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Monday, November 7, 2011

MOTOROLA MILESTONE XT720 UNLOCKED PHONE WITH ANDROID OS

Motorola Milestone XT720 Unlocked Phone picture
This review is from: Motorola Milestone XT720 Unlocked Phone with Android OS, 8 MP Camera and HD Video - International Warranty (Blue/Silver) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I got this phone via one day shipping Nov 5th. I just got back from the post office from mailing it back to Amazon (Nov 9). During my FULL three days of ownership I must say that the phone is indeed a very nice phone. I will list some pro's and con's I found for the phone...

Pro's:
  • Android 2.1 (Éclair) Pretty decent (this is listed in my con's as well)
  • 8GB micro SD card (I did not get around to using this as I have my 16gb card from my other phone.)
  • Nice bright screen. Also it is rumored that it is made with gorilla glass (so it will be hard to scratch up.)
  • Sound quality from music and phone calls is nice, although the music volume could stand a tad bit improvement.
  • When navigating through the phone to find things there is little to no lagging.
  • Apps are easy to install from market. (Must have internet connection to access it).
  • Camera and Video Recording qualities are decent.
  • Wi-Fi connection avail... (To my knowledge, per Jessica from T-Mobile, they do not charge you if you use your OWN Wi-Fi connection, so that’s a plus.)
  • This has a speed of 720 MHz so it is close to 1gh like the droid x and other phone models.
  • Overall look of the phone is awesome; I took it out in public once and got loads of compliments.


There are more PRO's, but I can’t remember them all, I will update later when they come to mind...
Con's:
  • While the Android 2.1 is nice, everyone on the Motorola and mobile forums are waiting for the Android 2.2 update that way simple things such as saving photos and apps to memory card will be easy as pie.
  • The shutter sounds every time you take a picture. Even if you have it on silent/vibrate and take pictures then, the shutter is always on and loud as heck to boot. This is definitely not the phone to have when trying to sneak a picture of something because it will get you caught.
  • While the screen is indeed nice, it is also a magnet for fingerprints and smears. I found myself constantly wiping it off. Tried to use a stylus to eliminate fingerprints and it’s not calibrated for that, FINGERS ONLY!!! The back of the phone which seems rubbery is fingerprint haven as well.
  • Your apps save to the phone's memory instead of the SD card.
  • Your pictures also save to the phone's memory and have no option of being saved to the SD card (trust me I have looked.)
  • Unless you’re a programmer and can write scripts, there is no way to get rid of some of the pre-installed applications.
  • Last but not LEAST the VERY REASON that I RETURNED MY PHONE..... 
 The battery sucks major ones..... I believe I had a faulty battery as I got it on Friday and from Friday at 4pm until Monday @5am it has been on the charger for over 50 hours and yet the highest max for the batter was at 54%. I figured the 54% was enough to do a Motorola software update (via settings on the phone) BOY was I WRONG!!! My phone has not been the same since. I had it on the charger during the update and the leds lights came on, the motorola logo would appear every ten minutes or so, but it wouldn’t load up... I figured I would do recovery mode, was able to pull it up, but because I was lacking battery juice so I couldn’t go through with it. I don’t understand how a phone can be on the charger left alone for at least 6hours with no usage at all and still not even be 15% charged.
Aside from the battery issue, as I am absolutely PO'D about because I had to spend $15 to ship it back to Amazon, now I got to wait a whole week or so for them to get it and refund my money so that I can purchase a different one. Not to mention since I was not able to power the phone back on I was not able to factory reset it before sending it back. With the refund I will get another xt720, as aside from the battery issue (which I believe was faulty, plus I will be ordering a backup battery) I liked the phone. I think the phone is just what I want and need in a phone right now.
A tidbit for those who are ordering from Amazon. I am not sure if it was just MY PHONE or if they recycle parts or whatever. But you will definitely want to review all of the items and check for usage before using them. As I was packing up my phone to send it back to them I noticed that the manual didn’t look that crisp (looked used/handled before), the wall charger they gave me was scratched up and the prongs rusted at the bottom (took a picture of this, not sure how clear it is though.)And, the box itself was not "sealed" as most phones are, nor did it look new. I overlooked all of this because I was in AWE to have a new phone, but glad that I was able to check it before sending it back. My thing is, if I am paying $400+ dollars for a phone, I expect EVERYTHING in the box to be brand spanking new, Amazon totally dropped the ball on this one. From this point on, I will be checking everything from them PRIOR to use.