 'the rest of the world', there is no Droid X or Droid 2, there may be in the future but for now this is the best Motorola have announced.
For those of us over here who were looking forward to this phone, this is a kick in the teeth.
Oh Moto for every good phone you make you follow it with 10 bad ones
@WillSmith
ha! try like 50 nad ones.
bad*
I wished they released the beefed-up Milestone Tablet to T-Mobile as they are in need of some really good android phones and this would be perfect.
I Don't Think That This Was Meant To Be A Flagship Device From The Start. This Just Looks To Be A Refresh Of The Shoels Tablet (Motoroi) And Is Geared Towards Being An Introductory Android Device Akin To The Cliq Was By Comparison To The Original Motorola Droid. This Device Is Not Meant To Compete Within Motorola's Flagship Lineup, But To Appeal To Those Who Are Attracted To The Droid X's Features, But Not At Such An Extreme Intensity.
@Insomniac Sinner
I still don't get what the point of low end phones if you're already spending so much on the voice, data, and possibly text messaging. What's an extra $50 to $100 going to do to you over the course of $2000+ after two years?
@Insomniac Sinner -- isn't it difficult to type that way (every word capped)...?!
There's no need for this to be a high end phone anyway. The Droid X more fills the premium slate android handset segment of motorolas line up. I think the pricing of this phone will be more of an issue. I suppose it depends on what carrier but I would say south of 100 and you have a winner
@krisken: given this phone is being released outside the US, where there is no Droid X, then yes there is a need for it's specs to be good - especially since it seems it's going to retail at a similar price to the HTC Desire/Google Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy S.
"Up to 720 MHz" is truth in advertisement. It probably scales speed based on what it's doing. There's no reason to run full bore unless you have a lot of apps open or you're playing a game if it's going to kill your battery. Unfortunately, that's a confusing concept for most people.
@proppat
Of course, however generally when listing a processor's capabilities you just say whatever it's fastest clock rate is, not what it is "up to."
Hopefully they figure out what specs their own phone is supposed to have before they ship it. Meanwhile I'll stay happy with my Nexus One.
What is "up to 720 mhz" mean. Does it downclock the processors according to the app?
Haven't manufacturers figured out that releasing any smartphone with anything under 1GHz CPU and at least 256RAM with 512 strongly preferred in 2010 is just not gonna cut it.
I think the industry is moving much faster than they can keep up with, on one hand you have Google releasing major Android upgrades every 4-5 months that renders half the phones out there unusable, on the other hand you got ARM CPU manufacturers and nVidia pumping out new superfast processors and GPUs and it normally takes phone manufacturers 5-6 months at minimum to design and release a new phone from scratch, so they just can't keep up and they're releasing outdated stuff constantly now. I wonder how long this is gonna go on for before they just all sit down to figure something out.
@Yankee
Specs mean nothing when considered in a vacuum sonny.
You'd do well to remember that.
Nokia N8 totally wins this round, way to go down Moto.
Naaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Why they did that?
I was on the way to get this thing, now what will I do?
Ill better wait for DROID X (GSM Version)
People will get this phone because it is the only android phone with a Xenon flash, it is a shame it only has 256mb of ram, but so does the milestone/droid & with frojo on it runs fine with 256 ram, & when this phone gets frojo I should work fine.
Personally, I had been looking forward to this phone quite a lot but this sudden change to the specs has left me really quite disappointed.
It just seems so unnecessary to cut corners on a high-end phone, just like Samsung leaving a flash off of the Galaxy S.
As for all the clueless comments about how it doesn't matter because the Droid X is so much better, this phone isn't going to the US, it's coming to the UK and Europe where there is no Droid X.
So it does need to have decent specs because it's quite probably going to be Motorola's premier handset. Not to mention, the going price for the phone puts it squarely up against the likes of the HTC Desire/Google Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy S, so if it's going to be successful, it needs to be more competitive.