My Cellphone My Terms

Motorola Droid comes to Canada

Well it finally came to Canada – Motorola’s latest and its best cell phone in the market now.  I’m sure you all saw the Motorola Droid commercials last quarter by Verizon. They were really promoting the heck out of this device and for good reason, this phone is a gem.  Well the Motorola Droid, renamed the Milestone is now available in Canada but only available on Telus’ network as they have exclusive rights to this device. So if you are looking to get a new Milestone, why not have Telus dealers compete for your business, compare cell phone plans and get the best deal in the market.

So here are the key things you need to know about this device.

1. Its an Android Phone

The Milestone comes with Google’s Android operating system, version 2.0. This means that it will have all the Google core applications as well as access to Android market and thousands of applications. In addition it includes a bunch of goodies like:

• Google search by Voice commands – this is cool
• Includes GMAIL, Google maps with its turn by turn features as well as Google calendar
• Social networking support with seamless integration to Facebook

2. Its multipurpose

One of the biggest selling points on this device is that its multipurpose. You can use the touch screen to do everything on the phone or if you are not big on touch screens you can use the slide out keypad.  You might think that because this device has a slide out keypad that it will be bulky and thick – not quite so this device is one of the thinnest slide out cell phones at ½ an inch along with a 3.7 inch viewing screen. Not to be outdone the Milestone allows you to run multiple applications at the same time.

When you add in the Wifi capabilities, GPS functionality, predictive text and its 5 MP camera this cell phone really gives you multiple features and functionality.

3. Its No iPhone or Blackberry

It seems as though the iPhone is the standard bearer for touch screen devices, while the blackberry is the standard bearer for keypad based smartphones. While the Milestone includes both the touch screen and keyboard features, it doesn’t quite measure up to either of these standard bearers.

The milestone comes with limited multi-touch screen options and excludes features like the multi-touch pin to zoom.  Compared to the iPhone the experience is surely lacking. So if you are blackberry user like I am then the natural path would be to use the keypad features. But the keypad doesn’t quite feel right; the keys are too close together. There is a four way D-pad controller which doesn’t seem useful and takes up alot of room.

The Verdict

Despite these issues this is the best cell phone from Motorola in the smartphone segment. I believe some of the little quirks associated with the device will be addressed in the next release from Motorola. It is certainly better than the Dext, Motorola’s previous smartphone, and it comes with alot of good features.  Overall not a top tier device but it’s a strong second.