Head to Head: Google Nexus One vs Motorola Milestone

Android has grown hugely in the last year. Just 12 months ago, Android was a new fad, and the first iteration was starting to break into the smartphone territory.

Now, we’re up to the fourth version of the operating system and things are getting exciting.

The release of the Google Nexus One was a groundbreaking moment – finally Google had launched its own device, operating on its own OS.

However, we were pretty impressed with its predecessor – the Motorola Milestone.

Just how do these two compare though? We put them head to head.

Speed’s the key

The Google Nexus One runs on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. It’s quite simply the fastest out there and this was obvious when testing the Acer Liquid.

The Milestone is embarrassingly sluggish compared to the multitask master, and that’s even when we only tested with four apps running.

Whether this is wholly down to the processor, manufacturer’s implementation of Android, or the firmware version itself, we can safely say the Nexus One wins hands down.

The Google Nexus one, however, lags behind the Motorola when talking broadband. Although both feature HSDPA, the Milestone supports speeds up to 7.2Mbps. The Nexus One can only handle speeds up to 3.Mbps. Not a biggie – most operators aren’t supporting 7.2Mbps yet.

Winner: Google Nexus One

Screen

When you’re presented with a device that’s capable of reaching browsing speeds to match most people’s home broadband, a large screen is key in showing you web pages in their full glory.

Although both the Google Nexus one and Motorola Milestone’s screens are both capacitive, Google’s device is AMOLED, while the Milestone’s is TFT.